College football fills a very specific sports-related need for tens of millions of Americans like myself, and you couldn't ask for a better introduction on why exactly this particular jumble of athleticism, loyalty, egalitarianism, hierarchy, tradition, greed, and (oh yeah) academics exerts the hold it does on so many people for the back third of the calendar year. Weinreb mixes in a bit of straightforward game recap, but the majority of the book is the good stuff that both hardcore fans and casual browsers will enjoy - how college football relates to the ideals of meritocracy, capitalism, heritage, entertainment, and all the other interesting parts of modern American society. It resembles nothing so much as a collection of longform articles from Grantland (which coincidentally was sadly shuttered by ESPN as I was reading this), and as it happens several of the chapters first originated there.

My own hometown of Austin is the largest in the country without a pro team in any sport, because even in down years (the Longhorns are currently finding ever-more innovative ways to get blown out) our team manages to mostly satisfy the sporting desires of a decently-sized American city. While the fact that we're surrounded by other cities with pro teams partially explains this, there's something special about the culture, the tailgating, the pageantry, the atmosphere of college sports that makes the prospect of getting a Big League team seem unnecessary. What's so special about college football?

Weinreb grew up a Penn State fan, so he gets how important college football can be to a smaller town and to the personal identity of the fans (he doesn't pull any punches regarding the Sandusky tragedy). Simply put: to the truly dedicated, college football makes a good reference point for just about everything in life, a handy narrative skeleton to attach all the messy bits of life to. As an illustration of this, here's the list of topics he covers in his chapter on UT's national championship game in 2006: Reggie Bush, Fresno State, The Twilight Zone, Todd Blackledge, the 1983 NFL draft, Tecmo Bowl, EA Sports NCAA Football, Pete Carroll, Matt Leinart, Vince Young, The Iron Bowl, Jonathan Franzen, and Tim Tebow. This unsurprisingly means that some of the pieces lean more towards pop culture than pure gameplay analysis, but it's still possible to learn a tremendous amount about the sport through the games he picks:

1. (1896) Rutgers 6, Princeton 4.
2. (1913) Notre Dame 35, Army 13.
3. (1962) Minnesota 21, UCLA 3.
4. (1966) Notre Dame 10, Michigan State 10.
5. (1969) Texas 15, Arkansas 14.
6. (1969) Michigan 24, Ohio State 12.
7. (1979) Alabama 14, Penn State 7 (Sugar Bowl).
8. (1984) Miami 31, Nebraska 30 (Orange Bowl).
9. (1985) Miami 58, Notre Dame 7.
10. (2006) Texas 41, USC 38 (Rose Bowl).
11. (2007) Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (Fiesta Bowl).
12. (2008) Texas Tech 39, Texas 33.
13. (2013) Auburn 34, Alabama 28 (Iron Bowl).
14. (1987) Penn State 14, Miami 10 (Fiesta Bowl).

As originally published, the book covered up to the end of the 2013 season, but thankfully the paperback version is updated for the 2014 season, where as a lagniappe Weinreb discusses two of the first games of the new College Football Playoff system:
- (2015) Oregon 59, Florida State 20 (Rose Bowl, CFP semifinal).
- (2015) Ohio State 42, Alabama 35 (Sugar Bowl, CFP semifinal).

Like many fans, myself included, Weinreb has mixed feelings about the new playoff system. While being understanding and supportive of its mission to finally Settle the Argument, he's amused and not at all surprised that the arcane and opaque selection process resolved absolutely nothing (not that I'm unbiased, but the glaring omission of the Big 12 teams was absurd), even while acknowledging why so many wanted it to happen. He covers those games even more briefly than he did before, and after a gentle dismissal of the distemperate harrumphings of bow-tied conservative goofball George Will, he closes on a perfect encapsulation of why appreciation of the sport runs so deep in so many people:

"But in order to be a college football fan, you have to embrace the beauty of the system. In order to be a college football fan, you have to take a step beyond simplicity and recognize that our sports, like our politics, like our lives, are fraught with complexities that are essentially irresolvable. If you can't handle those opposing ideas - the wondrousness and the absurdity of it all - you're probably in the wrong damned country, anyway." ( )

Varies between a rolling stone series of essays and a really interesting anecdotal history of college football. I really enjoyed it. ( )

An even-handed commentary on the world of college football. With snapshots of key games dating back to the early 20th century, Weinreb glories in the magic of the college game but doesn't pull any punches dealing with its many shortcomings. ( )