College Football

A revelatory account based on the authors' unprecedented access to the NCAA's highest-level programs throughout the 2012 season describes its high-powered system of billion-dollar television deals, high-priced coaches, football "hostessing," castoff athlete-students and paid test takers.

"Every Saturday in the fall, it happens: on college campuses, in bars, at gatherings of fervent alumni, millions come together to watch a sport that inspires a uniquely American brand of passion and outrage. It's a sport that so often hinges on the unpredictable: a hook-and-lateral, a Hail Mary, or a play so implausible that it is only known as The Play. It's a sport that, in these moments, feels a bit like life and death, if only slightly more important....

Examines the economics and culture surrounding college football, discussing how in the last decade football programs have overtaken universities, creating entertainment factories where sports are more important than education.

A fan’s search for the truth about American history, human nature, and whether Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh will keep his job
 
Being a University of Michigan football fan should be joyful. Michigan is an elite academic institution whose football team boasts forty-three Big Ten championships.
 
But these days, college football is complicated. The NCAA is corrupt and exploitative, and Michigan...

"This books is about the famous 1982 football game between Cal and Stanford"-- "The wildest finish ever to a college football game occurred when five laterals on the final kickoff ended with a sprint through the opposing team's marching band-prematurely in celebration on the field-for the winning touchdown. It was 21 seconds of action so unfathomable it has become known simply as The Play. Five Laterals and a Trombone captures the madcap story as...

Looks at the 1967 football season leading up to that year's black college championship between Grambling College and Florida A&M, and how it fit into the civil rights struggles of the time.

Monte Burke profiles head coach of University of Alabama's football team, Nick Saban, perhaps the most enigmatic man in the sport. Unpredictable in his professional loyalties, uncompromising in his vision, and unyielding in his pursuit of perfection, the highest-paid coach in college football has changed the face of the game. His program-building skills have delivered packed stadiums, rabid fans, hundreds of millions of dollars, legions of detractors,...