Good morning! Here are the plays everybody will be talking about on Friday:
Colin Kaepernick did not stand again. Kaepernick continued his protest of the national anthem on Thursday night, but this time it had some twists. Instead of sitting, Kaepernick took a knee, a move that looks less like he is ignoring the anthem. He was also joined on his right by teammate Eric Reid, and on his left by Nate Boyer, a former green beret who is trying to become an NFL long snapper. Reid was on a knee, while Boyer stood (read more here).
Chris Carlson/AP
The Tennessee Vols escaped in their season opener. The college football season had barely started and we almost had our first huge upset as No. 9 Tennessee needed overtime to beat Appalachian State. The Vols trailed 13-3 at halftime and needed a fourth quarter touchdown just to get to OT. In the extra period, quarterback Josh Dobbs fumbled on the 1-yard line following a huge hit. The ball was recovered in the endzone by Jalen Hurd for the eventual game-winning score.
Appalachian State's near-perfect game was ruined by one terrible play. After blowing a big halftime lead and falling behind in overtime, Appalachian State needed to convert a fourth-and-5 in overtime to keep their upset hopes alive. The play call was questionable at best. The Mountaineers ran a fake end-around, something nobody is going to fall for on a fourth-and-5. But to make matters worse, even though it was a slow-developing play, by the time the quarterback set to pass, four of his five eligible receivers were still behind the line of scrimmage, well short of the first-down line. That left him one downfield option that was double-covered. The result was as expected: the pass was easily batted down and the upset bid was over.