By MONTE DUTTON

Technology speeds people up. It catches them in the moment, and they lose sight of broader truths.

On Saturday, I was driving up I-385 listening to pregame shows and the like.

Three “experts” said that, after a lone victory over Texas A&M, Notre Dame was “already in” the college football playoffs. It must be comforting to the Irish, who then went out and fell to Northern Illinois.

On the home page of my Internet, this morning I saw a list of possible successors to Marcus Freeman as Fighting Irish head coach.

Last week I saw several social-media posts along the lines of “Shane Beamer seems like a nice guy, but he’s in the wrong profession.”

After thumping Kentucky on the road, Beamer is now ‘a breath of fresh air” again.

I understand what coaches go through. I’m never better than the story I just wrote myself.

Not everything is ridiculous. The Carolina Panthers still stink. The good news is that Bryce Young hasn’t gotten himself injured. It’s the bad news, too.

I was driving home from Greenville late Saturday night, when sports-talk radio is filled with loud, opinionated people, of whom I have not otherwise heard, telling everyone how to bet. One self-appointed whiz said that taking the Panthers +4-1/2 points was a lock.

I got so excited I watched the first half.

The guy had said, based on what he heard, Young was great in practice. He’s too valuable to play in exhibition games. Teams pay kids out of college a bajillion simoleans – that’s just the signing bonus – then hold them out to protect their investments.

While being fed individual grapes by team personnel, Bryce Young said he was looking as forward to the start of the season as he was to his next seedless grape.

Now I’m overreacting. As public-service ads never cautioned, multimillions of dollars are terrible things to waste. I hate to pick on Young. He’s in a hell of a spot. With that kind of money, few are going to feel sorry for him.

Once in NASCAR, a tire changer said I was too hard on his driver.

“Read my mail,” I replied. “I’m Fans Light.”

Next week they play again. Maybe things will be better, but for every winner, there’s a loser. That’s the math.

Laurens Academy, the county’s only three-game winner and the only one that’s played four, rolled past Oakbrook Prep, which is of Spartanburg, 40-20, but the game was at Todd Kirk Field.

It’s a baseless rumor that the song “Wide Open Spaces” was dedicated to eight-man football.

Ethan Collins threw 24 times and completed 16 for 327 yards, 123 of them successfully lofted to Caleb Hardy, and four touchdowns. He was accurate on 18/24 passes. Hardy snagged 10 of them.

The Crusaders also piled up 233 yards on the ground. Garrett Murphy rushed for 159 yards in 12 carries.

Murphy, Hack Hardy and Anthony Candelas each made eight tackles.

Oakbrook (0-3) takes on Wardlaw next. Laurens Academy (3-1) visits Richard Winn (3-0).

Anderson University officially began its football program, long in development, with a 51-14 triumph over Saint Andrews (N.C.), on Saturday.

Clinton High’s Bryson James ran the ball four times for 15 yards (he had a 10-yard loss). One o his runs was 23 yards. Laurens Academy’s Clarence Bertoli had two rushes for four yards. Nine players made rushing attempts in a game the Trojans led 42-0 at halftime.

Ex-Presbyterian quarterback Tyler Wesley hit 9/12 passes for 123 yards and three touchdowns.

Presbyterian (2-5) knocked off Temple (3-4) in volleyball, 27-25, 13-25, 29-27, 22-25, 17-15).

“It was an exciting win. We had a tough weekend with some close losses, so that first set was really important to build our confidence. We just had to make some adjustments and a few tweaks that helped us manage what we needed to do,” stated head coach Steve Benson.

Things change in a hurry. Oft times, too much of a hurry.

As Merle Haggard sang, “If we can make it through December, everything’s gonna be all right, I know.”

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Thanks for putting up with me.