*deep sigh* I wanted to love this. The premise is similar to Him by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy and The Understatement of the Year by Sarina Bowen. The problem is that I didn't feel the bond between Jason/Hawkins/Hawk/J and Derek/Griffin/Griff. Not only do I think Strong Side was lacking in development of Jason and Derek's relationship, I think the development of their characters was pretty stilted. It's like one page they meet and the next they're bffs and the next they're kissing. Whaaat??? I know books can't show every moment of a relationship. They'd all be 1000 pages and horribly boring. But I still think the getting-to-know-you and being-friends part could have lasted longer and the angsting-and-arguing-about-our-relationship could have been much shorter. All the yummy tension from the when-will-they-give-in part was immediately overshadowed by the couple angst, and I personally don't consider that compelling storytelling. 
 The other big problem is that, as Stephanie pointed out in her review, Strong Side is RIFE with annoying errors and inaccuracies. These vacillated between tiny typos like "by" instead of "my" to unlikely plot points (Derek only receiving a jersey before he starts. Um, no, he would have gotten one of those before the first game because non-starters of an athletic team don't just sit in sweats on the sideline. They dress out in case they have to relieve an injured or badly performing teammate. In this case the author has Jason give Derek his jersey as like a marker of his hard work, which sure, that's sweet, BUT IT'S ALSO RIDICULOUS AND NOT A THING) to timeline inaccuracies (Jason talking about being home in between semesters and wondering why he hadn't talked to his dad about his & Derek's relationship. Nope. It's still fall semester, and they've only known each other a couple months. No semester break yet). 
 There were so many of these weird moments, and it 100% distracted me from the story. I especially was bothered by football errors. Strong Side may be a romance first and foremost, but it is a SPORTS romance. If you don't know the sports part well enough, either find some good beta readers who can help or try another genre. Things like: 
 Jason and his dad having a rollaway bed in their apartment. Pretty sure a bachelor dad and son living in a two bedroom apartment 1. wouldn't expect many guests (who wouldn't be sleeping in either of their beds, that is), and 2. when presented with a guest, would either give them the couch or their own bed. Also, I lived in a 2 bedroom apartment until a couple months ago, and there is NO ROOM for such a thing. Air mattress, yes. Rollaway bed, NO. 
 Derek not even playing in games until suddenly he's a starter. That's not how football works. In football, for a position like wide receiver or running back or even tight end, starting isn't the biggest deal in the world, not like being QB or a lineman. There's usually two or even three receivers on the field at once because you don't put all your eggs in one basket. If one guy is covered, you want more options. It makes no sense that Derek, who is a great receiver even if he has tackling issues, would be kept on the bench for so long, especially if they're having the best season ever. His coach would have given him a few snaps for the experience of it, especially in games like the one against Kentucky where they were winning so handily. 
 Being up by 3 points in a game that ended 21-14. This is mathematically improbable. For all intents and purposes, 21-14 means three touchdowns vs two touchdowns. There COULD be a really convoluted way of making the math work, but it's unlikely, especially when there's one mention of a field goal, not three, and no missed extra points after the touchdown. 
 Eastside being in the EFFING SEC AFTER JUST BECOMING DIVISION I. Ooooh, this bothers me so much. Rinky dink teams who have just risen up from Division II do NOT get to pass go and jump to a conference like the SEC. The SEC guards its membership closely. After Arkansas and South Carolina joined the conference in 1991, the SEC didn't add new schools until Texas A&M and Missouri joined in 2011, and that's after YEARS of athletic domination in their conferences. Most of the schools in the SEC have been lifers. Sorry, Eastside, you don't get in that easy. You've got to earn your way up. 
 Along that vein, Eastside wouldn't be considered for the national championship tournament or even be ranked under normal circumstances where it would not be an SEC team. Granted, in the book, they do play bigger teams like Kentucky and Tennessee and Alabama, but if they hadn't been magically in the SEC, they'd be playing smaller schools with less difficulty and that does not a national champion make. 
 As you can see, I'm a little worked up, but these things are so frustrating and ridiculous. This is what beta readers and editors and proofreaders are for. There's only so much I can willingly suspend my disbelief for, but once I hit that ceiling, I'm going to have a hard time enjoying the book.