Saturday Blitz
Fansided

College Football: These five U.S. states have the most FBS programs per capita

By John Scimeca

MORGANTOWN, WV - SEPTEMBER 01: Shawne Alston #20 of the West Virginia Mountaineers carries the ball against the Marshall Thundering Herd during the game on September 1, 2012 at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
MORGANTOWN, WV - SEPTEMBER 01: Shawne Alston #20 of the West Virginia Mountaineers carries the ball against the Marshall Thundering Herd during the game on September 1, 2012 at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next
BATON ROUGE, LA – SEPTEMBER 19: Charles Scott #32 of the Louisiana State University Tigers tries to avoid a tackle by Trace Wilson #71 of the University of Louisiana-Lafatette Ragin’ Cajuns at Tiger Stadium on September 19, 2009 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Tigers defeated the Cajuns 31-3. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA – SEPTEMBER 19: Charles Scott #32 of the Louisiana State University Tigers tries to avoid a tackle by Trace Wilson #71 of the University of Louisiana-Lafatette Ragin’ Cajuns at Tiger Stadium on September 19, 2009 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Tigers defeated the Cajuns 31-3. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

3. Louisiana

924,809 people per FBS program

LSU, Tulane, Louisiana, UL-Monroe, Louisiana Tech

Everyone knows the Bayou Bengals from LSU, but the state of Louisiana is home to four other FBS schools that compete in the “Group of Five” conferences: Tulane, Louisiana (formerly Louisiana-Lafayette and Southwestern Lousiana), UL-Monroe (formerly Northeastern Louisiana), and Louisiana Tech.

The state of Louisiana contains 4.62 million people, the No. 25-ranked state in the United States in terms of population.

It starts with LSU, a program that claims four national championships (most recently in 2019) and is the new home to former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. The Tigers are one of the top collegiate sources of active players on NFL rosters and also claim 16 conference titles in their long history. Two Tigers have won the Heisman Trophy — Billy Cannon and Joe Burrow.

Tulane also began play in 1893 and was actually once a member of the SEC for 33 years, until 1965. The Green Wave has faced off with LSU 99 times in “the Battle for the Rag,” including in 1893, though the two programs haven’t met on the gridiron since 2009.

Tulane had a notable 12-0 season in 1998 featuring Shaun King as its quarterback, but its success has been more modest as of late. Now, members of the American Athletic Conference, the Green Wave have finished with a winning record just three times in the past 20 years.

Louisiana (formerly Louisiana-Lafayette and Southwestern Louisiana) began play in 1901 and made the jump from Division II to Division I in 1974. After several years as an independent and a brief three-year span in the Big West, Louisiana joined the Sun Belt in 2001 as one of the league’s founding football members.

Under former head coach Billy Napier, who’s now at Florida, the Ragin’ Cajuns have been particularly successful in the past few years. Louisiana has compiled a combined 34-5 record during the past three seasons, including winning last year’s Sun Belt title.

UL-Monroe began play as the Northeast Louisiana Indians in 1931. The program was an independent in 1994 after departing the Southland Conference before helping form the Sun Belt’s football portion of the league in 2001.

The Warhawks (renamed in 2006) have only played in one bowl game in school history, a loss in the 2012 Independence Bowl.

Louisiana Tech, though it’s been playing games since 1901, is relatively newer to the Division I FBS level. The Bulldogs won three Division II national titles in the 1970s and later became a Division I-A independent before joining the WAC. Louisiana Tech in 2013 joined Conference USA, of which it’s a current member.

Home/College Football News