There was one moment during Arkansas State’s 73-0 humbling to the Sooners that stood out the most on Saturday: a visibly frustrated and spiritually devastated Butch Jones crouching low on the Red Wolves sidelines, his eyes closed and a clenched hand fixed to his mouth, his face reddened either by the Oklahoma sun or the frustration that comes with such a disappointing loss. Justin Parks, the team’s standout safety and a team captain, put his hand on Jones’ shoulder in a gesture of consolation. This was not how it was supposed to go, and both men knew it.
Said Coach Jones on that moment, “”We can gain something from this. We can become closer.”
Though such an experience may or may not bring a team closer, the dividing condemnation directed towards Butch Jones after the game was both swift and severe from social media perches. While few fans expected a win out of Norman, many had expected some kind of competition. The failure to meet that standard brought furious calls for Jones’ unceremonious dismissal (plus more than one criticism of my support for Jones). Even national talking head Barrett Sallee – a longtime critics of Jones – felt compelled to pounce not just once, but twice.
All of this is bullshit, of course. Sallee has a beef with Jones for reasons I don’t know, nor do I care to have it explained to me. As for fans, all opinions are welcome, but some of the fans who were critical of Jones’ displaying emotion on the sideline are the same fans having hysterics on the social platform formerly known as Twitter.
I’ve no intention of rehashing the loss. Faulkner says the past is never dead, but that shows what Faulkner knows – Week One is dead to me. Week Two, however, lives on, as do several weeks ahead of it. If we allow anything from the grave of Week One to rise, let it be lessons we can use moving forward. Meanwhile, Butch Jones and the Red Wolves have work to do, and we should let him get to it.
Howlraiser 