SEC Football : Any Given Saturday
By GEORGE SOMERVILLE
When the calendar finally turns to August you know that football is FINALLY going to be played this month.
With summer in the rearview mirror cue a myriad of TV shows focusing on the build up to the kick off to the new season.
In more recent years behind the scenes/ through the keyhole documentaries have become regular features of this build up. Shows like Hard Knocks and All or Nothing have plotted the journeys of NFL teams for many years now and have proven to be very popular.
So far, however we haven’t had that glimpse behind the curtain of college football.
Until now, that is. In case you missed it, Netflix recently debuted its latest docuseries from Box to Box films called SEC Football : Any Given Saturday.
As the title suggests, the series covers teams within the Southeastern Conference over the course of a year during the 2024/25 season.
Box to Box Films
If filmmakers Box to Box sound familiar, it’s because they have been responsible for some of the biggest sporting documentaries shown on our screens in recent years. Shows like F1: Drive to Survive, Full Swing, Sprint, 6 Nations Full Contact and frankly a host of others make up an impressive portfolio of work from this production company.
At SEC Media days the media in attendance was given a preview of the first episode of Any Given Saturday with SEC Commissioner, Greg Sankey making mention of the new partnership with Box to Box during his opening remarks in Atlanta.
“one of our new endeavours is with Box to Box, a Netflix documentary series spotlighting the 2024 football season. That series goes behind the scenes to really capture what we think is unprecedented footage and personal stories of our coaches, our student-athletes, and our teams throughout last season”.
With the slate of work Box to Box has accumulated in the sports world and the SEC being the most watched College football conference, it makes for compelling viewing. It also makes for an exciting partnership.
IN the beginning
But how did it come about?
“It really was a perfect storm” Box to Box Executive Producer, Paul Martin told The College Chaps Podcast during a recent episode devoted to the screening of the season on Netflix.
“as a business (Box to Box) we were looking and talking to a number of big US Sports rights holders” Paul continued, talking about how the opportunity with the SEC came about.
“then someone said, “if you’re going to start looking at college football, you need to start talking with the SEC”.
A meeting with Commissioner Sankey and his staff went well and the Conference people were very receptive to the idea of a series about football in the South.
The SEC was open to further discussions which meant that the Schools and their representatives needed to be brought onside.
A tough audience
Around six months after that initial meeting with Commissioner Sankey, Paul found himself in a room with all 16 SEC Athletic Directors and Head Coaches.
“probably the scariest meeting I have ever been in, in my life” Paul recalled laughing.
Paul talks about that first meeting with Athletic Directors and Head coaches with each of them telling “war stories” about things that had happened during their times in the conference.
It was at that point and for the first time that the Netflix crew got a real sense of the traditions and rivalries involved in college sports.
“the Egg Bowl” cries Paul, his face lighting up with enthusiasm. “I had no idea how fierce that rivalry is!” “I was listening to them, all great story tellers getting excited about what that show could be”.
Paul and his team were hooked and an idea was born.
a Cinderella story
The shows success is in the telling of the stories and personalities shining through during the season.
Episode one features Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers as they prepare for their opening game against USC in Las Vegas. During the episode Kelly talks about being inextricably linked with college kids to keep his job and pay his mortgage.
“I have my life, mortgage, everything associated with these 18-21 year old….what am I? Crazy” laughs Kelly during the episode.
Which encapsulates the beauty of college football and the craziness of life in the SEC in one quote. As we know last year the SEC had one of the most unpredictable seasons on record meaning the series captures the rollercoaster of emotions as the teams – not all 16 the part in the series – experience the highs and lows of a quite incredible year of football.
Florida’s poor start to the season has us guessing as to whether Head coach, Billy Napier will make it to the end of the series.
LSU and South Carolina provide full access to the film crew giving us excellent insight into the lives of Brian Kelly and Shane Beamer.
A Cinderella Story
However the success story from last year’s season came from an unexpected source and a true cinderella story. Well, after all Hollywood is involved now. The timing of the cameras being at First Bank Stadium in Nashville to see the Vanderbilt Commodores beating Alabama could not have been better timed. Nothing screams college football chaos more than goalposts being torn down and marched passed the Honky Tonks of Nashville before being despatched into the Cumberland River.
It was box office in every sense of the word.
“if we get into the edit and we cannot make this episode work then we need to go find other jobs – it was just perfect” recalls Paul of that one moment in time.
The Drive to Survive Effect
You know from reading these pages week on week that the love for college football is growing year on year in the UK and across Europe. But you can’t help wonder if the sport can find new fans in the same way that Drive to Survive is credited with changing the mindset of a US fanbase traditionally raised on NASCAR and Indycar racing.
Did this cross Paul Martin and Greg Sankey’s minds?
“With Drive to Survive……it was lightning in a bottle – the right show and the sport at exactly the right time” said Paul when asked about comparing the impact the two shows have on its audience.
The comparison with how the NFL has developed its international fanbase is a good one albeit we are talking about very different footballing markets. But in reality at this moment the international viewer for NFL and college is probably the same.
The SEC
“I don’t think that international (audience) is in the business plan for the SEC in the same way that the NFL has, so I’m not sure it’s that important as it was for the NFL” said Paul comparing the two propositions.
“And obviously the NFL spent a lot of time and probably a lot of money and effort to gt the NFL to where it is”. said Paul during his chat with The Chaps.
This viewpoint was echoed by Commissioner Sankey a few weeks earlier in Atlanta for Media Days when I asked him the question about growing the SEC’s International fanbase.
“I also think we do a pretty good job internationally on our own with just drawing interest…..doggone it’s compelling – we are not boring and dull I can tell you that!” said Sankey during his Q&A on opening day.
Sankey is not and never will be a never say never guy but the Conference has a lot of other pressing issues on its plate right now. If the Conference sells itself or dare I say it a Netflix show helps with expanding audience perhaps that’s all that is required in 2025.
“hopefully this show can start to pique people’s interest and help people understand (the game) a bit more….because that was always the hard bit for me” Paul said about his initial lack of understanding of college sports.
He continued, “why am I going to support a University? That makes no sense to me, why should I care about a University. Sure I’ll support the Miami Dolphins”….. but now I understand it more and when you understand it, it’s not just a bunch of playing a little bit of sport on a Saturday like it is in the UK”.
So could we see further seasons of the show? Paul is hopeful that the SEC, Netflix and the fans have the appetite for more of this compelling show.
I for one will be very hopeful for a follow up season of this show.
You can watch the full season of “SEC Football: Any Given Saturday” now on Netflix.
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.