Enhance Your Starter Pack with the CFBD Python Client

Sure, here’s a unique and human-like version of the article:

I grabbed this CFBD Starter Pack the other day. Why? I dunno, it just seemed cool. Comes with all this fancy historical data—several seasons’ worth—good for models and stuff, they say. Dashboard heaven or something.

👉 Oh, don’t have it yet? Seriously, go snag it. We’ll wait.

But what if you’re hungry for live or recent data? Enter the CollegeFootballData API. Official Python flavor. Sounds fancy, right? Let’s stumble through setting it up, shall we?

🔧 Step 1: Go Get That Python Client

First things first—you gotta install this thing. Command prompt time!

pip install cfbd

🔐 Step 2: API Key? Yup, Need That.

Key time! CFBD website’s got it, freebie or Patreon—your call. Slap it into an environment variable:

export BEARER_TOKEN="your_api_key_here"

Then, magic happens in your Python:

import cfbd
import os

configuration = cfbd.Configuration(
    access_token=os.environ["BEARER_TOKEN"]
)

🚀 Step 3: Data Fetching Extravaganza

Context managers—who knew? They wrangle the session. Here’s you, grabbing player stats like a pro:

with cfbd.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    api_instance = cfbd.StatsApi(api_client)

    # Getting all fancy with Michigan 2023 stats
    response = api_instance.get_advanced_game_stats(
        year=2023,
        team="Michigan"
    )

    print(response)

Works on all endpoints. Crazy, right?

📘 Give These Examples a Go

Need some ideas? Here ya go:

Recent Games:

with cfbd.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    games_api = cfbd.GamesApi(api_client)
    games = games_api.get_games(year=2024, week=13)
    for g in games:
        print(f"{g.away_team} at {g.home_team}: {g.away_points}-{g.home_points}")

Team Box Scores:

with cfbd.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    stats_api = cfbd.GamesApi(api_client)
    box = stats_api.get_game_team_stats(year=2024, week=13)
    for game in box:
        print(game)

Historical Betting Lines:

with cfbd.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    betting_api = cfbd.BettingApi(api_client)
    games = betting_api.get_lines(year=2024, week=13)
    for game in games:
        for line in game.lines:
            print(f"{game.away_team} @ {game.home_team}: {line.formatted_spread} ({line.provider})")

🧠 Mix It Up with the Starter Pack

So, this Starter Pack? It’s got things like historical EPA, recruiting intel, and play-by-play action. Mash it together with API data, and you get… well, something amazing, probably.

🛑 Limits? Yeah, They’re a Thing

Free Tier’s there, chillin’, with a 1,000 calls/month cap. Think about Patreon if you’re into weather and advanced stuff.

Check your calls, too! Peek into the X-CallLimit-Remaining HTTP header or use the info endpoint—it’s nice and won’t count against you:

with cfbd.ApiClient(configuration) as api_client:
    api_instance = cfbd.InfoApi(api_client)
    api_response = api_instance.get_user_info()

    print(api_response)