❌ Why College Football Fans Hate This New High-Tech Goal Post

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The only feeling worse than your favorite team losing at home as a double-digit favorite is having that same team also lose its best offensive weapon for the season.

At least he’s in a better place.

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: Why Does the NFL Still Use a 50 lbs ‘SkyCam?’

📉 Biggest Loser: Why College Football Fans Hate This New High-Tech Goal Post

🏆 Winner’s Circle: Who is This 0-Star QB That Just Threw for 608 Yards?

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🗞 The Big Story

Why does the NFL still use a SkyCam when drones exist?

Well, even though this 50-pound rig was invented over 40 years ago, it actually has a high-tech advantage that no one seems to know anything about.

Background: In 1984, a camera operator named Garrett Brown was looking for a way to give fans an aerial view of football games. However, at the time, his only option would have been to fly a helicopter directly above the field (which is impractical for a number of reasons).

So instead, Brown designed a cable-suspended camera device that he could safely and remotely operate directly above the field. However, even though he was able to convince NBC to debut his “SkyCam” during the 1984 Orange Bowl, excitement for it eventually fizzled out because of how expensive it was to operate.

That was, until 2001, when Vince McMahon and the XFL decided to use it as a way to differentiate their broadcasts from the NFL. And even though the league only lasted one year, the SkyCam garnered enough attention from fans for NFL broadcasts to adopt it starting in 2002.

Still, drone technology has gotten so much better since then, which led me to wonder: Why do TV broadcasts still use this thing?

The Cables: See, in order to set up the SkyCam before every broadcast, a production crew has to arrive at the field two days early to install four large reels (containing about 1,400 feet of Kevlar-lined rope each) to the highest corners of the stadium.

Now, the rope that supports this 50-pound camera rig is actually only 0.1 inches in diameter. Still, each individual line is capable of supporting 600 pounds of weight, allowing the camera to reach speeds of up to 30 MPH during the game.

And that’s not even the coolest part.

Because each rope has a line of optical fiber running through it, which instantly transmits data from the camera to two operators in the booth. This is not only helpful for the broadcast, but it also allows operators to map out where the camera is allowed to go before the game even starts, so that it can automatically avoid crashing into the field or the stands.

Which is something that most drones still can’t reliably do.

📉 Biggest Loser

This is the most high-tech goal post ever created, but some fans are worried it’s ruining college football.

Goal Posts: When MetLife Stadium was built in 2007, the facility needed a way to easily take down its goal posts to host non-football events, ranging from concerts to motocross. Until this point, setting up and taking down football goalposts was an extremely laborious process that required a significant amount of time, equipment, and manpower.

So, the Jets and the Giants contracted a local sporting goods manufacturer to come up with a solution that would allow them to more easily set up and tear down their goal posts. However, what they came up with would have an effect far beyond anyone could have predicted.

That’s because if you go to any college football game these days, there’s a good chance you’ll see one of these hinged goal posts:

What They Do: The original idea was to add hydraulic hinges to each goal post, along with a control box that would allow a single grounds crew worker to raise and lower the heavy metal bars in approximately 10 seconds, facilitating easier setup, tear-down, and maintenance.

According to the company that makes them, roughly 17 hours of labor goes into each goal post from welding to paint, and even though this design started catching on quickly across the NFL in stadiums that host a lot of non-football events, these goal posts really started to go viral last year when college programs started installing them as a response to the surge of students rushing the field and tearing them down.

Now, the schools will tell you that this is a safety precaution to help avoid serious injuries that have happened in the past; however, as countless college football fans will ask: What happened to the game we loved?

🏆 Winner’s Circle

Who is this 0-star freshman that just threw for a record 608 yards in one game?

Meet Drew Mestemaker, one of the best underdog stories in all of sports right now.

Background: Two years ago, North Texas’s first-year head coach, Eric Morris, got a call from a friend asking if he had an open walk-on spot for a quarterback. As it turns out, Morris was looking to bring someone on to help run the scout team that spring, but when he asked for some tape on the player, his friend just laughed and told him that “he doesn’t have any film.”

This was because the quarterback in question, Drew Mestemaker, hadn’t actually played quarterback since his freshman year of high school and had instead split time as his varsity team’s safety and punter.

Luckily, Morris, who has a history of spotting under-recruited quarterback talent from his time as the Offensive Coordinator at Texas Tech and Washington State (ever heard of Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, and John Mateer?), agreed to see the zero-star recruit throw before spring camp started in 2024.

True Underdog: And even though Morris recalls seeing the 6’4” QB’s “raw talent,” he admits that no one was expecting him to “put it all together” and actually make the team that fall. Still, even though Mestemaker started fall camp as the fifth-string quarterback, by Week 1 of that season, he had become the team’s backup QB as a true freshman.

And after North Texas’ starter left in the transfer portal ahead of the team’s bowl game, Mestemaker was given the opportunity to make his first start since ninth grade, even going on to set a school record for passing yards in a bowl game.

But that’s not even the best part.

Making History: Because in his first full season as a starter, he has not only led the team to their best start since 1959, but he just set a school and conference record for passing yards in a single game, and currently ranks top five in the entire FBS in:

• Yards (2,702; 3rd)

• Completions (214; 4th)

• Touchdowns (21; T5th)

Not bad for a 0-star recruit.

⏱️ In Other News

• This tiny black box is solving sports’ oldest problem

• The man behind the Titelist Pro V1 is disrupting golf again

• What is ‘Project B’ - and should the WNBA be worried?

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👋🏻 Happy Friday!

I’ll be at the Ravens-Vikings game this weekend, sporting a Lamar Jackson jersey. If you see me, please hit me with a ‘Go Pack Go’ - I’ll need it ahead of Monday.