We all love football season, tailgating, and wearing a black dress with some comfortable cowboy boots. But there is nothing harder–besides that bio test you might have next week–than getting through a noon game. Let’s face it, a noon game requires lots of preparation, mentally and physically. So, in honor of our first ‘nooner’ this Saturday, here is the go-to guide for survival.
Step 1: Wake up early.
We recommend getting up around 6 AM. The earlier you’re up, the more time you have to get ready. (Plus, there’s always the snooze button.) Sure, it’s probably going to be 92 degrees with about 80 percent humidity, but prep is a must, regardless.
Step 2: Down mimosas and stuff your face with breakfast.
Our go-to pre-football game meal is a big bacon egg and cheese on a bagel. It’s filling and delicious, which is important when you don’t know when your next meal is (You’ll also need something in your stomach to go with those mimosas!). Key to a successful day: start early and eat! But the key to a successful ~game day~: drink early and eat plenty.
Step 3: Get to the tailgate to give yourself sufficient time to ~get lit~ aka the earlier the better.
This usually requires that you’re at the tailgate no later than 9 am. This is when the party is just getting started and there’s no reason to be fashionably late for an occasion like this.
Step 4: GAME TIME – to stay at the tailgate or to leave the tailgate? That is always a tough decision.
If you go into the game, you’ll stand in the student section and hopefully get to Sandstorm every now and then (you never know these days…). But if you stay and tailgate, the party goes on. Seriously though, just go into the game.
Step 5: Halftime, another time when you’re faced with the choice of leaving to go eat some much-needed food, or go back to bed or stay to watch the rest of the game.
If you’re one (of the many) who can’t focus for too long when you’re tired and hungry, then it’s time to leave and go get some food! At this point, it’s been hours since you woke up and you could cuddle with a box of pizza in bed. Honestly, this one is all up to you.
Step 6: Nap.
Naps. Are. Key. Sleep through the champagne headache and beer hangover and repower your body. Who knows…you might need your energy to hit the town later that night.
Step 7: At midnight wake up and do what every respectable college kid would do at that time: go to McDonald’s for some chicken nuggets and fries.
Who doesn’t love a good plate of chicken nuggets? If you’re not doing this, you better be rallying or still asleep.
Step 8: Go back to bed and pray that there isn’t another noon game for a long, long time.
Pray for us all.