Your College Football Early Games Open Thread

So, the Chicago Sun-Times presented a " Mourning might give Irish edge: After tragedy, pieces are there for triumph" piece today.

The Irish practiced —indoors — on Thursday and Friday, but no coaches or players have spoken publicly since the incident. Chances are the Irish will be ready to go. Notre Dame bonds in tragedy as well as a community can, as was evident Thursday night at the moving Mass of Remembrance for Sullivan in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus. And in the past, the football team has found inspiration simply in wearing green jerseys.

Too soon? Jesus Christ, yes. Maybe I'm over-reacting, but Pilate wasn't papyrusing a think piece about nails to limbs three days post-crucifixion (if you believe in that kind of thing). This ain't Rutgers, with a tragic on-field collision possibly leaving a player possibly paralyzed for life. It's not even Pelle Lindbergh smashing into a wall off-ice. This is a kid, Declan Sullivan, team helper with a camera, who was Tweeting about pure fear until he died. And his family, according to the Chicago Tribune, "hunkered down amid a barrage of media requests and kept their remembrances private." That kind of tragedy is not an acceptable preview-with-gambling-implications-story headline.

As an aside, if you haven't already done so, please check out: • The Day I Thought I'd Die On A Scissor Lift: What It's Like To Do The Job That Killed Declan Sullivan, • More Stories About Terrifying Hydraulic Lifts From Football Videographers and • How A Notre Dame Student Died, And Why He Shouldn't Have.

So yeah, among a bunch of games, Clemson visits Boston College and Tennessee faces the Gamecocks.