4. The Really Big Thing Was …
Sarah Fuller kicked a football.
It was only a squib kick to start the second half, and the rest of the Vanderbilt Commodores were so awful in the 41-0 loss to Missouri that Fuller didn’t get to attempt an extra point or do anything else, but it doesn’t matter.
Would it have been nice if she nailed the 36-yard game-winning field goal? Yeah, of course.
Was it a signature final act by a head coach – Derek Mason was fired on Sunday after an 0-8 start – on his way out? Maybe, but so what?
A barrier was broken.
Social media had its typical range of thoughts, emotions and musings – from the kick being the next best thing to curing the coronavirus, to a misogynistic football side wailing that this marked the end of the sport, as well as the American way of life – all while the TV talking heads went a bit overboard trying to say all the right things to sell the moment. But that’s okay – it was something historic in a sport that’s not exactly welcoming to the slightest change in any norm or tradition.
College football has been going on for over 150 years, and in 2020, a female put on the pads and she played in an SEC game.
Completely and totally ignore what this wasn’t, and please, don’t argue over or analyze the kick.
Fuller – or someone else – will soon get a shot at a scoring opportunity that will change the outcome of a game, and there will be a day when we won’t think twice when a young woman attempts a kick, or catches a pass, or does some other football thing just like the guys. But that’s for later.
In this weirdest, craziest, and most abnormal college football season ever, we got to see something that was simply … good.
You want something positive to come out of playing college football in a pandemic? You want something more from this God-awful mess than whether or not it’s Alabama or Ohio State or Clemson playing for the national title?
Sarah Fuller ran out onto the field and kicked a football. And it was cool.
– Week 13 Winners & Losers
– Rivalry weekend?: Most Overrated Thing
– Oregon St 41, Oregon 38: Most Underrated Thing
– The season is hanging on: What It All Means, Week 13