College Football Summer Survival Kit
1.10 - Magazines, Video Games, Podcasts, Classics
It’s still July.
Meaningful college football will not be played until September.
Alright fine, there are a handful of good games “week zero” to close out August.
But we’re still a long way away from what I know you are starting to crave.
With SEC Media Days in Tampa this week, you’ve heard the cliché that the event is “the unofficial start to the season.”
In many ways that is true. We’re hearing from the coaches and players that are going to define the fall. We’re hearing from analysts about X’s and O’s for the first time this summer. The media is trying to pick winners of quarterback battles, give you the best under the radar game for Week 3, and find a way to get players talking about food and television shows.
It’s all part of the spectacle of SEC Media Days.
The event is over, and we’re still at least over a week away from most teams starting their preseason practice.
SEC Media Days is more of an appetizer than a start to a meal. You’re still hungry, and you have to eat until fall camps and eventually the games begin.
So let me fill your plate as we try to get through the last bits of summer before college football begins.
Here is my College Football Summer Survival Kit.
Preview Magazines
Let’s start with the basics.
Get through June, July, and August with a college football preview magazine by your side. Take it to the pool.
Take it with you to the beach. Whether it’s in the “Redneck Riviera,” Myrtle Beach, or Florida, you’ll see the names Lindy’s, Athlon Sports, Phil Steele, and even team-specific magazines all along the shore. John Grisham, Colleen Hoover (not related), and Stephen King have serious competition for a summer read in the south.
Have it on your lap to peruse as you watch baseball games on television. It’s alright to look in between pitches of the fourth inning so you can truly understand this year’s Sun Belt contenders.
While the transfer portal has made roster projections and team information more difficult, these magazines can still give you quick info at a glance. Putting my game charts together for Alabama’s opponents during the season, I constantly go back to Phil Steele’s guide for tidbits and a quick study of the team before I dive into my research and interviews.
EA Sports College Football 27
EA Sports. It’s in the game.
My mother from rooms away in the house would hear this all summer as I fired up my Xbox to play NCAA Football during my high school years. EA Sports was genius then, and genius now in releasing this game in July, as we all wait for the real games to return.
A video game simulation is essential for getting what you crave. It’s seeing the unique team entrances, hearing the fight songs, seeing the uniforms clash. It’s playing Michigan-Ohio State at a snowy big house when it’s 95 degrees outside of your house. It’s creating your high school in TeamBuilder, and importing them into a conference. This summer I’ve done Road to Glory with a fictitious Roger Hoover winning the Heisman Trophy as a freshman running back for Dobyns-Bennett in the SEC. Take a dynasty years into the future, racking up a 100-game winning streak. Play online against your friends that are miles away.
For years as a married adult, I didn’t have a video game system. That changed in the summer of 2024 when EA Sports brought back this classic game after a decade hiatus due to NIL lawsuits. But the return of the game meant a new Xbox and hours of entertainment in this college football world.
Most of my time playing the game comes in the summer months, before my work heats up with Alabama football.
I do try to play the game once a week during the season. Each Friday or Thursday night I’ll play Alabama’s game for that week, with uniforms and time of day matching perfectly to what I’ll see on Saturday. I sit and play with my spot chart next to me, and it’s so helpful on gameday to already have the opponent’s players in my head thanks to this simulation. When I filled in on play-by-play for Alabama-USF in 2024, I did several simulations where I wasn’t even playing. I was just watching and doing play-by-play out loud to get ready for my assignment. It helped immensely once I got to Saturday.
SEC Media Days
My high school summers were spent playing NCAA Football on Xbox. However one week a year I would turn down the television volume, and turn up computer speakers to hear what was going on at SEC Media Days.
Before the SEC Network and live streams of each press conference, the best way to hear content from the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover was listening to internet streams of local radio stations cover the event. My favorites in those years were Paul Finebaum’s show on WJOX in Birmingham, and my eventual co-workers John Wilkerson and Jimmy Hyams with Sports Talk on WNML in Knoxville.
If they were interviewing Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, I’d set up a game between the Wildcats and LSU on the Xbox. I treasured their conversations with players and coaches from that era. I also loved getting to hear from SEC media members like Tony Barnhart, Ron Higgins, Ivan Maisel, Buddy Martin, and Cecil Hurt.
While I had to really work hard to get Media Days content back in the early 2000s, now it is easy. The SEC Network was live each day this week from Tampa, showing full press conferences from coaches, interviews on set with players, and Finebaum quizzing beat reporters at the end of every day.
The local stations on radio row still get incredible one-on-one interviews and I’ll be catching up on their podcast feeds throughout the next few weeks to catch up on all of it. YouTube channels like That SEC Podcast (I love those guys) and Josh Pate (king of college football media) are also filled to the brim with content. More is still to come with specials on the SEC Network from my friends Marty and McGee, getting coaches to answer the big questions like “biscuits or cornbread?”
The games are still weeks away, but this content from Tampa will help fill the void.
Classic Games
We love college football most for the actual Saturdays and the games that become unforgettable. The best way to keep their memory alive is by watching them. Thankfully YouTube allows uploads of these classic games, and I bet you can find your favorites with a quick search.
For Alabama fans, here’s what I’d recommend before you return to Tuscaloosa.
Other YouTube Goodies
If you find games to be too long or tedious, some documentaries will do the trick as well.
You Can Survive
There you have it. With this survival kit I believe you can make it to at the very least the start of preseason camp. The media will keep you busy with constant content of your favorite team, trying to figure out everything before the games begin.
So take your preseason magazine, fire up EA Sports College Football 27, listen to content from SEC Media Days, then relax with a few classics before bed. Read some college football books before bed if you have to. Repeat that, and you’ll find that it will be September 5 before you know it.
Tide Thoughts
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer hit all the right notes Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
Those Notes:
He’d like to have the starting quarterback named shortly after the second scrimmage.
Wide receiver Noah Rodgers is trending well in his return from injury.
Two freshmen that could have a big impact? EJ Crowell & Cedarian Morgan.
Alabama wants to run the football better.
What’s Next
My weekly social media show Crimson Drive driven by NASCAR has returned on the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Watch it live Thursdays at 2 p.m. central, and always on demand on our YouTube channel. Here’s yesterday’s episode with Phil Steele.
It’s definitely not hockey season with 90 degree weather in Alabama. But yesterday my son Carson and I blasted “Here Come the Hawks” and “Chelsea Dagger” during breakfast when we saw that legend Patrick Kane has signed to return to our beloved Chicago Blackhawks.
I’m enjoying this Cubs season but now I’m trying to plot a hockey trip to see #88 on the ice once again.
Enjoy your weekend!