Four Degrees of Playoff Fame: the Larry Culpepper/Nick Saban Connection

Ahh, mid-January. the College Football Playoff championship is a week old and we've had ample time to sift through all the implications and meanings associated with Clemson's shiny new trophy. There are also questions about the losers. Was that pick play illegal? Is Nick Saban alright? Why has no one seen him or Larry Culpepper in the past week? Do they have some secret bond they've shared this whole time, binding them together in both victory and ruin? Let's examine:

FACT 1: Larry Culpepper is portrayed by veteran actor James M. Conner. Conner was in the 2002 existentialist Jack Nicholson vehicle About Schmidt, portraying the best man of buddy Dermot Mulroney.

FACT 2: Mulroney appeared in the 1994 family sports dramedy Angels in the Outfield alongside a young Matthew McConaughey.

Photo by Matthew Simmons/Getty Images

FACT 3: As we know, Matt went on to star in A Time To Kill a couple of years later alongside Sandra Bullock.

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Spike TV

FACT 4: Sandra Bullock of course played Leigh Anne Tuouhy in the 2009 film The Blind Side, which also featured the one and only acting credit to Nick Saban's name.

That's a full circle, friends. If you're wondering why Saban gets away with a Coke on the podium in a Dr. Pepper playoff world, now it's a bit clearer.

NOTE: before you #wellactually this by pointing out that we could’ve jumped straight from “About Schmidt” to “The Blind Side” with Kathy Bates, please remember that football is fun and this is all stupid.