We don’t know with absolute certainty who made the very first Reilly O’Toole sounds more like the name of an Irish pub than it does a starting quarterback” joke, but it may have been Faux Pelini (@FauxPelini). The parody account of former Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini certainly popularized the bit, and O’Toole himself became aware of this phenomenon via the Twitter account that reaches 161,000+ followers.
This running gag (ex: “Illini kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday, join us at Reilly O’Toole’s for bangers and mash,” or “Illini win! Drink specials at Reilly O’Toole’s tonight- $3 Irish Car Bombs, $2 Guinness Pints”) has been extremely popular this season with college football media and social media alike.
When I asked O’Toole (@ReillyOT4) how he feels about people having fun with his name, he actually brought up Faux Pelini in his response.
“I went to Ireland actually and they had bars that had my name, so maybe they do know a real bar that’s my name,” O’Toole said.
“I don’t read any of that stuff, but people do send me funny pictures and stuff. There was one of people holding a sign, Faux Pelini. It wasn’t, I don’t think, pointed at me; it was funny.”
“It’s fun to see fans kinda have clean fun instead of just coming at players and coaches and teams.”
O’Toole is known for his sense of humor, as he headlined a spoof of the popular “Hump Day” ad which appeared on the school’s website. He also sang along with the Backstreet Boys’ “I want it that way” while warming up for the spring game.
Below you’ll find the picture that O’Toole is likely referring to:
It’s from the Twitter account @Reilly_Otooles, which has tweeted just 13 times. Every tweet was on September 27th, the night Nebraska destroyed Illinois 45-14. As you can see from the timeline, it interacted with Faux Pelini a couple times that night.
Or he could referring to these pictures:
@PaulMBanks @hill_alex92 lol no, but we made these signs for the last husker game pic.twitter.com/9jXggBNf3d
— John Hall (@JonShortforJohn) December 2, 2014
Less than 24 hours after this interview concluded, the real life Bo Pelini was sacked by Nebraska. His astronomical $7.6 million buyout, however cushions the blow. Many pundits say Oregon Offensive Coordinator Scott Frost, Ohio State Offensive Coordinator Tom Herman and Michigan State Defensive Coordinator Pat Narduzzi are the leading candidates to replace Pelini. There’s quite a bit of overlap between the list of names on the Nebraska list, and the leading candidates in the Michigan coaching search.
The real life Pelini won 67 games in seven years at Nebraska, but he lost too many press conferences. At the tail end of his regime, he softened his image by being more PR friendly (tweeting at Faux Pelini, bringing a cat to the spring game are a couple examples of this) but it was too little, too late. When I asked Pelini the predictable albeit required cat question at Big Ten Media Day, he played along, further demonstrating that he was truly trying to appear more warm and fuzzy.
So what happens to Faux Pelini moving forward?
The man running the account hasn’t decided yet.
“So the what-comes-next-question depends on a couple of variables,” the account’s founder told For The Win. “One is whether he gets a job and how quickly and where it is. Another question is who’s the next (Nebraska coach) going to be …
“I haven’t figured out what it will be if anything. I do know what it probably won’t be, which is I’m not really up for following him to the next place. I’m a Husker fan, that’s how I got started with this thing.”
The Associated Press also ran a story on Faux Pelini stating: “The identity of the actual tweeter has not been revealed. He is known only as a Cornhuskers fan who lives in the Chicago area.”
As for O’Toole, we know what’s next for him, a bowl game in either Dalllas or Detroit to close his college career.
“Reilly O’Football” threw for 147 yards and three touchdowns in the Land of Lincoln trophy game. He matched that output exactly with a career-high 147 rushing yards, the first time in his career that he hit the century mark on the ground. The performance earned O’Toole some national acclaim as ESPN College Football Final’s Rece Davis gave him a “helmet sticker.” It’s no small feat when you consider that Davis hands out just two per week nationally.
“Reilly O’Toole has three victories in the Big Ten, and I don’t think we were supposed to win any of them,” said Illini Coach Tim Beckman (who received a vote of confidence from Athletic Director Mike Thomas the day after this interview was conducted).
“He won Homecoming, he won Senior Day, and now he comes up here and wins on the road. Reilly helped this football team win, and he is one heck of a leader.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2