Your Comprehensive Guide To The Ohio State Girl Mystery

URL copied to clipboard.
Screen_Shot_2015-01-02_at_10.32.29_AM
  • Source: www.youtube.com / Via: www.youtube.com

    Watch the video above. Then watch it again. This is season two of Serial. The Internet is trying to figure out what makes this girl react the way she does. Let’s go through the video step-by-step.

    First off, the initial sour reaction from the Ohio State fans is due to a horrible 21-yard-punt that gave the Alabama Crimson Tide amazing field position in the fourth quarter of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. (The Ohio State Buckeyes would intercept a bad Alabama pass on the next play and go on to win and advance to the National Championship game on January 12.)

    0:01 – Hands on her head

    0:04 – Rubs the back of guy’s head

    0:08 – Looks up and appears to notice something, removes her hand from guys head

    0:10 – Looks down and appears embarrassed

    Most speculators agree that the girl becomes embarrassed after noticing she is on the television broadcast (and perhaps the Jumbotron at the game?) — the question is why.

  • The Sidepiece Theory

    The most rampant theory out there is that the dude in question is not her boyfriend, and that she became stunned at seeing her image, convinced that she’d be caught cheating.

    This theory is debunked, most strongly, by a screenshot acquired by Gawker, claiming to be from the Facebook page of the girl’s cousin:

  • Zbdjj1e8cetqolajbrib

    Source: i.kinja-img.com

    Watch the boyfriend/sidepiece during this entire sequence. He’s clearly despondent at the shitty punt, but doesn’t make any move to get the girl to stop touching him, which you’d probably do if you knew you were on TV and were cheating.

  • The Kid Theory

    Many Twitter users think the kid sitting to the guy’s right says something that gives the girl that expression.

  • Source: twitter.com / Via: twitter.com

    But would could an 14-year-old say to make you react that way? Uproxx believes the boy says “We’re on TV” but it’s difficult to tell.

    This theory doesn’t hold a lot of water for us, because she doesn’t seem to turn toward the kid or even acknowledge him. It almost certainly appears that she’s reacting to something she sees above her. Again, most likely the Jumbotron.

  • The Pickpocket Theory

    Reddit user neurotrophin speculated that she might be trying to pickpocket the guy in the black sweatshirt, behind her boyfriend, but he took back his theory after watching the complete video.

  • Screen shot 2015 01 02 at 10.27.01 am

    This one is pretty outlandish. It’s just based on the camera’s lack of depth-of-field in this situation. The guy is significantly behind them, so it would be much tougher to pickpocket, and the hand on the neck would hardly be a distraction.

    The Pickpocket Theory also includes some other discussion about the man in the black sweatshirt, and how she may have accidentally touched him.

  • Source: twitter.com / Via: twitter.com

  • Reddit Has Some Other Dumb Shit

    There are other bizarre theories on Reddit, involving illness and realization that she was touching the wrong person. These are about as realistic as Adnan making the 2:36 pm call from Best Buy to Jay from a pay phone.

    Got any other theories? Let us know.

More headlines