Dumping Them Out – Stranglehold, Football, DM's

John Rich11/15/2026 7:42 PM

Welcome back to another episode of Dumping Them Out. Happy almost holiday season to those who celebrate.

I went to Bloomington, Indiana for Indiana-USC this weekend. Indiana University is the most beautiful campus I've ever been to. Which doesn't say much, because realistically, I haven't experienced that many campuses. And most of the ones I have experienced are MAC schools. But Bloomington sure as hell puts Ypsilanti, Michigan to shame.

You know what is crazy about Bloomington, though? Maybe this is more common than I realize, but I've never witnessed a campus, or a city of any sort, where a couple of bars have such an absurd stranglehold on the nightlife. Just look at this fucking line outside Kilroy's after the game last night.

It's a few bars on the same block with mile-long lines, then you walk maybe a block down the road, and it's pretty much dead. And it's not like there aren't other options. I walked right into a different place on the same street and got seated right away. Had a drink and a pizza in front of me within 30 minutes. I know Kilroy's and Nick's are the famous Indiana college bars. I know people want to go there to celebrate the Indiana win. But there is no way all those people are having fun. Maybe I'm just old (I'm definitely just old), but I don't think there was ever a time in my life when I'd have waited in a line like that.

Hell of a football game though. Go Hoosiers. Indiana can finally take the top off the defense again. Grant Wilson might actually be the answer at QB. Just hit a few deep balls a game and let the defense take care of the rest. The throws don't even need to be on the money. Just give Charlie Becker (who has 0 career drops) a chance to make a play. For Indiana, throwing a jump ball to Becker in single coverage on 3rd & 3 is probably a safer play than a run up the middle.

What on earth was USC's cornerback doing? What were USC's coaches doing? I have no idea what they thought would happen if they played Charlie Becker that close with no safety help, but I'm thrilled they chose to do it. Thanks for that, Lincoln Riley.

Speaking of the best wide receivers in college football, I didn't get to watch a ton of football yesterday, since I was at the Indiana game, but I did see this Jeremiah Smith "catch" before walking to the stadium.

That was ruled an incomplete pass on the field. And they overturned it. That's one of the crazier overturned calls I've seen in my life. Maybe the #1 craziest. If I were an Ohio State fan trying to convince myself it was the right call, I guess I'd say it was catch the second the ball touched Jeremiah Smith's left hand? And even though the ball was clearly moving, he had control of it the whole time? But it sure doesn't look like he had control to me. It sure looks like he's working on securing the ball well after his feet have left the turf. It would be one thing if the call on the field was a catch, but for them to change their call from an incomplete pass to a catch is bananas. Idk how the replay crew can defend that one.

This is super random, but sent a weird/embarassing DM the other day that's been eating at me. So I'm using this blog to get it off my chest. The other day, I was looking through my Twitter messages and noticed an unanswered DM from someone named Dom. I didn't think much of it. It wasn't in my requests either. I was near the top of my main DM's. I figured it was a message from a Stoolie that I had opened and meant to respond to, but then got distracted and forgot.

Anyways, the guy asked about which Yak episodes would be good to show his girlfriend to get her into the show. I thought about it and gave a decently thorough answer. I remembered my wife laughed at the episode where Big Cat brings a group of Bears fans into the office, and the rest of the Yak has to guess which one he said was "the hottest guy he had ever seen" at a Bears tailgate.

But I didn't look close enough at the DM. I figured it was from a week or so ago. Turns out, it was from 2023. And the Dom I was responding to wasn't a random Stoolie, it was Big Cat's personal assistant. The guy who books all the guests for the Yak. He sent me the DM before he ever worked here, but at this point in time, in the year 2026, he's probably the most plugged-into-the-Yak guy on the planet.

I guess we recently followed each other, so the DM got moved from the requests to the main inbox. That just felt like a really dumb way for me to respond to Big Cat's personal assistant. Like, I had just realized I'd snubbed him years ago and was trying to make it up to him "now that he matters" or something. If I were Dom, that's what I would think I was doing. But nope. Sorry, Dom. I promise I didn't mean to Barstoolsplain the Yak to you like you aren't hugely involved in the show on a daily basis.