Everywhere I go this week I find the great boo debate. I don’t think fans were booing players. In fact, it seemed obvious to everyone that when the offense sputtered time and again, the boos were aimed right at the coaches and the play-calling.

Note to Coach Stewart: Fans weren’t booing the players. They were booing the play calling and the coaches calling the plays, chiefly offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen and Stewart himself.

How do we know this?

Because during the second serious chorus of boos, after another too-short pass on third down, dozens of fans in the south stands stood up, turned around, and looked upward to face the press box—where Mullen sits—and raised their arms in disbelief. 

The play-caller himself admitted he was he target, as well. Even if the boos were placed upon players and their performances — short passes on third-and-long, etc. — it was because the players were repeatedly put in the position to submit those booable performances. To me, it seemed fans were mad their favorite players were put in bad spots.

Bill Stewart would beg to differ and addresed the issue on his radio show last night.

“You can boo me, you can write me, you can call me, you can come see me eyeball to eyeball. Let’s get that straight right now. Our quarterback has sensitive feelings like any other 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-year-old young man. He wasn’t playing well. He was hurt and he did the best job he could do. I totally disagree. I was raised by a gentleman I never heard boo one time in his life. That’s my father. Ask my son if he’s ever sat with me at a football game or any sporting event and has heard his dad boo. They can boo all they want and blame Bill Stewart, nine coaches, 20,000 legionnaires, but you’ll never, ever boo my football players in this stadium at home, on the road or anywhere. To say they’re just booing play-calling is a bunch of crap. That’s it.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t have a problem with booing. If you don’t like what you see, you don’t like it and you’re welcome to voice your disapproval. Really, if you like what you see, you cheer it and no one has ever said, “Hey, don’t cheer. It makes the other team feel bad.” It’s a silly philosophical debate. I think people should just stop going if they’re really upset. It completely removes the variable.

Do boos hurt the players? Probably. But doesn’t — or shouldn’t — bad play hurt more? And do you really think Mullen is calling plays going, “Aha! Let’s seem them boo this one!” Please don’t tie it together with recruiting, either. If an offense is getting booed, there’s a reason and the recruits already know it. A quarterback prospect at home or a receiver prospect on the sideline is affected more by 14 completions for 52 yards than a chorus of boos.