What is a fan of college football to do? With August kicking off camp for college football programs the focus on the sport returned to football after another conscientious off-season. The Penn State story was not going to go away for good mind you--and those lessons need to be retained--but at least thousands of players were back on fields across the nation and we could begin counting the days toward August 30th and the first official games.
Then Tyrann Mathieu does something he shouldn't have done and now one of the most dynamic and recognizable players in the game is removed from the 2012 season equation. Since we do not know officially what the Honey Badger did I will not comment on the severity of the punishment, although I will say that his one-game suspension last season was apparently insufficient. I also blame the media (what will Erin Andrews do now without him...learn about other players?) for continuing to give this guy attention beyond what he actually did on the field. Sure he was good but clearly the scrutiny-free love he received while continuing to screw up off the field certainly did him no good.
So we will now all bemoan the fact that this gifted player will be sidelined. Of course the SEC haters will be happy that yet another top program from that conference suffered a tough blow before games were played, adding Tyrann to the club formed by Bobby Petrino this off-season. And those rooting for a team favored to be in the national title race will be happy that LSU took an early August bullet--well, missile--because we college fans are human and know full well that national title runs are fueled by both what happens to your team and what happens to the other 20-30 top teams.
After a day of reflection I, a true blue college football fan, can find solace in the fact that there are so many great college football players out there that one guy cannot make or break a season. Hell, who knew how good Tyrann could be 365 days ago?
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