Sports
How an Emmy-winning composer and 85 musicians created College Football 25's theme song
They gathered in a 100-year-old Gothic church-turned-recording studio, a couple of blocks from Vanderbilt’s campus in Nashville. Eighty-five musicians, with their brass, wind and percussion instruments, cycled through the sanctuary to contribute to a unique task: Recording a song that fit the grandeur of the return of a college football video game.
The thunder of a spring storm boomed outside and a brood of cicadas chirped relentlessly. Inside, the orchestra created “Campus Clash,” the theme song for EA Sports College Football 25, arguably the most highly-anticipated sports video game of the past decade.
Steve Schnur, the worldwide executive and president of music for Electronic Arts, felt the game’s revival deserved a track that was unique yet true to the traditional sound of the sport. He recruited Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers to craft an arrangement and gathered the orchestra to produce an original song that stands out among the game’s extensive library of fight songs and rousers.
A video game soundtrack can quickly become an earworm as players sink into the game for hours. It must be not only tolerable but enjoyable on repeat. That might especially be the case for College Football 25, which was released this week after an 11-year hiatus since the last NCAA Football game.
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“Campus Clash” features a strong brass melody and a funky drumline beat with a swagger. It wouldn’t be out of place as a hype-building theme opening a broadcast of a prime-time game, but Schnur is adamant that nostalgia isn’t the only ingredient.
“This is not going to sound like the band you heard on a marching band field in 1985 or in 2005,” he said.
More than 2,000 miles away from Nashville, Bowers listened in to the recording while working from his studio in Los Angeles. Best known for composing the scores of films like “Green Book” and “The Color Purple” as well as Netflix’s hit show “Bridgerton,” Bowers is also a video game veteran. He composed for two previous iterations of Madden and also wrote the main themes for the upcoming Madden 25 and NHL 25 games.
A double graduate of Juilliard with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in jazz performance, Bowers didn’t get a lot of exposure to the sounds of college sports as a student because the prestigious performing arts school doesn’t have any athletic teams. To write something that would fit into a gameday atmosphere, he studied the sound of college marching bands. Schnur sent him the fight songs in the game to “get a sense of little drumline phrases that might be interesting to borrow” for the original composition, Bowers said.
“It’s definitely an amalgamation of sounds, but the biggest thing for us was for it to have this balance between a classic football theme that we’ve heard before but at the same time have it have a modern feel to it that feels a little bit different from things you’ve heard on TV for decades,” Bowers said.
To achieve that, Bowers pulled from contemporary tracks with marching bands, focusing on hip-hop songs that use brass melodies. Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella performance, which was an homage to HBCUs, and Mystikal’s “Bouncin’ Back (Bumpin’ Me Against The Wall)” were two big sources of inspiration.
Bowers begins his composition process by pinpointing the emotion of the scene (or, in this case, game). He wants the piece to make him feel the same way. Composing for video games can be challenging because there are no narrative beats to act as guides for a shifting sound or a punctuating note as there are in shows and movies. For this release, it was all about creating something that made gamers feel fired up.
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The goal is to have the theme transcend the game and become ingrained in college football culture.
“Hopefully in the future we can record other bands doing their version of it,” Bowers said. “Now that we have this version of it, even though we want the melody and the main melodic aspect of the theme to be something that sticks around, we want it to have its own life in terms of how its played and performed from here on out. Ideally if people really embrace that then we’d be able to celebrate other schools doing their version.”
Required reading
(Photo of Kris Bowers: Unique Nicole / Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Sports
Becky Lynch enters exclusive WWE club with Women’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Becky Lynch entered an atmosphere no other WWE women’s superstar has ever reached as she won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship over AJ Lee on Saturday night at WrestleMania 42.
Lynch became the first person to hold the Women’s Intercontinental Championship three times after she pinned Lee. She first won the title against Lyra Valkyria in June 2025 and then again against Maxxine Dupri in November.
Becky Lynch celebrates with the belt after defeating AJ Lee during their women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
She dropped the belt to Lee at the Elimination Chamber, sparking a monthslong feud with her.
Lee gave Lynch the chance at the title in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 42. But it appeared Lee played right into Lynch’s plans. Despite arguing with referee Jessica Carr for most of the match, Lynch was able to tactfully tear down a rope buckle and use it to her advantage.
Lynch hit Lee with a Manhandle Slam and pinned her for the win.
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AJ Lee reacts after losing to Becky Lynch in their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It’s the second straight year Lynch will leave Las Vegas as champion. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 41, teaming with Valkyria, to win the women’s tag titles. She will now leave Allegiant Stadium as the women’s intercontinental champion.
Lynch is now a seven-time women’s champion, three-time women’s intercontinental champion and two-time tag team champion.
Becky Lynch withstands AJ Lee during their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Lee’s reign as champion ended really before it could really begin. WrestleMania 42 was her first appearance at the event in 11 years. It’s unclear where Lee will go from here.
The Clippers’ season has come to an end but better than anyone expected. No consolation but a great job by head coach Tyronn Lue for guiding the Clippers from a disastrous 6-21 start and finishing with more than 40 wins.
Coach Lue led the team, overcoming major obstacles throughout the season with a player investigation, injuries, internal strife and major roster changes at the trade deadline. As usual for Clipper fans, wait till next year.
Wayne Muramatsu
Cerritos
The Clippers are the NBA’s version of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You.” Yes, they have had 15 straight seasons of playing .500 or better, and owner Steve Ballmer has brought them respectability, but for their entire 56-year existence — which has contained many clowns and jokers — they still have never [attained] their goal of winning (or even reaching) the NBA Finals.
Ken Feldman
Tarzana
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LAS VEGAS – Paul Walter Hauser is an actor who has been in “The Naked Gun,” “Blackbird,” and “Richard Jewell.” But on Friday night at Maple Leaf Pro’s first U.S. event, MLP Multiverse, there was no acting going on.
Hauser squared off against QT Marshall in a sin city street fight at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. It was the final show of Slam Fest. The two pro wrestlers pulled out all the stops and left the ring in complete disarray.
Paul Walter Hauser competed against QT Marshall at Maple Leaf Pro Multiverse on April 18, 2026 in Las Vegas. (Fox News Digital)
It was a rematch of their brawl at Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor event. Marshall went on the attack first, throwing in all kinds of foreign objects into the ring, including a piece of wood wrapped with barbed wire, a table, a cane, chairs and even a door was brought into the match.
Hauser was able to regain momentum in the match. He set up the barbed-wire object in the corner. Marshall countered and was trying to whip Hauser into the barbed wire. However, Hauser stopped himself. As Marshall tried to take Hauser by surprise, the movie star avoided Marshall and tossed him into the barbed wire.
Marshall was busted open, but wasn’t done. Hauser was trying to inflict more pain. He set up a table near one corner of the ring and poured thumbtacks on top of it. Marshall was able to powerbomb Hauser through the tacked table.
Paul Walter Hauser is pictured on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC)
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Hauser was left with thumbtacks in his back and one in his head. He managed to power through and put Marshall into a sharpshooter. Marshall tapped out. Hauser picked up the victory.
Hauser got his start in pro wrestling in 2023 at Pro Wrestling Revolver. He worked his way through appearances at All Elite Wrestling before he signed with Major League Wrestling in 2024.
He’s currently Progress Wrestling’s Progress proteus champion.
Elsewhere, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) world heavyweight champion Hechicero defended his championship against Jonathan Gresham, Maple Leaf Pro Canadian women’s champion Gisele Shaw fended off Shotzi Blackheart, Persephone and surprise entrant Killer Kelly to keep the title.
Mistico, Mascara Dorada and Amazing Red defeated The Rascalz at Maple Leaf Pro Multiverse on April 18, 2026 in Las Vegas. (Fox News Digital)
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The show started with Subculture, the tag team duo of Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster, defeated Vaughn Vertigo and Guy Cool. The Demand’s Ricochet, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona defeated Sidney Akeem, Michael Oku and Rich Swaan, Steve Borden defeated Kiran Gray and Mistico, Mascara Dorada, Amazing Red defeated The Rascalz – Desmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz and Myron Reed.
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