Sunday Afterglow: The Constellation of College Football
Where every star, every story, and every Saturday connect.
Week Zero has come and gone, and college football in 2025 is here to stay.
For those of you new to Y-Option, thank you and we welcome you to our annual Sunday newsletter where I ‘Empty the Callsheet’ aka write about all of the things in my head after a weekend of games. Normally, I’m writing this on a plane flying home from a game, but because I didn’t call a game yesterday, I’m writing from the confines of my Los Angeles creative space in Venice Beach.
This past weekend was my final one with my family before taking off for what seems like a half-year on the road every weekend. Friday night, we sat around a bonfire on the beach with dear friends as the waves were effortlessly crashing just a hundred feet away. Almost like the Ohio State offense effortlessly scoring a year ago in the CFP.
The scene was picturesque.
Our two sons and their friends told stories: scary ones, funny ones, the kind only kids can tell. I kept peering at my wife, Amy, and watching her smile as each child rambled on in a magical way. I doubt I’ll remember the exact details of those stories weeks from now, but I know I’ll remember the essence of that night with family and friends on a memorable weekend.
Before we called it a night, I asked everyone to take ninety seconds, lie back in the sand, and just look up at the starlit sky. Makaiye, our five-year-old, blurred out with a sense of wonderment, “Dad, there are so many shapes.” Zayn, our ten-year-old and freshly minted 5th grader spoke in a stream of consciousness style, “Wow… it’s like they’re all connected.”
Driving home late last night, I started to think about that moment in the context of college football. We all become obsessed with our teams—with the wins and the losses, the recruiting battles, the star players, the rivalries. And at times, it feels like we spend most of our energy arguing: my team is better than yours, my conference is stronger than yours. (Thank you, SEC, for finally going to nine conference games, at least we can take that one off the table.)
But when I think about what Zayn said, it all makes sense.