Listicles

Support Your Team: College Football Edition

In a wild anticipatory stupor on the eve of tomorrow’s arrival of college football (I know it technically started yesterday, but it doesn’t start for me until my University of Georgia Bulldogs play), I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning last night reading Every Day Should Be Saturday and trying to come up with a football-themed version of “The Night Before Christmas” to share with you people today. My compositional efforts were mostly for naught, so I figured I’d write a post about handbags instead, since I have a sneaking suspicion that most of y’all don’t care about college football.

I’m not exactly sure how I came to be a football-obsessed fashion blogger, although it more or less ensures that I’m pissing off approximately half of my Twitter followers at any given time. But since it’s Friday and I’m feeling hopeful (or maybe I just shotgunned a beer while standing on my couch with my face painted red and black – you’ll never know!), I thought I’d pick some bags that fans of various teams might want to carry to their various tailgating festivities this season. If your preferred team isn’t represented here, let us know who you root for in the comments and whether or not you have a bag that goes with with your football allegiance. GO DAWGS. Sorry, I can’t help it.

I’m a proud alumna (ABJ ’08) of America’s #1 party school, the University of Georgia, so that’s where we’ll start. Finding a bag in Georgia red is difficult, not to mention finding one that’s both functional and attractive, but the Valentino Premier Bow Hobo is just that. I’ve loved this design for several season, and seeing it come in such a perfect, true red make me love it even more. Plus, it’s big enough to carry a fifth of Maker’s Mark (or your adult beverage of choice, no judgment here) comfortably, and that’s an important consideration when choosing a bag for game days. If you’re not lucky enough to be a Georgia Bulldog, this bag could also work for fans of Texas Tech, Utah, Louisville, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Rutgers. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $1895.

When I think of football, I think of the SEC, but we have readers from around the country and I intend to share the football-handbag love with as many of them as possible. For Penn State fans, finding the right shade of blue can likely be as difficult as finding Georgia red, but I think the Salvatore Ferragamo Meditterraneo Sophia Satchel is pretty close. The blue is a medium shade but not too bright, and it could also find a potential home with fans of Florida, Kentucky, Boise State and Pitt. Buy through Saks for $1650.

Sometimes a bag comes along in a very specific color combination or material that can only be applied to one team. Last year, that was Alexander McQueen’s houndstooth tote for Alabama, and this year, it’s the Versace Leather and Suede Satchel for TCU. Black and purple is a bold color choice that not many college teams make and not many designers think to combine on handbags, but the underdog Top 10 team has a design to call its very own this season. Buy through Saks for $2950.

A good green bag is harder to find than one would think, but luckily for fans of Oregon, Michigan State and Marshall, the Tory Burch Dena Messenger Bag is almost the perfect color. Crossbodies are handy to have while traversing a college campus in search of your drunk friend who wandered off (why is this friend always the one who has the tickets?), but it also means that you can’t carry a whole lot with you. Your ticket, cell phone, sunglasses and keys are really all you need, though, right? Buy through Net-a-Porter for $365.

Since I’m a Georgia fan, orange isn’t exactly my favorite football color, but for fans of Tennessee it’s really the only gameday option available. For some reason, Longchamp thought that bright orange would be a perfect color for a handbag, and the Longchamp 4×4 Leather Tote was born. A basic tote in a solid color actually isn’t a bad game day option at all, so fans of Clemson, Florida and Oregon State might want to take note. Buy through Saks for $460.

Dark red is one of the most versatile and widely beloved colors in sports fandom. Whether it’s called crimson, scarlet or just plain ol’ maroon (boring), teams from coast to coast might be interested in the Givenchy Antigona Tote. I picked this one especially for the preseason #1 and defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide (it’s even in their name!), but it would also find a spot in the closets of Ohio State, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, Indiana and South Carolina. Buy through Luisa Via Roma for $2268.

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