Tips for covering Division I football?

if you have had excelled at covering preps and small colleges, you should transition into major college football with few problems. you're not as clueless as you think.

i like to arrive 2, 2 1/2 hours before gametime. that gives me time to park, get to the stadium, read the pregame notes, read a few articles about both teams and have a bite to eat. i also set up any files - byline, dateline - for gamers/sidebars. that's a small step but it helps me feel prepared. introduce yourself to the respective SIDs and possibly a few other writers if they're not busy.

i still do pxp even though stats/pxp will be handed out by the SID staff. it helps me keep track of the flow of the game. helps me recognize trends or players having good games. i also write/jot notes down on my laptop during the game. take advantage of halftime to write. if you are doing a notebook, bang out a few notes before the game.

both teams' SIDs should have extra media guides in the pressbox, but many teams also post their media guides online. it can be a pain to navigate those .pdfs and find what you need.

know what time your deadline is and know how many inches the desk wants. do you have to do anything for your website?

if that doesn't work, resort to the advice left by mizzou and themethod.

 

If the game is close, say very loudly, "There's no way in hell this will go into overtime..." If it's a night game and everybody is on a tight deadline, say it several times, people will appreciate it.

Everytime a player scores, turn to the AD and say, "How much did you have to pay to get him?"

If the home team is losing at halftime, ask the AD if he wants to respond to message board rumors that the coach is about to be fired.

Tell one of the SIDs to get you a Coke, they love to help out in any way they can.

Read the game notes very carefully, look for spelling and grammatical errors and point them out to the SID about 30 seconds before kickoff.