USA Today Ranks The 10 Most Overrated College Football Fanbases, Puts FSU In The Top Spot

SteveHolt10 years ago

College football is only two weeks away. Can you believe it? Are you having trouble sleeping? Are you prepared for the onslaught of #HOTTAKES that will make their way to your timeline over the course of the next six months? I sure as hell am. It has been far too long since I have been to a college football game, and I am ready to get back to weekends of nonstop football coverage, just as God intended.

With college football comes college football #content. We websites live and die in the content game. Lists, rankings, videos of things eviscerating other things — these are all “must click” items that pair well with college football. USA Today released its “10 most overrated college football fanbases” on Wednesday, and as much as I want to hate it, I pretty much agree with everything.

From USA Today:

10. HARVARD AND YALE

For 525,919 minutes of every year, fans of Harvard and Yale are busy being thought leaders and masters of the universe. The other 30 minutes are spent pretending The Game matters. And the audacity of calling it The Game, you guys. Come on.

9. MIAMI

It was The U when Warren Sapp, Clinton Portis, Santana Moss and Willis McGahee were there. Right now, it’s The Team That Plays In Front Of A Half Empty Pro Stadium And Has Trouble Beating Duke, Wake Forest and Virginia. Say what you will about other fanbases, but at least they don’t hit South Beach on fall Saturdays when their team isn’t any good.

8. FLORIDA

Can you believe it’s been six years since Tim Tebow played football at Florida?

7. NOTRE DAME

No, no; when I ask where you went to college and you say “Notre Dame,” you don’t have to do that little pause thing like you’re slightly embarrassed about it, based on the idea that it’s a really good school with a really good football team and you don’t want to seem like you’re bragging. Don’t worry, you’re not. One of those things is true. One of those things used to be true long before you ever went there, unless you were bunking with Paul Hornung. Don’t even get me started on Touchdown Jesus.

6. USC

Depending on which member of Reggie Bush’s family you ask, the Trojans are Los Angeles’ pro football team. As such, you would expect an unrivaled level of passion from the USC faithful. Unfortunately, this is L.A. and no one is faithful. Oh hey, Pete Carroll.

5. BOISE STATE

It’s remarkable to witness the inflated sense of self worth from fans of Boise State; a team playing in the Mountain West. The team’s Wikipedia entry has a section titled “Constant Success.” Wyoming, New Mexico, and Air Force are in your conference. It’s harder to fail than it is to succeed.

4. BAYLOR

Look at what Art Briles has given you in the past five years, Baylor fans. A new stadium, Robert Griffin III when he was a Heisman winner and before he was insufferable, and back-to-back Big 12 championships. And yet Baylor is an afterthought in the state of Texas. That’s on you, Bears fans.

3. OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma fan support is about as shaky as Sam Bradford’s knees at this point. Sooner fans are actually a metaphor for Bob Stoops’ career. They were once great and no one is really sure what happened since.

2. TEXAS

Texas launched the Longhorn Network in 2011, which might be the cockiest thing anyone in college football has done since Kliff Kingsbury’s five o’clock shadow. The Longhorns’ record since launching the Longhorn Network is 31-21 with appearances in the Holiday Bowl, the Alamo Bowl twice, and what I thought was the made up Texas Bowl. There isn’t a team or a fan base living off past achievement more than Texas is right now. But yeah, keep on hooking ’em horns, Texas.

1. FLORIDA STATE

I’m not going to even touch on your former quarterback whose name rhymed with “shame us.” Instead we’ll focus on the appalling, annoying and out-of-date Tomahawk Chop, which is probably the worst thing in all of sports. Why do people care about the Washington Redskins’ name but not the Tomahawk Chop? Probably because they know FSU will be back to being mediocre in a few years and it’s not worth the trouble.

I guess I can get behind Florida State in the top spot? I don’t know much about the Seminoles, but I do know that #FSUTwitter is by far the darkest part on the web. I still think Texas is the worst college football fanbase of all time. And I say that as a Texas fan and alum. It is hard to watch the atmosphere at SEC games and know in my heart that Texas will never be able to recreate it in Austin.

I was surprised to see Boise State on here. I would imagine any college football fandom in Boise, ID., would be considered good fandom. I love that Baylor is on there, too. There is something about Baylor that is just a little bit off. It’s like that family member who comes to Thanksgiving dinner and you don’t mind talking to them for a while but you wouldn’t invite to spend the night. Baylor seems like it has always been in need of a recalibration.

If this was my ranking, I would also add TCU and every other ACC school not named Clemson to the list. ACC fans couldn’t care less about college football, and half the league plays in the southeast.

I guess what I am really saying is this: I can’t wait for college football kickoff on Sep. 5..

[via USA Today]

Image via YouTube