Ever since the LSU creative team went on a generational heater with their hype videos in the 2019 season, expectations have been raised for college football social media. Some teams do it better than others but everyone’s been creating more and more content with ever-higher production values. Apparently, just half a decade on from the genre’s moment in the sun, even the bowl games themselves are cranking out hits. Just look at what the Orange Bowl dropped to celebrate Notre Dame and Penn State earning bids to their semifinal:
Let’s break down all the stuff we have going on here:
It seems like the clips themselves often come from team-produced videos from earlier in the season, but the bowl promos have a distinct and consistent editing style. Desaturated slo-mo highlights get a team-specific treatment,3 while frequent zoom-ins/-outs and jump cuts faster than you can keep up with help it all stay buzzy.
The soundscape is layered and variable with the music moving up and down in the mix to let big hits, sound effects, and radio calls(!) shine through in key moments.
This is done best at the end of the ND video: “…and you’re not gonna catch Jeremiyah Love!” fades out beautifully over an aerial shot of Hard Rock Stadium, perfectly setting the stage for Thursday’s game.
And, again, these are dropping under the official bowl game handle which has never been anyone’s first stop for getting their heart rate up.4
There’s been a lot of change with the 12-team playoff, some expected and some surprising. Given enough chances I guess I could’ve predicted Ohio State ripping off 34 straight points to open the Rose Bowl, but I was never going to foresee a bowl game setting the high water mark for playoff social content. It’s a real treat for both fanbases in the game to have these videos as part of the run-up and something every other playoff-adjacent account should be furiously trying to copy.