In college football's short season, a single game can make or break a team's fortunes. As the weeks rush by and put increasing pressure on the schools, fans and coaches tend to forget the contests are played by young men barely out of their teens. Curtis (The Men of March
), who has done reporting for Fox Sports Net, takes advantage of amazing access to evenhandedly analyze the intense burdens on nine of the sport's biggest teams to maintain their positions. He examines the different routes taken toward the same goal by the various personnel involved in the process. Coaches, for example, don't just design plays; they dissect game films, deal with media and chat up recruits. Curtis tracks several perennial powerhouses, like Colorado State and Florida State, over the course of the 2003 season and also discusses Boston College, to illustrate a team out of the running. The mind-boggling formulas that go into computing the rankings often seem to defy logic and can lead readers to much head-scratching. Curtis looks past the numbers and focuses on the people who make up the game, from players and coaches to alumni and fans. Photos. Agent, Sam Goldfeder. (On sale Aug. 31)
Forecast:
A Maxim.com promotion and bookstore appearances in the cities of the nine colleges Curtis profiles could position this as a popular holiday gift book.
