If College Football Programs Were Rappers, Who Would They Be?

Nov 15, 2014; Madison, WI, USA; The Nebraska Cornhuskers defense lines up during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 59-24. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska Cornhuskers-Outkast

These two are very similar in multiple ways.

Nebraska dominated the college football world in the 1990s through 2001 with three national championships and also had a dominant period in the 1960s and 1970s while still being wildly successful in the 1980s. Outkast took over rap after it left the East and West Coasts with great albums in the late 1990s and early 2000s, culminating with the best-selling rap album of all time with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in 2003, which won grammies for Best Rap Album and Album of the Year, something rappers rarely do.

Unfortunately, both are irrelevant now, but their successes cannot be ignored, and what is impressive is how unconventional they were.

Nebraska did it by running the Triple-Option and sticking to this quirky but wildly successful style of offense for four decades. They also did not have a great recruiting base or support system, so the program had no problem relying on walk-ons and converting them to stars in college, something that was commonly done.

The duo of Andre 3000 and Big Boi stuck to unconventional soul roots and also had an unconventional twist: they came up in the South when record companies in hip hop largely avoided the area. But the same way Nebraska succeeded without a strong recruiting base, Outkast succeeded without any national promotion in its region. And by doing so, Outkast put Southern Rap on the map, which brings us to the Florida schools…

Next: Miami Hurricanes