Cheer on Your Favorite College Football Team From the Comfort of These North Texas Homes

I am ready. I’m wearing my crimson jersey, and my nails are painted the red they sport from now until the College Football Championship. The Sooner flag flies in front of my house. My Saturdays are booked with college football watching, cheering, and analyzing. Thank goodness the one wedding I’m invited to this fall is not on game day.

Boomer Sooner!

A Brief History of College Football

If you don’t have a college football team to cheer for, I’m genuinely sorry for you. Honestly, how do you spend your Saturdays in the fall? Maybe you’re a Friday night lights football fan, which is great, but what do you do on Saturdays before the December playoffs?

I actually enrolled and passed “Theory of Football” at the University of Oklahoma, where we perfected the game under the leadership of the Four Bs: Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer, and Bob Stoops. Sooner football can boast seven national championships — 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985 and 2000.

Special thanks for this fall obsession goes to Rutgers University and Princeton University — known then as College of New Jersey — the two schools that held the first football game in 1869. Then, it was Princeton, along with Columbia, Harvard, and Yale that hammered out the first rules for college football rules on Nov. 23, 1876.

After that, the game became so brutal that President Theodore Roosevelt had to get involved to make it safer. Hooray for the forward pass and adding space between the offense and defense! After World War II, college scholarships started being handed out. Think that changed much?

College football evolves still. Boise State University installed the first non-green field in 1986, making it known as Smurf Field to some of us and as “The Blue” to BSU fans. Now we’re dealing with what was once an amateur sport crossing the line with the NIL— name, image, and likeness — rules so the players can make the big bucks off their college careers. The Big 12 has 14 teams, the PAC 12 has a handful, and on and on.

But anyway, we will be watching. This year’s season is underway, and this week’s Candy’s Dirt open houses will feature houses with 50-yard-line tickets to football parties…at home. Tailgate from your own kitchen and watch the home team from the comfort of your own den.

One more thing — Boomer Sooner!

6119 Preston Creek Drive, Dallas

Invite your friends and stock the fridge! The large open living area of this Northwood Hills ranch would make a great place to host a game-day watch party. Or watch more than one game in the media/game room with a video projector. This 4,350-square-foot one-level, priced at $1.3 million, includes a bar —looks like just the place to argue endlessly about all the bad calls after the fourth quarter.

With wood floors throughout, the home has more reasons to make it great for game day gatherings. The kitchen’s been updated with stainless steel appliances, and the roof was installed just last month. Lots of room for football fans to sleep over in this five-bedroom home with four full baths and one half-bath. If the guests are SMU fans, this house is about 15 minutes from Gerald J. Ford Stadium.

Even though it’s football season, this is Texas so we can watch football and swim all in the same day. Enjoy the expansive diving pool, then pop open a beverage or two on the covered back patio that extends across the back of the house. Great spot to argue who should be ranked number one this week.

Agent Kyle Rovinsky with Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate will hold this home open from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

5421 Pershing Ave., Fort Worth

Here we have a relatively new home in a well-established Fort Worth neighborhood and all the perks that go with that. But since this was built in 2007, it has a modern, open-concept floorplan that makes it easy to eat all the queso and chips, parking it at the kitchen table while keeping an eye on the game in the living room.

The adjacent kitchen features custom cabinets — with space for chips and cookies — stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and a coffee bar, which is very nice for those darned 11 a.m. kickoffs. The game-day party can continue upstairs where there’s another living area and a wet bar.

With 4,560 square feet, the house has space for all those gathering spaces, plus four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The downstairs primary bedroom features French doors that open to the backyard, and the three remaining bedrooms are located on the second level.

Extras include plantation shutters, custom shelving, an eight-foot privacy fence, and fabulous curb appeal. All of this game-day headquarters is listed at $975,000.

The home, listed by Darla Robinson with Coldwell Banker Realty, will be held open from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday and again from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 17.

6630 Green Valley Circle, Aubrey

When a game-watching party happens in the middle of 10 acres, getting loud and rowdy after a touchdown is no problem. The neighbors aren’t going to hear any of the whooping, even if its TCU fans shouting when they’re one-upped by some upstart team like Colorado.

The floor plan allows easy access to game-day snacks in the kitchen while keeping an eye on the living room TV. This one-story offers four bedrooms and four bathrooms in its 4,816 square feet, priced at $2.5 million.

If the game gets dull, the heated pool stands ready for splashing, and if the SMU ponies (OU’s opponent this Saturday) should offer inspiration, this equestrian estate comes with paddocks and a lighted riding arena. Go, Mustangs?

The home, listed by agent Sarah Boyd, will be held open from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.