7 things we’ve learned through 7 weeks of the college football regular season

6. Fans are awful

Before Saturday’s game against the Michigan State Spartans, Michigan Wolverines punter Blake O’Neill was not known outside of Ann Arbor.

After what transpired in those bizarre final ten seconds, O’Neill has been thrust into the national spotlight, and not in a good way.

In case you missed the improbably end to Saturday’s game, here’s what went down: leading with only ten seconds remaining, all the Wolverines had to do to knock off the undefeated Spartans was get off a punt. That’s it. But O’Neill bobbled the ball on the play, Michigan State’s pressure got to him, and the Spartans ran back the ensuing fumble for a game-winning walk-off touchdown.

It was madness.

Because we live in the social media age, a time in which every idiot with a few seconds to spare can scream at a total stranger over the internet, O’Neill was bombarded with death threats and other hate messages on Twitter. Many people spoke up in support of O’Neill, but those voices were drowned out by the sea of scorn.

We shouldn’t have to do this spiel multiple times per season, but alas people are morons, so here it goes: stop using social media to harass players. Be an adult. The people attacking O’Neill, much like those who went after Texas Longhorns punter Michael Dickson earlier this year, are the worst sort of fans, the sort of fans who are an embarrassment to the sport of football. Telling a college kid to kill himself just because he messed up on a punt is a cowardly, despicable act. There’s no excuse for it.

Hopefully O’Neill bounces back and has a great rest of the season. And hopefully the people harassing him on Twitter grow up.

Next: 5. Memphis is the best team in the state of Tennessee