With college football season right around the corner, we take a look at which fan bases to avoid confrontations with on Saturdays.
Fan bases and college football are a beautiful marriage. In about six weeks, the college football season returns and those fans are already getting fired up for the season. No matter where you live, whether it’s the East or West Coast, above the Mason-Dixon line or below it, there are some schools who’s fans you just don’t like.
You generally hate them, I wouldn’t use hate in this sense as I would call it an “aggressive dislike”, but those fans are out there. You see them on social media, in bars and even at the stadiums. They are some of the most annoying groups of people, but which fan base is the worst of the lot.
Being the unofficial college football historian that I am, I’ve decided to look at which fans drive the blood pressure up of everybody else in America. The results are cruel so to those of you who make the list, I’m sorry but you deserved it. To those that didn’t make it, try again next year.
15. Florida Gators
Florida coming in at No.15 is actually kind of shocking, to be honest. Had this ranking been done 5-6 years ago, they’d be much higher on the list. With the end of the Urban Meyer era, the Gators took a huge slide as Will Muschamp struggled to keep the squad in contention for national titles.
As the standing of being one of the elites faded away, so did the annoying fans, but they’re still around somewhere. You’ll see then referencing one of their national titles or spouting off about the greatness of Tim Tebow.
One way Gator fans can be loud and obnoxious once again is by seeing their squad win some games and when I say win games, I mean win the SEC title. To do that, they’ll have to beat an Alabama team that has choke-slammed them to the mat in the last two SEC Championships.
14. Nebraska Cornhuskers
Oh how the mighty have fallen. Nebraska has as many banners for being the most annoying fan base in college football as the Montreal Canadiens do for all of their Stanley Cups. Nebraska’s nose-dive in the early-to-mid 2000s was met with much joy around the country as the option-running farm boys finally got a dose of their own medicine.
One thing most, if not all, college football fans admire about Cornhusker fans is their willingness to travel with their team — because who would want to be in Nebraska, am I right?
With the “Sea of Red” willing to go anywhere, they’ve moved on from annoying fans in the Big 12 to annoying fans in the Big Ten. They’ll come to your town, they’ll help you party it down and they’ll make your ears bleed with chants of “Go Big Red” and “Husker Power”.
13. Oklahoma Sooners
I’m sure Nebraska fans are happy with this, they are more tolerant than Oklahoma fans. Congrats, guys, here’s a cupcake.
Like Florida fans, their glory years of annoyance have died down but they’re still capable of inciting hatred, and not just from people in Austin and Stillwater. Most of the Oklahoma hate comes from the success that the Sooners have had since Bob Stoops took over in 1999. From there, it’s become typical to see the Sooners among the nation’s best. With that, the fans and that dang Boomer Sooner.
I once covered a game that Oklahoma played in and I thought it would be a good idea to take a count of how many times Boomer Sooner was played. I lost count at around 43 midway through the second quarter. Add to the fact their fans actually like the song, it validates any reason to put them on the list.
12. Auburn Tigers
Our first SEC school from Alabama is on the list, and it’s Auburn, which means that once again they come second to Alabama in something (spoiler alert). The loveliest school on the plains is home to some great football and an even more annoying and hate-worthy fan base. What makes Auburn fans so annoying is that everything they seek is the approval of someone who will say that it’s better than what Alabama does.
Like most SEC schools, Auburn fans are passionate about their school and they should be. They play in a beautiful stadium and and have some of the loudest games each week. However, the constant seeking of approval from your SEC West rivals puts you on the list. That, and well, noted Finebaum callers Tammy and Charles from Reeltown.
11. Georgia Bulldogs
We stay in the South, notably the SEC, with Auburn’s rival Georgia. Now the Bulldogs. like their rivals Auburn and Florida, are very loyal but their loyalty tends to get repetitive. As in, they like to remind you that (insert year) is their year to finally take over the SEC and usually it ends with them playing the Capital One Bowl or something that would equal to a diet version of the Sugar Bowl.
What makes them so hated, at least in my eyes, is that you already know what they’re going to bring up. Herschel Walker this, Herschel Walker that and Sic’ Em Dawgs, but at the end of the day, they still can’t get it done. Wash, rinse, repeat. Maybe one day they’ll do something more than remind us about how great they once were and win a national title.
10. Tennessee Volunteers
We’re still down South, because nothing says annoyance and disappointment like the SEC East. This time we travel to Knoxville and visit the Tennessee Volunteers. They follow the same theme as most, if not all, of the SEC teams on this list. Great tradition in football and their fans will not let you forget about it. Like Georgia, at the beginning of every season we have to hear Tennessee fans tell us that this is the season they return to glory and yet, they’re going on a now 10-year SEC Championship Game drought.
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They also have a song that annoys the heck out of rival fans, but it’s personally one of my favorites. “Rocky Top” can be played at very annoying levels which can drive anybody nuts. Once the Vols can actually live up to the hype, the “Big Orange Nation” will rise an spread their annoyance beyond the South once again.
9. Clemson Tigers
Your reigning national champions come in at No. 9 on the list. I know what you may be thinking, how come they aren’t higher on the list? Look, I get it, but one thing will make you less annoying and that’s finally winning a national championship. I was worried that Clemson winning a national title would turn their fans into annoying snobs but it didn’t. If anything I’m not sure they actually know how to react.
Clemson, if anything, gets most of its “heat” from schools in SEC country because it carries itself like an SEC program and even taking the moniker “Death Valley” — the same name as LSU. While I have no issues with Clemson fans, their arrogance and attitude remind some of an SEC school and their win over Alabama only stokes those flames of hatred more.
8. USC Trojans
We leave the south and head to the West Coast for our only lone team located in a Pacific Time Zone. You could’ve put Oregon fans in this spot but they’ve hopped off the bandwagon faster than you can say Mark Helfrich. USC fans follow the mold of most, if not all, Los Angeles-based sports teams. They’re annoying when they’re good but when they’re not so good, they are tough to find.
I’d find USC fans less terrible had they not fallen into the mold of most LA-based sports teams when the Trojans struggled after the departure of Pete Carroll. Another thing that makes this fan base so annoying is that like many schools on this list, the Trojans’ most annoying fans didn’t even go to the school. Half of them probably can’t name anybody aside from Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Sam Darnold.
7. Texas A&M Aggies
You could classify the “12th Man” as part diehard, part paranoid and part classic little brother. The fine folks of College Station have had an obsession about their rival, the University of Texas, since seemingly the beginning of time. So much so that the Aggie War Hymn, Texas A&M’s fight song, is basically the original diss track. However, the Aggies arrogance and annoyance in general puts them on this list.
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Their rise to the rankings still stems from their exit to the SEC and how they managed to pull off one of the greatest things in modern history, at least in my eyes, and that is the cult phenomenon that is Johnny Manziel.
With Manziel, the Aggie fan base became unbearable under their new banner of the SEC. As Manziel’s career ended, so did the height of Aggie annoyance and now they’ve returned to just throwing shade at Texas, the only thing they’ve ever been good at.
6. Michigan Wolverines
Our second Big Ten team comes in and it’s Michigan. The Wolverines have grand tradition in college football and it’s always good for the sport when they do well. However, if Michigan is doing well, its fans will soon follow. Michigan is the Harvard of the midwest, the fans will remind you any chance they get. One thing that separates Michigan from the rest of the group is that what makes them terrible is that it’s a sophisticated annoyance — most of the time.
Michigan fans use their pedigree as a football power to remind us that they are one of the bedrock programs of the sport. It was cute that they did that when they were led by Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke but it’s annoying as ever now that they’re led by Jim Harbaugh. If only they had a rival that was just as bad or even worse.
5. Florida State Seminoles
The top dog in the state of Florida, so of course their fans are the state champs of being terrible. What makes Florida State fans so bad is summed up in one hashtag, ‘#FSUTwitter’. It started during the various sagas of Jameis Winston and FSU loyalists would attack writers and critics of the Heisman-winning quarterback.
Even after the Winston era, Florida State fans were so bad that they even got an article written about them in Rolling Stone. Florida State fans generally attack other writers and critics of the program that call them out for turning their other way on serious crimes and offenses. If you can’t have any accountability on your own players, can you expect the fan base to do the same?
4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
It’s time for the nation’s most hated team for the last 70-80 years — it’s the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The fan base is the original bandwagon. The “Subway Alumni” have been around since the days of Knute Rockne and it’s become a national phenomenon. For as loyal as Notre Dame fans are, they can be just as annoying and horrible. Notre Dame fans aren’t annoying and awful in an FSU-type way but more of an entitlement and “we still sit on the throne” type.
I mean Notre Dame fans could feel that way since their games are on national TV every week and they’ve got special exemptions into every bowl game. However, the program hasn’t won a national title since 1988 and all of the entitlements are annoying. Some may wonder why I feel this way about Notre Dame fans, well because I am one. Also, the Irish went 4-8 last season.
3. Texas Longhorns
If there’s one school and one fan base that thinks they’re more entitled than Notre Dame, it has to be Texas. Longhorns fans are loyal, they travel, but they also hate the truth when it hits them in the face. Texas fans were tubthumping long before the 2006 National Championship and had drawn the ire of Big 12 and in-state foes long before this. Everything is bigger in Texas and so is the arrogance and annoyance of Texas fans.
From the Longhorn Network assuming every great Longhorn moment signals that Texas might be back, you can see why people can’t stand them.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
Remember when I talked about how bad Michigan fans are in that “pinky up while drinking tea” way of arrogance? OK, well take the same arrogance and just swap out the subtle, upper crust mentality and just swap in some beer, a lot more face paint and an even more aggressive annoyance. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Ohio State.
Buckeye faithful have everything you need in annoying and awful college football fan base, they even travel to your town. They feel entitled even though they’ve folded in big games like a cheap suit aside from two national titles since 1968. Ohio State fans feel superior to most if not all SEC teams because they lead the nation in anti-SEC-bias.
If something good happens to the SEC, you better believe Ohio State fans will claim SEC bias.
1. Alabama Crimson Tide
They’re annoying, they’re arrogant and they have a selective memory — especially anything before 2007. They enjoy being No. 1, but I’m not sure they’ll enjoy being No. 1 on this list. Hello, Alabama!
Crimson Tide fans love to tout about the dynasty that is the Saban era and choose to believe that college football didn’t exist in seasons where they didn’t win the national title, seriously go ahead and ask them about the Mike Shula era.
Then you’ve got Paul Finebaum, the southern-based sports talk show host has touted the SEC and especially Alabama since he went to the airwaves. With that, some of his most infamous moments have involved some of the worst and most annoying supporters of the Crimson Tide.
For example, you have Phyllis from Mulga, Ala. She’s like your grandmother if your grandmother was hyped for every single game and had the passion to run through a brick wall herself. Then, you’ve got “Al from Dadeville” or as everyone else knows him as, Harvey Updyke. You remember Harvey, the guy who though killing the famous Toomer’s trees would be a good idea after Auburn’s epic run to a national title in 2010.
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Congrats Alabama, you’re No. 1 once again. In the words of your friend, Mr. Updyke, “Roll Damn Tide”.