The Ultimate College Football Road Trip Is BACK!

By Charlotte Wilder
FOX Sports Columnist 

Well, folks, I’m thrilled to announce it’s that time of year. The time when kids go back to school and so do I. 

The time when I collect all the vintage college tees I can find and stock up on Advil in case I have to lift a tuba: It’s Season 2 of the Dos Equis Ultimate College Football Road Trip!

It starts this week (!!!) in Atlanta, where I’ll be going to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a nonconference showdown between No. 3 Georgia and No. 11 Oregon.

And I need your help, suggestions and best stories.

But first, let me set the stage.

Last year was the best assignment I’ve ever had as a sports reporter. I was immersed in college football for 10 weeks, and it was my job to learn the specifics of fandom at each of the schools we visited. I spent a whole season celebrating the pomp and circumstance that surround Saturdays.

It was as glorious as you’d expect. We even got nominated for an Emmy! In fairness, we did not win, but only because we were following Alabama’s lead.

Last year’s college football adventures have stayed with me for the past 12 months. The flashes of memory hit when I least expect it. I’ll see an RV on a highway and remember Hal, the man who gave me a tour of his party bus at LSU. 

When he opened the door to show me his bathroom, a friend of his was in there and hollered that he didn’t have any clothes on. Hal opened the door anyway. I caught a glimpse of a grown man’s naked calf before the door slammed shut again. Michelle, a middle-aged woman whose brother owned the most intense RV I’ve ever seen, made me do jello shots with her. LSU was wild.

Sometimes the memories come back when I pass a particularly beautiful dog and remember Miss Reveille, the highest ranking member of A&M’s corps of cadets who happens to be a Rough Collie. She was not only the cleanest dog I’ve ever met, she was the most powerful. And one of the sweetest. 

When I watch a movie with Matthew McConaughey in it, I think about Bevo the UT longhorn. I was lucky enough to hang out with that majestic beast and a few Texas cowboys on their home ranch near Austin. 

I also spent time with the ponies who pull the Sooner Schooner (Boomer and Sooner) at their home in Norman, Oklahoma.

I saw a little girl going to ballet class the other day and thought of the Tiger Girls at LSU who were kind enough to teach me how to do a TikTok dance during one of their marathon practices. It was no easy feat to make a then-32-year-old look cool, but they possessed the magic to come close (I still follow all of them on Instagram). 

But I think of last fall most often when I simply see people out in the world rocking gear with their teams on it. I said this at our final stop the day before Florida-Georgia, but I found the hospitality of fans very moving. We live in an age of division and derision, and while I don’t believe sports can heal any of that, they can provide a brief moment of common ground. And people with whom I didn’t have many similarities were always so eager to show me their teams, schools, marching bands — and their homes.

Because that’s what college football is about. Home. It’s a love letter to the place you became who you are, or where your parents did, or where your sister met her husband. It might be where you first learned what a hangover was, or got your heart broken, or realized what you were passionate about. 

College football was and still is the rhythm of your Saturdays. And for people to want to share that with me, an outsider, felt very intimate. I learned so much.

Which is why I couldn’t be more thrilled to set off on another fall full of these adventures. I get to visit some old friends (lookin’ at you, Miss Rev), and explore some new places.

Here’s the schedule:

Sept. 3: Oregon vs. Georgia in Atlanta
Sept. 10: Alabama at Texas
Sept. 24: Florida at Tennessee
Oct. 8: Auburn at Georgia
Oct. 15: Penn State at Michigan
Nov. 5: Florida at Texas A&M
Nov. 19: USC at UCLA
Nov. 26: Michigan at Ohio State

I’m excited to welcome Bama to Texas in Week 2 (a hint of UT’s SEC future), to tailgate on boats with Vol Navy in Knoxville, and to visit the Big House in Ann Arbor. I’m slightly terrified for Michigan-Ohio State in Columbus, but it’s the good kind of fear, the one that comes with a really great roller-coaster. I want to find out which celebrities in L.A. care most about USC-UCLA.

But that’s just scratching the surface. 

This is where all of you come in. 

I need your suggestions — I want you to tell me where to go in your college town. Which restaurant I can’t miss. Which super fan is known for having the most outrageous game day ’fits. Which fan has a story of resilience that must be told. What traditions are crucial and which marching band’s brass section goes the hardest. Which cheerleaders do the best flips.

I want to find the most tricked-out RV, and I want to do an "MTV Cribs"-style tour of it. I want you to invite me to your mom’s tailgate, and I want her to teach me, on camera, how to make the best brisket in America. I want to march with your marching band, cheer with your cheerleaders and dance with your dance teams.

I want to honor your place, your football teams and your people. So please tweet at me, DM me, find me on Instagram or send me a letter (just kidding I’m not putting my address on the internet lol). 

But however you do it, please give me your tips, suggestions and stories you think deserve to be told. I’m all ears, and I can’t wait to touch down in your home state. 

Charlotte Wilder is a general columnist and cohost of "The People's Sports Podcast" for FOX Sports. She's honored to represent the constantly neglected Boston area in sports media, loves talking to sports fans about their feelings and is happiest eating a hotdog in a ballpark or nachos in a stadium. Follow her on Twitter @TheWilderThings.