‘Nightcaps’ is a daily column that catches you up on the biggest sports, news and culture stories you may have missed while pretending to do work at your desk. It runs Monday–Friday on OutKick.com.
“The Week 1 college football schedule stinks, the NCAA needs to try a little harder next time!”
Idiot. Goodness, I was an IDIOT Friday. That was my big gripe going into this glorious first weekend of college football.
The schedule wasn’t great. On paper, it wasn’t.
CLOCK CONTROVERSY ALLOWS MICHIGAN WOLVERINES TO AVOID MASSIVE UPSET AGAINST WESTERN MICHIGAN
Of course, college football games are played on the field, and they never, ever disappoint. Simpletons like myself look at the paper and see “Western Michigan-Michigan” and think we’re in for a snoozer.
And then the Big Ten refs slap you across the face and tell you to SNAP OUT OF IT. What a game! What a weekend. And how about the Ole Miss-Louisville shootout from last night?
How lucky are we? How great is college football. Welcome back, old friend. Let’s have a season.
Welcome to a Labor Day Nightcaps — the one where Olivia Dunne serves up booze while Lane Kiffin serves up an a–kicking to Clemson and poor Dabo Swinney.
Lordy, what a mismatch.
What else? I’ve got the Florida Gators reviving a lib-triggering chant, the field for last night’s game in Nashville was disgraceful, and how great is the ESPN broadcasting team of Sean McDonough and Greg McIlroy?
I said it last year, and I’ll say it again today: If those two are on a call, expect fireworks. Every time. It never fails.
OK, grab you one final summer beer before the unofficial calendar tuns to fall at 12 a.m., and settle in for a special holiday ‘Cap!
Look, it’s a holiday. You’re all (hopefully) grilling/drinking/both right now, and paying very little attention to this class.
Trust me, I don’t take it personally.
Because of that, we’re gonna keep it short and simple. We all have things to do and more football to watch. Lord knows I do.
So, let’s go ahead and get this Labor Day party started with Olivia Dunne returning to her roots and pouring some ice cold Miller Lites for the Tiger faithful before LSU absolutely annihilated Clemson on Saturday:
OutKick pointed this out months ago, but it’s worth repeating today: Miller Lite partnering with Livvy Dunne to promote their beer was the smartest move a beer company has made in quite some time.
Look at the Bud Light fiasco from a few years back. I’m pretty sure Bud is still trying to recover. I’m not sure they ever fully will.
Miller saw that, took some notes, used their brains, and decided to bring in Olivia Dunne this year instead. It worked out perfectly with Lane Kiffin going to LSU, too.
Talk about a 1-2 punch!
Speaking of Lane at LSU … those with good hearing caught this little remark during his halftime interview of Saturday’s blowout win against Clemson:
Amazing.
Look, I’m no longer the biggest Lane Kiffin fan. I used to be, but the way he left Ole Miss last fall really turned me away. At this point, the proof is sort of in the pudding.
He will, inevitably, leave things in terrible shape. Tennessee. USC. Oakland. Ole Miss. There will always be drama.
That being said, he’s still a #content machine.
Fair is fair, and that was a funny little one-liner at the end. Sure, it’s a little silly given he’s the one choosing to create all this NFL-college drama, but if his team’s gonna go into the locker room up 31-3 at the half, he’s welcome to talk all the crap he’d like.
And I’ll eat it up.
OK, let’s rapid-fire this quick holiday class into a big Labor Day night. First?
You know who is also a #content machine in the world of college football? New Florida coach Jon Sumrall.
Look at what this DEMON brought back to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday:
Goodness, did I miss that song! I grew up going to Gators games during the glory years (’98-2011), and that song was such a banger every time.
For those confused as to why the left deemed it racist …
The former UF president canceled it back in 2020 because of what he deemed racist imagery and literature from way back in the early 1900s.
That imagery? Black children being used as bait to catch alligators. Yeah, disgusting. Not good.
Also, not at all associated with the Gator Bait chant. Literally no correlation!
“While I know of no evidence of racism associated with our ‘Gator Bait’ cheer at UF sporting events, there is horrific historic racist imagery associated with the phrase,” former UF president Kent Fuchs wrote in a letter in June 2020.
Still, he bent the knee because the world went absolutely crazy during that horrible summer, and the Gator Bait chant had been locked away ever since.
Until this past weekend, when the fine folks in Gainesville dusted it off and unleashed it for the first time in six years.
Perfection. Sanity wins again!
Next? How great was Sean McDonough last night? I know Fowler and Herbie get all the shine, but I maintain that any time Sean McDonough is on the call for a college football game, it’s destined to be electric:
Sean McDonough, by the way, is the only announcer I can think of who excels in not one, not two, but THREE sports.
He’s a great baseball guy. I grew up listening to him call Red Sox games for WEEI, and he still does occasionally during the summer. Amazing.
He’s also ESPN’s hockey guy, and he nails it.
Obviously, he’s done both college and the NFL. Don’t forget, he took over for Tirico on Monday Night Football during a pretty down time for ESPN in terms of games. They used to get some pretty awful MNF games. That, of course, changed when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman came in a few years ago.
Weird!
My point? Sean McDonough probably deserves more praise than he gets. I’d put him up there with the best of the best. In terms of college football, there is no one better at the moment.
Frankly, it’s not close.
OK, that’s it for today. Good start to the week. Let’s enjoy some football tonight. And Wednesday. And Thursday. And Friday. And Saturday. And Sunday.
And again, next Monday!
I just hope the fields don’t look like this abomination from Tennessee last night:
Where does McDonough rank for you? Email me at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.
