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A SEASON IN THE STANDS:
One reaches the mountaintop

Congrats, Oklahoma.

by Justin Parsons, Chelsea Lipocky, Jamie Hersch, and Alex Shumate

Courtesy Alex Shumate and friends
Sooner students droppin' phat beats.

ESPNTheMag.Com recruited one student from each of ESPN The Magazine's preseason Top 4 to chronicle the football season through their eyes. The students are: Jamie Hersch from USC, Alex Shumate from Oklahoma, Chelsea Lipocky from Georgia, and Justin Parsons from Ohio State. Watch the fall unfold through tailgates, super fans, mascots, sororities, fraternities, and everything else that makes college football so great.

All the links below are organized by weeks of the college football season; if you click on one, you'll get all the videos related to that week - both the Friday videos that look ahead to a game and the Monday videos that take the pulse of campus after the game. Poke around. It's fun.



Oklahoma students the day before the Big 12 title game (12/05/08)
We were researching Kevin Wilson and the Broyles Award this week and came across this: the last time Oklahoma didn't score at least 58 points was mid-October. That's filthy. If you're Gary Pinkel, you're scared. If you're the Texas Longhorns, you're likely somewhat angry. If you're a Sooner, life is good right now; this video documents that. If you stick around 'till the end, there's a kid screaming in a shower. That's incentive.
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A look at the Trojan Knights during UCLA rivalry week (12/05/08)
Because USC/UCLA can be a rather intense rivalry, and because the schools are fairly close in proximity, there's a high probability of "Bayside vs. Valley" style prank wars. As such, this group of students known as "The Trojan Knights" protects the Tommy Trojan statue 24-7 during the UCLA game week. Here's their story, via A Season in the Stands.
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The managers of the UCLA and USC football teams engage in some touch football (12/05/08)
Little-known fact about the world: college football team managers are super valuable to the programs. In this video, they get their time in the spotlight. USC and UCLA team managers lock it up in a touch football game, and the USC managers win, 14-7. Cue the peanut gallery: "That'll be the game result!" Not so fast, friend. Apparently, the last few years, the team that wins the manager game has lost the actual Saturday game. Hmmm. Watch and appreciate the trends, via A Season in the Stands.
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USC and ND are headed in, uh, different directions (12.01.08)
Fairly stark contrast in this A Season in the Stands video in which Jamie Hersch of USC interviews a few students from her school and a few from Notre Dame following the Trojans' 38-3 win over Charlie Weis and company last Saturday. One of the ND kids talks about the utter lack of emotion that the Irish are showing. The USC girl ends it this way: "It's been a great four years here." Can ND kids say the same? Two huge programs (the USC/ND game is featured in The Godfather, for pete's sake!) headed in hugely different directions, captured on video.
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A review of the UGA 2008 season (12/01/08)
This is Chelsea Lipocky's final video for A Season in the Stands; when she started this entire process, the Georgia Bulldogs were coming off a torrid end to last season, a Sugar Bowl thumping of Hawaii and held a preseason No. 1 ranking. A few things happened along the way: "Blackout" against Alabama did not go as planned, the annual showdown with Florida in Jacksonville didn't really either and then, sadly, the regular season ended this past Saturday with a loss to Georgia Tech's triple option. Where will the Dawgs end up? We're not sure yet, although as Chelsea notes, watching the SEC Championship won't be fun considering what 'Bama and UF did to Georgia. Here, to wrap it all up, Chelsea gets some opinions from around campus on the best UGA moment of a less-than-ideal-but-still-darn-good season.
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Learn about some key USC traditions in advance of the annual Notre Dame game (11/26/08)
Before Saturday's USC vs. ND "battle" in Los Angeles, use A Season in the Stands and our USC girl, Jamie Hersch, to familiarize yourself with some Trojan traditions. Happy Thanksgiving! (Maybe not as much for the Irish, though.)
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Week Thirteen: The Oklahoma vs. TTU tailgate, OSU throttles Michigan and USC wonders (11/22/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Check out a video detailing Norman, OK the day before AND the day of the Texas Tech game; USC students wonder what bowl they might be heading to; Ohio State students react to destroying Rich Rodriguez in his first trip to "The Game."
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WEEK TWELVE: Stranded in motels, visiting Auburn, married couples with different favorite programs and The Weekender (11/15/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: A married couple represents the fan bases of Ohio State and Clemson—who will their kids root for? ; Oklahoma students are stranded in a motel without access to college football highlights; Jamie at USC heads to Weekender vs. Stanford and Chelsea from UGA heads to Auburn.
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WEEK ELEVEN: A Sooners rap, a Trojans fight song remix and a couple of narrow wins (11/08/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: A rather amazing Oklahoma Sooners rap song; a similarly amazing remix of the USC Trojans fight song; Georgia students on their favorite Dawg in the NFL; and all our schools wonder about their place in the BCS picture.
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WEEK TEN: Football's effect on coupledom and the Dawgs lose again (11/01/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: An Oklahoma couple sips champagne but there are a few problems because of fall Saturdays; a Georgia couple on Steve Spurrier ruining their first date; several scenes from USC Homecoming, including a fake Sarah Palin; and sadly, Florida destroys the Dawgs in Jacksonville.
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WEEK NINE: Tommy Trojan, UGA Dog's Hotel Room and "Tressel needs to win the big one" (10/25/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Learn about the Tommy Trojan statue at USC; an Ohio State senior throws Jim Tressel under the bus; UGA Dog has a nice hotel room, considering he's a dog.
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WEEK EIGHT: In Which We Contrast The Experiences (10.18.08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Check out the differences in being 18 and 22 at four of the major powerhouses in college football. "Hey, that's Mark Sanchez over there!" Indeed.
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WEEK SEVEN: And now, every team has a loss. (10/11/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Oklahoma students are really excited (!!) for Dallas…but it doesn't end so well; UGA students on their love for Mark Richt; meet the USC song girls and hear an incredibly true story of being a Buckeye cheerleader.
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WEEK SIX: The Best Stories On Campus, A USC Pool Party and the Development of Terrelle (10/4/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: See what happens when a UGA fan has 10 seconds to say something witty to Tommy Tuberville; go inside a pool party at USC; hear the sports editor of Ohio State's newspaper talk about the time he (literally) got carried away at a game versus Michigan.
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WEEK FIVE: UGA and USC got one in the loss column (09/27/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Georgia and USC lost; meet Super Fans at all four schools - The Sooner Men, Gameday Dan in Athens, Ryan and Brian in La-La Land, and the owner of the Buckeye Basement in Ohio.
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WEEK FOUR: Two of the schools were off, but things still got interesting (09/20/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Norman, OK is a ghost town on off-weeks; two of the cutest Buckeye fans you'll ever meet; ASU and Georgia talk smack with each other; USC students are already thinking Miami in January.
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WEEK THREE: USC VS. OSU, OKLAHOMA AND GEORGIA TAKE TO THE ROAD (09/13/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: OSU and USC students talk smack to each other, with hysterical results; Jamie Hersch and her midwestern dad break down USC's huge victory; UGA sorority girls head to Columbia for the first road trip of the season; an interview with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland; and an amazing short film about Oklahoma football.
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WEEK TWO: UGA SORORITY GIRLS GET READY FOR A GAME, USC WAITS FOR OSU, THE BATTLE OF OHIO (09/06/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Learn how UGA sorority girls get ready for tailgate; Oklahoma students question the past of Cincinnati head man Brian Kelly; USC students can only focus on the eight days before the OSU showdown; and everyone in Columbus just wants to scream O-H-I-O!
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WEEK ONE (!): TAILGATING IN NORMAN, OHIO STATE GEARS UP, USC DESTROYS VIRGINIA (08/30/08)
HIGHLIGHTS: Beanie Wells goes down, so how will the OSU student body react? ; USC students on whether the Leinart/Bush era is back after pasting UVA 52-7; and a detailed look at the first Saturday morning tailgate in Norman, Oklahoma.
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SEASON IN THE STANDS: AUDITION TAPES
In July, we put this callout online and in ESPN The Magazine. We got a tremendous amount of response; ultimately, we selected one student from each of our top four preseason schools: USC, OSU, Georgia, and Oklahoma. Here, you can check out their original submissions. They caught our eye; hopefully they'll catch yours too.
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