What about the other satellites and probes closer to Earth? Surely being closer to the Earth would mean that they would definitely have a consciousness. Nine and Ten are out of the system, Juice is at Jupiter, and Hubble seems to be still there in low Earth orbit. What would the ISS be like? Would it be a hive mind? And how about rovers, like Curiosity on Mars?
They're probably just doing their own things, whatever that may be.
It's entirely possible that they don't like American football.
Most of 17776's story was getting Nine acquainted with their new existence and the reader knowledgeable about life on earth. And in that time, its likely they didn't have many thoughts outside of getting to know Ten and Juice. The main times they talked to anyone else were prompted by other people, plus they had to shut down to recharge after a relatively short time. There's a good possibility they are sentient, but Nine, and therefore the reader, simply didn't have time to learn about or speak to any of them in that short of a timespan.
The real-life Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer is planned to intentionally deorbit in 2034, crashing itself into Ganymede. Did the (in-fiction) ESA just decide "you know what, it can stay, we're immortal anyways"? This is well before humans could've had doubts about interplanetary or interstellar travel, so it's not like they gave up before the mission ended. (Not to mention, we're talking Jupiter here. How could it stay in such a complex system for >15000 years with no collisions?)note Yes, this is a nitpick and not relevant to enjoying the story, but it's still a bit odd by comparison, considering that the Voyagers are in practically infinite trajectories.
Perhaps in the story's universe the satellite was simply launched earlier than the real life version. And the decision to deorbit and crash wasn't implemented.
Assuming that Manny and Nick are San Diego State's only players, how does San Diego State satisfy the rule that 25 players have to defend the home field?
Some of the San Diego State players that supposedly quit (somehow) might not have fully committed and walked off the field, meaning they'd still technically be in play.
The rule is that you can have 25 "defensive" players and 100 "standard" ones. Nothing about having to fill one group before the other. It's also noted that they do have other players, at least on paper. Manny and Nick are just the only off-field ones.
Nick is shown to have lost over a minute of out of bounds time during his Locomotive Lateral, in order to decouple the engine from the freight cars. However, another look at the train shows that the connection between the two is in Georgia Tech's field. Nick should have some OBT restored to him, as he would have returned to the field during the process of decoupling.note And indeed, Nick has ten seconds of OBT restored as a result. However, it's later revealed that the specific type of train that was on the tracks could not be decoupled from outside the locomotive.
Fridge Brilliance:
Juice is fixated on Lunchables, which apparently no longer exist. Why are there are no more Lunchables? Because there are no more children.
