The DirecTV show Friday Night Lights has a way of making every high school football player seem so altruistic, soulful and misunderstood, but that’s not how Mumbling Matt Saracen (which is to say, actor Zach Gilford) found the jocks during his own college days in Evanston (which is also his hometown). From the Daily Northwestern (H/T to @JimmyTraina.

Were you a fan of NU football while you were a student here?

Gilford: Growing up, I was a big NU fan. Then I got here, and I met a bunch of the players, and they were jerks. They weren’t good that year, so I was like, “Well, you’re not good and you’re not nice, so I’m not going to root for you.” But now that I don’t know them anymore, I root for them because I pretend they’re nice.

Can’t say that I have anything to add to this, as I don’t recall any Wildcats football players trying to work at WNUR in the late ’80s. I did, however, take freshman Spanish class with Academic All-American PK Ira Adler. He seemed nice (and probably got a better grade than me).