There are a number of songs that fans have associated with college football over the years, for better or worse. Tonight, the sport could finally receive the iconic theme song it has long deserved.
Five-time Academy Award winner John Williams, the greatest film score composer of all time (no, we won’t debate that point), wrote a three-and-a-half minute theme for the National Championship game of college football titled “Of Grit and Glory” which will debut during tonight’s broadcast on ESPN. This theme marks only the second time Williams has composed music for live sporting events, the other being his signature theme for the Olympics.
No excerpt from the theme is available online at the time of writing this article, but ESPN head Martin Khodabakhshian told Variety that the theme conveys “the feeling behind the night, the fear and anticipation, the triumph and failure”, which we assume means it’s going to be awesome. Williams recently announced that his music for this summer’s Indiana Jones film will likely be his last major work as a composer, so college football fans will be treated to one of the last pieces of music that the GOAT himself even will probably never create.
