For the second consecutive week, we’re talking hot dogs here at FootballScoop’s “They Said What?”.
OK, last week it was a petulant Shane Beamer taking an absurd verbal jab at the chain gang for the Mayo Classic in Charlotte, N.C, -- a game in which Beamer’s Gamecocks were outcoached and outclassed in a loss to rival North Carolina.
This week? It’s Marcus Freeman talking his Notre Dame squad’s need for ballpark food amidst a nearly-two-hour severe weather delay in the Fighting Irish’s win at North Carolina State.
Also, there’s Paul Sousa's absolutely insane commentary on a Kentucky Wildcat running back, as well as Jimbo Fisher trying to explain away another disappointing, almost-inexplicable early-season come-from-ahead loss for Texas A&M.
Onward …
FREEMAN, FIGHTING IRISH ... RELISH ... VICTORY
Games across all of college football Saturday had weather delays, from Boston College to Tennessee to Wake Forest to North Carolina State, among others.
Though it already had played an international contest in Week 0, Notre Dame had its first true road test at North Carolina State.
Barely one quarter into the game, Mother Nature seized command. The Fighting Irish, in turn, seized upon some concession-stand grub before they used an emphatic second-half output to dismantle the Wolfpack.
The key? Notre Dame got its players hot dogs during an hour, 45-minute severe weather delay. Oh, yeah.
Second-year Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said the coaching staff also scored some dogs.
“Yeah, well, I mean, you have a plan for halftime where it's going to be 20 minutes and different types of food,” said Freeman, a winner in nine of his last 10 games at the helm of the Golden Domers. “But we wanted to kind of get them some meat. And it's a two-hour delay. Those big boys get hungry. But nah, I think the coaches might have got a little bit more hungry than the players.
“I saw some coaches having hot dogs. And so, just keeping those guys fed because we're going to work them. We're going to work the coaches and work the players so we had to keep them well fed.”
GREAT EXCEPTIONS … NOT EXPECTATIONS
Stop if you’ve heard this one before: Texas A&M, full of recruiting might and plenty of optimism, doesn’t get so much as a month into the season before it resets expectations.
Well, for everyone except Jimbo Fisher, he of the 10-year, mega-millions contract.
After his team twice gagged away double-digit leads Saturday at Miami, Fisher bristled at the notion that the Aggies might have needed to reset goals in a season that unequivocally carried College Football Playoff aspirations – and has since been left to carry absolutely no margin for error.
“We aren’t worried about expectations,” said Fisher, whose team lost for the seventh time in its past 10 games. “We’re worried about next week.”
Next week for the Aggies is a home tilt against Louisiana-Monroe. After that? It’s seven consecutive games against Southeastern Conference foes.
BROADWAY … GJ?
In its debut game under GJ Kinne, Texas State last weekend laid waste to host Baylor in an Group of 5-Power 5 upset that was an upset in name only; Texas State controlled the affair.
This past Saturday, it was pupil versus teacher when Kinne’s squad faced Jeff Traylor’s University of Texas San Antonio team.
Traylor’s Roadrunners commanded the 20-13 win, but Traylor reflected on Kinne’s ascension postgame.
“I'm ready because somebody else asked me that, believe it or not,” Traylor said when asked about the prospects of facing Kinne, whom Traylor had coached as a senior in high school at Gilmer High School (Texas). “I would have thought he was going to be [a head coach]. He's as handsome as Joe Namath. He played in the National Football League five years. I'm a simpleton high school football coach. I'm the one I didn't think would be here.
“Praise the Lord, President (Taylor) Eighmy and Dr. (Lisa) Campos saw something in me and gave me my chance. For the two of us to do this, I'd like for somebody to find this out. How many times in Division I football has a high school football coach gone against his high school quarterback as two head coaches? That has to be a pretty low number.
“Hey, always let your dreams be so large you pray life has to match it so, when your dreams come true, no one can take credit for it but the Lord.”
ESPN really gotta chill https://t.co/eMx0lFGWC7
— Brooks Austin (@BrooksAustinBA) September 9, 2023
PARENTAL GUIDANCE NEEDED … FOR SEC NETWORK
A week after it was dispatched at Cincinnati to open its 2023 season, Eastern Kentucky spent last Saturday giving the host Kentucky Wildcats all they could handle in the short-range matchup that featured the two schools separated by roughly 25 miles.
In fact, it wasn’t until Ray Davis – a transfer running back – scored on a 24-yard reception from Wildcats quarterback Devin Leary that Kentucky put away its pesky, Football Championship Subdivision neighbors from south of Lexington.
The SEC Network crew had thoughts on the impact of Davis, who spent the first four years of his collegiate career at Temple and then Vanderbilt.
“There is Ray Davis,” said SEC Network play-by-play announcer Pete Sousa, joined in the booth by former Auburn and NFL linebacker Takeo Spikes. “Fifty-one yards on that drive alone, running and receiving.
“He’s a guy that transferred over from Vanderbilt. Nine months ago when he jumped in the (NCAA Transfer) Portal, everybody wanted him. Eleven years ago as a foster kid, really nobody wanted him. Now, here he is; found some love, found football and he has had an amazing journey.”
Sunday, Sousa issued a statement on social media that acknowledged his comments about Davis during the broadcast of the Kentucky win had “missed the mark.” Sousa wrote on X that he intended to “be an advocate for adopting foster kids.”