Game Week: Michigan State (2014)

I don’t think it can be overstated how funny it is that Kenny Bell straight up HUGGED a referee as his touchdown celebration last week. Last night I watched Oregon get a 15-yard celebration penalty for bowing after a big play (which Kenny Bell also does a lot) and it arguably cost them the game. Meanwhile, Kenny Bell hugged a referee. And who’s gonna flag him for that? Nobody. Because you can’t see it in the picture below but Imani Cross is just off camera threatening the referee to enjoy the hug. Imani Cross only wants what’s best for Kenny Bell.

This week, we get our first big test since McNeese State. That’s a true sentence! Nebraska’s ugly-yet-dominant wins this season don’t give anyone much of a sense of how this game will go on Saturday, but I do know that the expectations for it seem so much more realistic than years past. And that is a very, very good thing. This team came into the season loose, and the fans did, too, with a wait-and-see attitude that was truly much more cautiously optimistic than year’s past. And that has all paid off nicely. Don’t put the expectations of 1995 on Bo Pelini, that’s not where this teams do well. Put the expectations of 1991 on them. Positive, hopeful, but not unrealistic. Then let ‘em surprise you. It’s more fun that way. So fun, in fact, that in case you hadn’t heard, Kenny Bell just hugged a referee after a touchdown last week. Hugged him. Ran right up and hugged him.

This week in the tunnel, John Papuchis continues to impress, and impossibly enormous college students continue to terrify. Follow TWOS on Twitter, and enjoy the game. And hug a referee.