In every college football game, there are two stories. Sometimes the main story is that one team played well. Sometimes the story is that one team played poorly. Usually, though, the full story that can be found is a mix of the two.
It is always important to remember that narratives are integral to sports media. What do I mean by narratives? A narrative is a trend or a talking point that outlets can always fall back on. It makes things easier for fans and it helps the media properly project into the future. Good examples of narratives are the run of dominance by SEC teams in the BCS National Championship Game, Ohio State’s struggles against SEC teams in bowl games, or USC’s propensity over the last decade to lose in-conference games as a heavy favorite.
The Narrative of College Football Narratives
Narratives are not inherently wrong. In fact, on the whole, they are probably useful to both fans and the sports media. They usually represent past trends. And while prognosticating is always a risky business—especially in sports—knowing what has happened in the past can help you know what to expect in the future.
Issues can arise when narratives are fallen on too easily. When something follows a trend, but there are other available explanations, sometimes the narrative story gets in the way of proper analysis. It is easy to fall into the Boise State narrative of a top mid-major that can hang with the big boys and even beat them when given a chance. But current Boise teams are clearly a far cry from the top-five Boise teams that were the norm from 2008-2012. So treating a win over Boise (or a loss to Boise) like we would have treated it five years ago would be a mistake.
It is the combined stories of individual games that fuel narratives. And, because there are two sides competing in every game, each game can lead to two narratives.
A perfect example of this would be last week’s season-opening game between Texas A&M and South Carolina. The basic facts of the game are clear. Texas A&M drove up and down the field at will and eviscerated South Carolina’s defense. But that fact can lead to one (or both) of two stories. Either the story is that Texas A&M has an incredible offense or the story is that South Carolina has an abysmal defense. (Of course, it is possible for bad offenses to play one great game or for good defenses to have an off night, but let’s stick with the basics for now.)
Is there a difference between these two stories? For starters, South Carolina having a bad defense could make a win over them worth a little less and would probably hurt the Gamecocks’ rankings on its own. On the other hand, if South Carolina has a good defense and Texas A&M’s offense is just that much better, then South Carolina shouldn’t drop as much and Texas A&M should gain a lot of respect very quickly.
The narrative from this game that most major media chose to go with was that Texas A&M’s offense is just that good. After all, Kenny Hill’s 511 yards was more than Johnny Manziel ever had in a single game—and this was just Hill’s first start. It is certainly the easier narrative and the more tempting to fans—isn’t it always more exciting to read about good teams than bad ones?
At the end of the day, though, this was just the first game of the season. We should find out very quickly just how good Texas A&M’s offense is and how bad South Carolina’s defense is. The thing we always have to keep in mind is a willingness to overlook early-season narratives. The week 1 narrative was Kenny Hill’s excellence. Will we remember to rethink that if South Carolina can’t stop East Carolina this week?
When we get to the end of the season, the narratives will be clear. We will know just how good Kenny Hill is. We will know just how good- or bad- South Carolina is. It’s important to remember that sometimes we need to erase our early-season narratives, which just didn’t involve enough information to be wholly accurate.
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