Lights! Camera! Burgers! Sonic Cooks Up College Football Drama

Starring SEC standouts (schooled by acting coach Terry Crews)

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Now that some college football standouts have graduated from the “Terry Crews School of Acting for Athletes,” Sonic and Mother L.A. have launched “Where Football Goes to Burger.” It’s a drama (of sorts) packed with flavor, football and deep rivalries that will have you streaming Friday Night Lights like it’s the early 2000s.

The storylines revolve around a new QB in town—the Sonic Smasher. In the first episode, which features Rueben Owens of Texas A&M, a father confronts the football coach, reminding him that his son is QB1. “I’m starting the Smasher!” the coach insists.

In “Darlene,” Marcel Reed of Texas A&M confronts the Smasher, which holds a beefy attraction for Marcel’s girlfriend. “You are so hot!” she tells Smasher. That’s some juicy, cheesy love triangle right there.

“Sonic restaurants are at the heart of football culture in towns across America,” says Ben Bliss, GCD at Mother L.A. “The natural gathering place for teams and fans after the game. That inspired the idea of positioning Sonic’s best selling burger, the Smasher, as the QB1 of burgers. When we were thinking about how to bring that to life, we realized football dramas are loaded with passionate confrontations and tense moments, which made it the perfect motif for the campaign. So, for the spots, we looked to natural drama that develops around star quarterbacks. Jealousies, confrontations, injuries, all of it made for great proof points showing how Smasher is the true QB1 of burgers.”

The ads will run in time for the SEC opening weekend.