ESPN reporter Holly Rowe is again facing online criticism, weeks after a post-game interaction with Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian went viral. This time, the sideline reporter had an awkward exchange during a postgame interview involving Miami quarterback Darian Mensah and wide receiver Malachi Toney. The moment came after the No. 4 Hurricanes dominated Clemson 41-13 on Saturday.
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Rowe was talking with Mensah and Toney when Clemson coach Dabo Swinney came up behind Toney and grabbed Toney’s arm. He turned around, saw it was Swinney, and hugged him.
At that moment, Rowe was listening to Mensah’s answer, and when she turned towards Toney to ask a question, she saw the hug and said, “Oh, he’s hugging Dabo, mid-interview.”
The comment did not sit well with fans, with some claiming that Toney couldn’t have ignored Dabo Swinney just because Rowe was interviewing Mensah and he was standing there. Howe went on to ask Toney a question, and the interview carried on after that.
Mensah and Toney were being interviewed for the Canes’ dominant display over the Tigers. Swinney came to congratulate the Miami wide receiver. With the win, the No. 4 Hurricanes moved to 5-0 overall, which put them alone in first place in the conference, while Clemson fell to 3-2. Mensah completed 18 of 27 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown, while adding a 34-yard rushing score.
Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. contributed two touchdowns as the Hurricanes finished with 192 rushing yards against Clemson’s 55. Toney, meanwhile, finished with five catches for 40 yards, and his performance included two receptions that helped extend a third-quarter scoring drive, although an illegal-shift penalty wiped out a long touchdown pass intended for him.
The postgame hug offered a brief human moment amid Clemson’s disappointing defeat. Swinney’s interaction with Toney was not itself the source of the criticism. Instead, Rowe’s decision to point it out aloud during the ongoing interview prompted reactions from viewers who found the remark unnecessary or distracting.
The interaction quickly reminded fans what transpired at the end of Texas’ win over Ohio State in Austin.
The comments under the X post weren’t kind to Holly Rowe. One user asked her to stop covering college football. “She needs to cover WNBA exclusively,” the comment read.
“She finds a way to consistently p— me off every weekend,” another wrote. “She really is kinda of annoying,” a comment read.
In isolation, this exchange would have probably been ignored by most fans. However, it’s coming off the back of the Arch Manning controversy, which followed from a similar incident involving Rowe and Sarkisian.
“I don’t blame Sark for leaving her mid-interview,” a fan wrote.
For Miami, the bigger story is still their win over Clemson that kept their perfect start going. But Rowe’s quick comment turned a small moment between a coach and a player into something fans were talking about online.