‘SEC Football: Any Given Saturday’ Netflix Series Review - Watch Only If You Are A College Football Fan

Sports fans, especially football lovers, Netflix has got you covered yet again with this docuseries titled "SEC Football: Any Given Saturday." This series gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of Southeastern Conference (SC) football teams.  We get to hear from coaches, players, as well as the rest of the team, about what grinding takes place during the college football season. One thing is for sure: at the age of 18-21, these football players have a lot at stake while playing the game. The pressure is immense and very competitive. Right at the first episode, we are shown LSU’s early-season challenges. To talk us through the same, we have Brian Kelly, the coach of the team. Brian has a big responsibility on his shoulders, and that is to build back the quarterback defense because it's one of the weakest points of the team. The episode begins with the loss of LSU against USC. This wasn’t easy for the team. LSU players tell us how much they have to grind, and Coach Brian is not going easy on them for obvious reasons. All this practice will only prepare them to face South Carolina. Moving to the second episode, the viewers get a chance to witness the drama building inside the Florida Gators in the early 2024 SEC season. In this episode, we see how the media and fan pressure affect both the players and the coach because losing means disappointing many fans altogether. Coming up next is Vanderbilt’s big upset over a highly ranked Alabama. We also witness the intense rivalry between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Ole Miss Rebels, and the Texas A&M Aggies playing against the Texas Longhorns. All these are interesting to watch as we see one school hosting the other while playing to win with pride. As I mentioned before, the pressure is immense on the players and the coaches, with the coaches getting fired for poor performance. So everyone is on their toes during the game season.

Talking about the documentary, no doubt it's good that Netflix came up with a show like this because we hardly ever talk about football, with a special focus on college football. But the major issue is that there have been a lot of unnecessary clips throughout the show. This somehow drags the episodes with no justification. For example, in episode one, we see how one of the players goes off to shoot in the wild. And I found it confusing because I couldn’t understand what point they were trying to make in connection with the show. Similarly, certain points remain unexplained, which they leave to the audience to join the dots and understand.

But all this can be ignored if you are a fan of the SEC because then you will know which team you wish to support and the politics that go on in this game. There is a lot of hype created, which somewhere blurs the mind from understanding straight. The clippings of the main event are filled with cheerleaders and the main game. With so much being shown, it’s difficult to understand what is being conveyed. Somehow, the show also becomes one-sided as each episode focuses on the rivalry between two teams, and less footage is given to the other team. As a result, we don’t really get to know what the other team might want to say or how they would have reacted.

What is a highlight is the interviews and the raw truth that the coaches and the players bring. They are honest about what goes on in the game and what their expectations are. So watch only if you are aware of this; otherwise, you will find it dull.

Final Score- [5/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Choudhuri
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times