This article was published on Sport & State, a new media company founded by Clay Travis that is built around sports, culture, original voices, and live conversation.
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On Saturday night, Texas pulled off an improbable comeback, scoring 21 unanswered points to erase a 23-3 deficit against Ohio State and won 24-23. When the game ended, bedlam descended on the field. Arch Manning, suddenly relieved of a mountain of pressure, ran around the field celebrating wildly with his teammates. Meanwhile Holly Rowe, a sideline reporter for over 30 years for ESPN, tracked down head coach Steve Sarkisian and attempted to interview him.
An ebullient Sark had no time for her or the interview.
Holly Rowe is not happy with Texas HC Steve Sarkisian pic.twitter.com/L6etAq1k4Q
— Pick 6 Pack (@Pick6PackFB) September 13, 2026
As you can see, Holly Rowe immediately throws a fit on camera. It’s her unprofessional and child-like reaction that launched a thousand Internet memes. If she had simply said, “Looks like Sark wants to celebrate, guys!” and smiled for the camera then none of this would have happened.
It’s what she should have done.
It’s what every interviewer on the field at a game should do. You aren’t the story, Holly, you’re just the person holding the microphone to bring us the story.
Holly Rowe was pissed and she was pissed on camera, that made this a story.
She failed at her job and then she threw a fit about failing at her job and we all saw it.
The memes began immediately.
And they were well deserved.
She behaved like a spoiled brat and the Internet was merciless at her expense.
It helps no one, least of all the media ecosystem, to be outraged over the trivial and trivialize the profound.@Kayceeunplugged weighs in on the puerile AI video that swallowed a news cycle.https://t.co/cN8s2VusaL
— Sport & State (@SportNState) September 15, 2026
By the way, the attacks were not because she was a woman. They were because she sucked at her job. If Kirk Herbstreit had behaved like this, he would have gotten destroyed too. It also wasn’t because of how Holly Rowe looks. Laura Rutledge, as I’ll show below, was also ripped for a post-game interview a while back.
Having said that, did Holly Rowe being dressed like the Michelin Man in an all-white outfit make the entire scene funnier? Yes, yes it did.
Holly Rowe was justifiably mocked for behaving in a way deserving of mockery.
(As an aside, some of you are going to react to this by saying sideline reporters aren’t necessary. I disagree with this. I think they bring needed color and information to the game. They can also be integral when things truly occur that are newsworthy during the game. And they are downright essential when actual news occurs — like we all saw when the SMU and FSU game was delayed. Taylor McGregor absolutely killed it then reporting on the details surrounding the delay for roughly two hours as we all waited for kickoff. As a result if I could buy stock right now in one person in sports media, it would be McGregor. I think she’s going to be a real star. But I digress.)
Interviews on the field don’t always go well. What happened to Holly Rowe is actually quite common.
It even happened at halftime of the game when Steve Sarkisian didn’t conduct his interview. Here Rutledge explains why Sarkisian wasn’t on air for his own halftime interview and specifically said he hadn’t blown off the network. (Do you think Sarkisian’s disinterest in the post-game interview might have something to do with how things went earlier in the game? I do.)
“Know your role” is the perfect encapsulation of this. Laura Rutledge, by contrast, explained to viewers why the interview wasn’t happening and still made a point to promote/credit one of the stars her network was there to showcase. https://t.co/bnu4ttOd17 pic.twitter.com/nVcvSKXdMY
— Alonso (@atxgoodguy) September 13, 2026
Here’s Laura Rutledge interviewing Arch Manning after the game, which went perfectly well. And most people, as a result, have completely ignored. When things go smoothly, no one notices. When things fall apart, everyone does. It’s why one of the first things I was told on TV is never lose your cool. Even if things are a complete disaster, which they often are, stay calm. Holly Rowe broke that rule and then decided to play the victim.
Arch told us he asked for @ColtMcCoy’s advice after the Florida loss last season. The biggest take away: “let it rip”. It felt like he did that when it mattered most last night. His joy and relief radiates! pic.twitter.com/fMpA6OLnye
— Laura Rutledge (@LauraRutledge) September 13, 2026
And here’s the truth, these jobs are not easy. Many of you reading this right now think you could do a good job as a sideline reporter on live television. I am here to tell you that you could not, not without a great deal of practice. I’ve done quite a bit of live TV from stadiums and in front of crowds now. Let me tell you, you can’t hear anything. The camera and audio may or may not work. If you can hear, a producer may well be in your ear telling you to end this thing in 10 seconds while you are talking — most people freeze when someone talks to them in their ear while you’re talking, it’s a strange thing to happen. You may or may not be able to hear anything the person you are interviewing says, and the person you’re interviewing may not hear you at all either.
I’ve done five years of Big Noon on Fox Sports now.
I have never been able to hear the first thing Rob Stone says to me.
Not once!
Because everyone is always screaming near by. So I just jump right in and start talking, never responding directly to anything he said to me off the top. I get that many of you think these jobs are easy to do. They are not. Live TV in a crowded, chaotic environment is really hard to do well.
Holly Rowe did not do her job well on Saturday.
She threw a fit on camera and made herself the story.
The memes rained down. Many of them were very funny, as I will explain below.
Eventually the memes became so prevalent that even Arch was asked about them. And here is Arch reacting to the memes spawned by the interview.
“I saw the AI Edit of (Sark) slapping Holly Rowe.”
I asked Arch Manning if he’d seen any edits on TikTok or Twitter after the game, and his answer is gold. pic.twitter.com/70FnNCVEHb
— Evan Vieth (@EvanVieth) September 14, 2026
Watching this, I saw an honest, young guy telling us what he actually found funny.
Many people in the room also laughed.
If you haven’t seen the meme, here it is:
You’re all welcome. Hookem. pic.twitter.com/7sRH9jQpIm
— Hookem 🤘 (@hookem) September 14, 2026
After this meme went viral, my teenage sons looked it up and laughed at it. My 82-year-old dad then asked to see it and he laughed at it too.
I can’t believe I have to explain the humor here, but there were two things that were funny about the Steve Sarkisian-Holly Rowe interview. The first was Holly’s reaction when he blew her off. That’s what spawned the memes, but also Sark behaved like a delirious madman. This clip exaggerates his behavior for comedic effect and also exaggerates his disrespect of Holly Rowe for comedic effect. If Chris Berman had been conducting the interview and had the same exact reactions, this exact meme would exist for him too.
It’s also, and this is important too, clear fake comedic violence. IT. ISN’T. REAL.
As I argued Tuesday on my show, we have created a world where we overreact to non-violence and underreact to actual violence.
Arch Manning was criticized more for LAUGHING at an Internet meme than Josh Jacobs was for allegedly hitting a woman. Here we go again, fake violence intended to be funny is worse than actual domestic violence. pic.twitter.com/uF1hFzlom5
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 15, 2026
Now, clearly, NO MAN SHOULD EVER HIT A WOMAN.
As I have told my own sons for my entire life. As you should have been told by your dads and your granddads and your coaches. But if you haven’t been told that, listen to me, your favorite person on the Internet: DON’T HIT WOMEN, BOYS!
But the comedic intent here wasn’t to glorify violence against women. It was to exaggerrate an already viral moment between two people who just had an awkward interaction and make it even more absurd.
This is what the Internet does.
This is the modern day version of “The Simpsons” or “South Park,” two shows that most kids these days don’t watch. If Homer Simpson had really been strangling Bart Simpson to death that would be problematic. Dads shouldn’t strangle their kids. But this is not real life. Most people used to understand that when TV was involved; somehow they don’t when the Internet is involved.
The joke here is Sark is a madman with no time for civilized behavior in the immediate aftermath of his big win. The meme would have probably been even funnier if he’d flattened even more people in the celebration after tossing aside Holly Rowe, a crazy Incredible Hulk like wild man intent on wrecking all in his path. That’s the joke!
That’s why Arch Manning, who I would wager has an incredible sense of humor because his dad Cooper is f*cking hysterical, and comedic sensibility, as many of us know, tends to run in families.
Plus, guys, it wasn’t very long ago that Terry Tate flattening a woman in an office was the most popular Super Bowl commercial on television.
We used to be a proper country!
Simpler times: when the commercials were the real halftime show.
Remembering Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. Super Bowl XXXVII, January 26, 2003. #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/eiuLsO40o1
— Lloyd Legalist (@LloydLegalist) February 8, 2026
As long as humans interview humans, awkward interactions will keep happening on camera.
It happened last year.
Remember Laura Rutledge’s attempt to interview Justin Herbert just last year? Watch this entire interview, this is a masterclass of how to handle the person when they don’t want to talk to you.
“I’m trying to celebrate with my team.”
Justin Herbert was reluctant to do a postgame interview with ESPN’s Laura Rutledge. #NFL #MNF pic.twitter.com/zq1Ho4yN1u
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 9, 2025
Did you notice the smile-smirk from Rutledge at the end?
A self-knowing wry look at the camera, like Jim Halpert on “The Office,” that told us all, “Boy, that was awkward.”
This is how someone without an incredibly inflated ego reacts to a situation like this.
Holly Rowe made herself the story, Laura Rutledge didn’t.
Here is Laura Rutledge addressing the controversy that came out of that interview.
“We’re there to do our jobs, they’re there to do theirs, and I actually credit him for still standing there and doing the interview.”
ESPN’s Laura Rutledge unpacks the on-field interview moment with Justin Herbert. pic.twitter.com/QhOsawQwhc
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 6, 2026
Holly Rowe had an entire day to take the onus off Arch.
She could have posted something simple: “I was frustrated with the lack of interview at the end of the game. I threw a fit. I’ve seen the memes. I deserve them. I know Arch, he’s a good kid. We all need to laugh more. I’ll try to do better next time.”
But she didn’t do that.
She waited until Arch apologized, allowed herself to become the victim, and then posted after his post to say she forgave him.
Forgave him for what?
Laughing?!
I’m sorry.
I woke up this morning still fired up about how ridiculous all of this is. And even as I finish this column, I’m still fired up. Because we’ve created a world filled with such bullsh*t that we now expect athletes to issue public apologies FOR LAUGHING AT INTERNET MEMES.
But I want to end on a bright spot here.
Do you know how Laura Rutledge responded when a meme went viral of Justin Herbert smacking her down just like Sark did for Holly Rowe?
Rough day at the office 🤣🤣 let’s all have a good laugh and move on!
https://t.co/eZf1i1sx2s— Laura Rutledge (@LauraRutledge) December 9, 2025
By sharing it and saying let’s all have a good laugh and move on.
That’s great advice for the perpetually offended in sports media.
Holly Rowe wasn’t a victim here. She was the instrument of her own demise, kind of like in Ghostbusters with the Marshmallow Man being chosen as the form of the destructor. I’m sure Holly remembers that movie character.
She dressed just like him on Saturday night.
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