Bet you didn’t think the WGA strike was going to come up during Saturday’s college football game between the Clemson Tigers and Florida State Seminoles.
Leave it to ESPN’s Sean McDonough to offer up a masterclass call that did just that.
Early in the game, McDonough and Greg McElroy offered some background on kicker Jonathan Weitz, who spent four seasons as a backup and never attempted a field goal in a game before leaving the program this year because he figured he’d never play. Because Clemson has had some kicking issues this season, Dabo called Weitz up to see if he would return to the program and use his remaining year of eligibility to try and give the team some stability. Sure enough, he made his first kick of the game and also nailed three extra points.
“Dabo said yesterday this is either going to be a great story, or terrible. It’s off to a great start… [Weitz’s] boss is here,” said Sean McDonough
Clemson grad student kicker Jonathan Weitz — who had a job ready to start in New York — makes his first career FG attempt.
"Dabo said yesterday this is either going to be a great story, or terrible. It's off to a great start… [Weitz's] boss is here."- Sean McDonough 🏈🎙️ pic.twitter.com/8oRP9R8sYT
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 23, 2023
Fast-forward to the fourth quarter where Clemson and FSU are tied 24-24 with 1:49 remaining. Weitz had the opportunity to write his own Hollywood ending by putting the Tigers up 27-24 and potentially helping them win the game. Alas, it didn’t play out that way.
"What would've been a Hollywood ending…"- Greg McElroy
"Well, the writers are on strike."- Sean McDonough https://t.co/G2YYVMCZVG pic.twitter.com/0FXzbzDC9f
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 23, 2023
“What would’ve been a Hollywood ending…” said McElroy when the kick went wide left.
“Well, the writers are on strike,” McDonough finished the thought.
FSU would go on to defeat Clemson 31-24 in overtime, dropping Dabo Swinney’s squad to 2-2 on the year.
A real bummer for Weitz but a pretty masterful moment for McDonough. Such are the whims of college football.
