ESPN has produced 103 '30 for 30' films. Of those 103, eight have focused on college football stories (or had strong college football ties). That's not enough. We need more.
We need these college football '30 for 30' films:
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Honorable Mention
Lane Kiffin: Lane Kiffin's story isn't over yet. While a Lane Train '30 for 30' would be fascinating now — tracking his life as the son of Monte Kiffin to his four head-coaching stops — it would be more fascinating 10 or 15 years from now.
Mike Leach: Mike Leach's story is further along than Kiffin's, but the 58-year-old outspoken Washington State coach isn't done yet.
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Blake Carringer
Blake Carringer was a 6-foot-6, 315-pound offensive tackle from Grace Christian Academy in Knoxville, Tenn., who held offers from Alabama and Florida. Rivals' three-star ranking fed into the 247Sports Composite system, which made Carrington the 859th-ranked recruit in the 2020 class.
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Wakeyleaks
Louisville beat Wake Forest on Nov. 12, 2016, after a 34-point fourth-quarter turned a 12-10 deficit into a 44-12 win. Four days later, news dropped that Wake Forest was investigating if "Louisville knew too much."
They did, thanks to a Wake Forest radio announcer who'd been leaking gameplans to opponents for years.
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1942 Rose Bowl
Nine days after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Lieutenant General John DeWitt, commander of the Western Defense Command, recommended the cancellation of the 1942 Rose Bowl — scheduled for Jan. 1, 1942 — and other large events on the Pacific coast. He was fearful of another Japanese attack.
Several midwest and east-coast cities offered to host the game, including Chicago and Washington D.C., but the game — between Duke and Oregon State — was ultimately played in Durham, N.C.
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Bill Snyder
Kansas State went winless in 1986 and 1987, their fifth and sixth winless seasons since 1946, and had three wins over their last four seasons.
Despite being the worst program in college football, Kansas State landed one of the nation's most sought-after assistant coaches: Iowa offensive coordinator and longtime Hayden Fry assistant Bill Snyder. Ten months later, he led the Wildcats to their first win in more than 1,000 days, and the rest is history.
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North Carolina Academics
One of the biggest scandals in sports history received plenty of national coverage between 2010 — when the first story broke about football players receiving extra benefits — and 2017 — when the NCAA announced North Carolina wouldn't be punished for fake class and other incomprehensible improprieties, but I don't believe everyone understands the magnitude of this story and how lucky North Carolina was to avoid serious penalties.
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Kansas Football
"People don't care about Kansas football."
I disagree: Kansas football is so bad that people care. And people would marvel at a story of Turner Gill and Charlie Weis lighting fire to a program that Mark Mangino built from national irrelevance to Orange Bowl champion.
