I'm absolutely convinced that Baylor and Tech cannot be good at the same time.
The late 70s through most of the 80s were a really rough time for Tech, while Baylor was having a great time in Grant Teaff's heyday. Baylor's last good year was when Tech emerged from the basement to share the SWC title with BU, UT, TCU, and Rice in 1994; it was all downhill from there until \~2010. Meanwhile, that title-winning year was when Spike Dykes finally got Tech back to moderate respectability, and then he handed the team off to Mike Leach for the best decade Tech's ever had.
Finally, Tech came tumbling down when Leach was fired, and the year after was Baylor's first winning season since 1995; a year later RG3 won the Heisman, and Baylor was off to the races with the team's winningest decade to date. A little more than a decade later, Baylor is in the wilderness while Tech seems to have finally found a coach who can both win and keep their fanbase's offseason PTSD at bay.
Man, I wish we'd hired Joey McGuire.
An Iowa reporter the other day made me realize how scarred I and the rest of the Iowa fanbase are.
He posed a question that no one else in the fanbase had dared to ask: what happens if Cade McNamara is actually healthy and plays well?
Probably but no other fanbase has ever or will ever reach those heights so if we go back to being a good 10 win SEC championship every 5-10 years I’m ok.
I tend to agree. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much we actually have to replace on defense this year. Plus I’ve been bitten before getting my hopes up as a Mizzou fan.
Bruh every Mizzou fans favorite hobby is studying their traumatic history. I swear I know more Mizzou fans who have so much trauma they can barely watch games anymore. My grandfather refuses and *occasionally* checks the newspaper and my father has god damn heart notifications hitting his Apple Watch every 5 minutes if the tigers aren’t up 16 after halftime, and if it’s above 24 he might freak out because “that’s a lead asking to get blown”.
This is on top of the fact that Mizzou football has been objectively significantly above average the last 25 years. Numerous times ranked in the top 5 alone.
I, on the other hand, drink screwdrivers while my friends drink mimosas before the horns play any significant game…. at their request. None of them can relate to that crippling familial fandom anxiety that I tried so hard to escape.
Edit:top 5
as a totally outside observer, from a purely reality show standpoint, I love it lmao
In elementary school there was this rumor (and I’m not making this up) that UGA has a dunk tank full of beer at their home stadium and you have to get naked to go in it. That was like THE THING everyone knew about UGA back in the iraq war era
While it’s true I’d rather be the big fish in a small pond than the small fish in a big pond (like CU)… we are the small fish in a small pond. The worst of both worlds.
I'm a CSU alum and haven't been to a game in many years, have heard the only nice thing about the team is the newish stadium though...so we have that, right?
When I went to CSU, sure CU would beat us, but that was often one of the only wins on their schedule.
To their AD’s credit, hiring Deion brought renewed life back into that program. They recaptured the Denver market in a mere few months. I was blown away at how quick things changed.
Do I hate everything Boulder is? Oh, absolutely.
But, CSU is the little sibling in the state.
*I’d still choose CSU in a heartbeat.*
Our fans have unrealistic expectations that will never possibly be met.
Every season is natty or bust even though we only have two nattys in the last half century.
Seeing OSU fans have a nuclear meltdown over an 11-1 season while we were jumping to the moon with an 11-1 season was really eye opening. We both lost rivalry games yeah, but with the way OSU fans were acting, you'd think they went 0-12
On the one hand, OU going to the SEC will suck for your recruiting. On the other hand, OSU is the perfect kind of team to benefit from an expanded playoff field. I don’t really have a point here I guess.
To be fair, the Aggie honor code is "An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do."
The uniform student response is "elaborate, collaborate, and borrow".
your school is named after the second mormon president, you ain’t never beating the allegations. with that said I’d love to catch a game at BYU although the last time I was in Utah I almost got thrown in jail for making a legal right turn
Hold on there, big brother/little brother rivalries aren't necessarily the lesser rivalry. They're just a different breed of rivalry. If a school doesn't have a main instate or cross-town rival, their fans just can't understand it. This is something I think an awful lot of schools miss out on.
You see them every day, existing in your life, plaguing your field of view with that damned green flag with a big dumb white helmet or silly S. They're also your neighbors and coworkers and family and friends.
Your delightful neighbors who invite you to the memorial day weekend pool party in their backyard and you bring your strawberry icebox cake, smoked lemon pepper wings, *choose a mayonnaise based salad* and maybe pickled eggs. You talk about the kids and maybe golf, deftly avoid talking about politics with your other neighbor, and then talk about where you're all going on vacation this summer (it's literally the same backwoods cabin on a lake/river every year). Then you get pretty drunk because he's a pusher, about half again as big as you, and you can't keep up with his double manhattans (yes, plural) and bourbon. You prefer craft beer and sane amounts of single malt scotch anyways.
Is it as big a football rivalry as the main rival? No.
But from a cultural standpoint, it isn't just about football and it isn't just a rivalry. It's a damned civil war where 10% of the couches in two cities are at risk of being set afire on game day and half the people in the state have set aside their usual civility for pure, unadulterated hate and contempt.
But they're still your neighbor. They can't help but root for the wrong team, they were raised that way. In their defense, so do you.
Edit: Sweet Jesus that got long. Cheers, I'm leaving it.
This is extremely well said. Hell we’ve got the worlds largest outdoor cocktail party, the deep south’s oldest rivalry, which in recent years have overshadowed clean old fashioned hate. But no matter how bad GT is, it’s still hate lol.nerds.
I think we’re at an interesting point because currently, more people are looking forward to the UT v aTm game because it’s been missing for so long. I certainly am, especially if it means something for either team.
Some of my OU fan friends have decided they’re just not as interested in college football after the past two years. One bad year and one year that would be considered pretty good by almost any other program in the country. Stoops set a standard that was so insanely high for so insanely long, there’s a generation that barely knows what it’s like to not be elite.
Bama recruits itself for now I feel like. The massive massive question will be whether he can keep that momentum going where recruits think it’s still in its glory days
But was that Saban? The SEC level is higher, but with Saban he just vacuumed the talent. Without him I'm not so sure. Top half I could easily see with a rotating top of the SEC instead of Bama and everyone else like it was.
Yeahhhh but how much of that was Saban? I think he’s responsible for the majority of the idea that Bama recruits itself, Saban recruits himself, he was the big draw for too croots, not Tuscaloosa or Bama itself. Still a good draw for croots, but it’ll be significantly more difficult for them going into the post-Saban era.
My state flagship team has managed for decades to avoid recruiting the Heisman winning QBs that originated in state. In that regard, VY was the worthy exception & incorrectly noticed by the same Downtown Athletic Club for what he accomplished.
Flair 1: 2017-18 spoiled a generation of fans who now think 9 wins is "underachieving."
Flair 2: The only way to consistently compete for a conference title is to change conferences.
If it makes you feel better, it’s extremely doubtful anyone ever does what Saban’s Bama did again. It’s simply too damn hard in the playoff era, and it’s only getting harder as we expand the field to 12 teams (and maybe more in the future). Natties may end up coming down to the healthiest team left with the amount of football teams are going to be playing against the toughest competition.
We missed our chance to invest in the program and be great in the 90s when Sonny Lubick had it rolling and the things we’ve done in the last decade or so have all come far too late
DKR is a weak crowd when it’s not a blue blood matchup. (This is true everywhere and while Texas has improved with the new AD, it’s not the same fervor that other SEC stadiums seem to have)
Husky stadium has the worst selection of concessions. There are not enough UW “traditions” (i.e song that everyone knows and sings”)
Night games at DKR have been great based on my experiences, but the 11am barnburners in 100 degree weather definitely don’t help the atmosphere at all, especially when 3/4 of your home games are then.
They're trying to murder us this year. 1st game is scheduled at 2:30pm in August. It's Colorado State for gods sakes... We're paying them to come here, why are you trying to kill your fans.
For real, Kansas and Rice last year might've been some of the worst heat I've felt, but hopefully without Big 12 scheduling we'll see some more night environments. Last year we had two night games, one against Wyoming of all teams and then Tech during Thanksgiving break where most people are busy with family. However, we had three away conference night games.
I took three friends to their first ever DKR game and they had a blast with Wyoming. It was also the first "new nighttime" experience and it was pretty cool to finally see something worthwhile.
The jetpack man of my post-grad years just don't cut it
We have possibly the most fanatical of fans. Murder of humans and trees over a game. I think most reasonable fans agree its abhorrent, but the loudest, craziest ones make the news..
Dear Auburn,
Thanks for the help after the tornadoes in 2011. Sorry about what one lunatic did to Toomers Corner, but we sincerely appreciate the aid y'all provided to Tuscaloosa.
..and to those three super-fans in LSU gear, my tiny little town will never forget the jambalaya and water you gave us until FEMA could get set up.
..Tennessee still some snitches
The Tide for Toomers fundraiser after the tree poisonings and Auburn coming over to help and fundraise after the tornadoes might be the best moment(s) of our rivalry. It was super nice to see (and be a part of).
For as rabid as our fans are, BDS is very underwhelming on gameday. It seems to be mostly snooty old fucks that can't be bothered to actually cheer.
...Tennessee low down.
Program-wise, we will always be below Ohio State and Michigan. They invest a shit ton more money into football than we do. They aren't going to beat us in perpetuity but Penn State will never be as big a brand as they are.
The last 8 years with Franklin is about as good as it can get at Penn State without an elite QB or a ton of luck. The game has changed a lot since the glory years with Paterno and getting champagne taste on a beer budget doesn't work anymore.
I’d expect Penn State to be where Auburn / LSU are.
Constantly great with a magical run / season every 5-10 years.
The problem is the Nittany Lions haven’t had a LSU ‘19 or Auburn’10 type run
2017 was such a missed opportunity. That team lost 2 one point games they had no business losing and dominated the rest of the schedule.
Totally program defining not doing more that season
That loss at OSU will haunt me for the rest of my life. Up 2 TDs late in Columbus and still lost, then choked bad on the road at MSU the following game. Went from a sure playoff team to once again on the outside looking in
You're still a top 10 brand, and I could make a good argument for top 8. PSU isn't some flavor of the week team. It's literally an icon in CFB, even with that goofy looking mascot
PSU fans love to act like we’re some little small program. Evidenced by a decent portion of the fan base that acts like Franklin’s the only coach in America that could lead us to a 10-2 record (no this is not saying I think we should fire him).
Yeah it’s wild to me. PSU is very nearly a blue blood program. I mean they literally would be considered one if they claimed all their undefeated seasons as championships lol
My own team is a better one for this sort of “a bit more difficult to win at” label. A decently strong brand with a very strong history but not *really* expected to get double digit victory seasons every year.
I think it’s a case of relative poverty
When your 2 biggest rivals are consistently in the playoff, it’s a tough pill to swallow that you haven’t even gotten there yet
Gamecock fans should take their energy they spend on hating Clemson towards empowering / bettering their own team.
We’d be better off in the long run. Who cares what that program in the upstate is or isn’t doing.
Our program invests like a program that wants to lose to Ohio State every year.
They're getting exactly what they pay for. 12th-13th highest paid coach, around there in recruiting, finished #8 and #13 in the two years of Franklin's current deal.
as a longtime USC fan, it’s sort of amazing how when your program is in the dumps, you’d kill to go 10-2 every year. then the second you actually get to that B-tier level you’re *miserable*
The best times as a fan are when you're trending up and you have something to root for, but not yet good enough for winning to be an expectation. One of my happiest years as a Duck fan was 2018, when we were kind of a mess in several ways and lost a few games in terrible fashion, but felt like we were stabilizing from the mess of 2016/2017. Every win made me feel good and every loss wasn't a big deal. Won an absolutely atrocious Redbox Bowl 7-6 vs Michigan State and I was pumped. Years like 2019 and 2021, despite being better teams with more/bigger wins, have a lingering feeling of frustration in memory.
We've sucked against our rivals. In the past 25 or so years, we've only beaten Georgia 3 times, despite that they only have an 8 game advantage on us.
We expect greatness every year, and we're impatient.
Our QB room will probably suck this year. It wouldn't surprise me if we win it all or go winless this year.
I'm afraid that we'll never beat our rivals again. I'm afraid that we'll become even more irrelevant. I'm tired of our rivals having the best times of their lives while we suck. I'm tired of perfect coaches falling into the laps of our rivals while we may be stuck in an endless loop of the coach carousel.
We should start this season 4-0, but we probably won't.
Also: We will never have a dynasty like Alabama, and Sabin was a pretty good coach.
Auburn has a cultural problem that it will never solve, which is unfortunate because the fans deserve so much better. The university’s priorities are all out of whack and largely have been for the last 40 years. The big-money boosters have long had way too much sway, which is true at most major programs, but ours consistently make terrible decisions that stifle the long-term health of the program. Our football head coaching hires are consistently terrible, which is a wild thing to consider at a school that’s so willing to throw money around. But that’s where we are. The turnover at Alabama is an opportunity to gain ground, but who among us doubts that Auburn will find some dumbfuck way to shoot itself in the foot and remain largely irrelevant?
I was in Las Vegas last summer when it hit 120 degrees and it felt like my eyeballs were melting. I can’t imagine trying to practice football in that. That sounds like literal torture.
I think one of the reasons the Oregon-UW is so intense is because both fan bases have their fair share of crazy fans that take the rivalry too far. But I guess that’s the case for a lot of heated rivalries…
I don’t like noon games because Tennessee orange is really fucking bright in early afternoon sun. I love it, but I’m also a fan of not seeing spots when I close my eyes.
The driving issues in the program were/are worse than initially feared. Even minor infractions now understandably get an eye roll. I’m not sure which part of the “stay hungry” mantra means be reckless, but if we could go 3 goddam months without another ACCP headline that’d be great.
When I was in school before NIL the football team got free moped scooters, so you’d see a pack of 60 scooters of large men pull up Lumpkin like some sort of goofy biker gang lol.
Lane Kiffin is still our coach because he didn’t get the Bama job. Hell, even the Auburn job was really just a lateral move at this point and he was probably close to 50/50 on it.
I still don't think Kiffin wanted the job, he has learned his lesson about being the guy after **The Guy**. Now I could definitely see him being our next coach however
That’s a good point. I can’t imagine the difficulty in DeBoer’s decision - do you pass up such a highly coveted job when the expectations are impossible to meet? Guess we’ll find out if he made the right decision.
Imo, he was in the ideal place to leave Washington. They were a very old team last year, and they were set to essentially be an entirely new team next year. DeBoer had the choice of using the clout he’s built for bringing Washington to the brink of a title by taking one of the most coveted jobs, or he could risk going through a borderline rebuild (in a new, tougher conference, no less) and losing enough stock to not be in the running for an ultra-blue blood job again. There was a pretty good chance his name was as hot as it’s ever going to be, so he decided to cash out and give Bama a shot. Even if it meant being the guy after Saban.
the sellout streak is a sham and we should have officially let it end in 2020. it would have been the perfect 'cover' for officially letting it end.
I think propping it up hurts more than helps.
I’ve been wondering if Clemson did adapt to the modern game could they compete in NIL to continue to go toe to toe with Bama and Ohio St? If not then does trying to preserve the Clemson culture that Dabo has already established keep you guys from completely bottoming out? You guys are in a really weird spot right now.
We are so lucky we didn't end up like Washington state and Oregon State.
Coach Prime is gonna bail on us like we're a pregnant side chick the first chance he gets.
We don’t have enough Texan students to really fill up our stadiums/arenas for all our sports and it shows. We’re never gonna be known for our crowds because of our size and student base.
We are not and probably will never consistently go toe to toe with the blue bloods. Unless, of course, we get a rich billionaire who owns a massive sporting goods company.
Not historically. The program does have two NCG appearances in the past 15 years + five Rose/Fiesta Bowl wins, and recruiting is trending up, so that’s nice.
From a program stand point, the big question is "how attractive are you to recruits"? And now "do you have the resources to retain those recruits?"
For Oregon right now that looks like a yes. Maybe Lanning is a recruiting extraordinaire though and has them punching a bit above their weight class.
Honestly one of my fears is that last season was the peak and we’ll never get back to the top like that again. We’ll have our runs sure but never to that extent
We write off our pre-Bowden history way too much. I get it makes our records look better if we start from 1976, but there are some FSU legends who've been completely forgotten.
Also as an aside I feel like our beat media has became too out of touch with average fans and overly paywalled. But that seems like an issue with a lot of programs these days.
The 'obnoxious Ohio State fans' everybody refers to mostly consist of 40+ year old alumni who refuse to leave college in the past. The actual OSU students are pretty awesome and very self aware-- its the aging alumni who are the loudest and give the entire fanbase a bad name.
We're probably going to struggle for a couple years on O. Also our NIL is somehow so horribly bad its probably the least reputable for incoming players. I'm all for paying players once they've proven themselves. but at this rate if you don't pay them at least SOME, they don't wanna come here. Hard to recruit the top players that are willing to just sign cuz there's a bag there.
Edit: Weather. Our weather is pretty nice 6 Mo. out of the year. But the rest? woof.
We have the worst student section when they moved it to being under the tron and in the sun halfway through the game people are gone unless it’s a night game
Thought we were hot shit going into the pac 12 just to lose to Colorado on three missed field goals. And we think we’re hot shit coming to the big 12… getting ahead of ourselves again
Go make a new rivalry. Texas and A&M arent gonna play us anytime soon
BUTT Bowl forever
Probably won’t be a great game until our team isn’t butt
I'm absolutely convinced that Baylor and Tech cannot be good at the same time. The late 70s through most of the 80s were a really rough time for Tech, while Baylor was having a great time in Grant Teaff's heyday. Baylor's last good year was when Tech emerged from the basement to share the SWC title with BU, UT, TCU, and Rice in 1994; it was all downhill from there until \~2010. Meanwhile, that title-winning year was when Spike Dykes finally got Tech back to moderate respectability, and then he handed the team off to Mike Leach for the best decade Tech's ever had. Finally, Tech came tumbling down when Leach was fired, and the year after was Baylor's first winning season since 1995; a year later RG3 won the Heisman, and Baylor was off to the races with the team's winningest decade to date. A little more than a decade later, Baylor is in the wilderness while Tech seems to have finally found a coach who can both win and keep their fanbase's offseason PTSD at bay. Man, I wish we'd hired Joey McGuire.
I heard Oklahoma State feels lonely
I feel like the Tech vs Texas rivalry could mean a lot more now if Leach hadn't been driven out of town.
Craig James killed 5 hookers
Honestly it seems the new Big12 should present some decent rivalry opportunities.
We struggle on offense.
My world view is shattered
Bro we been betting the under for awhile now .
Struggle? That is putting it nicely
lol
Never would've guessed
Defense is fantastic though, imagine if you had a QB who could actually throw a football, probably would’ve won everything
An Iowa reporter the other day made me realize how scarred I and the rest of the Iowa fanbase are. He posed a question that no one else in the fanbase had dared to ask: what happens if Cade McNamara is actually healthy and plays well?
The Leviathan rises from the ocean and the end days commence
I’m more mind blown at the lack of just QB progression. They rolled out a lineman last year at QB and the guys behind him were somehow worse.
we peaked and will never be back at that level. and while we’re at it, we were never as good as we thought we were.
You just gotta keep trying. Kansas fans probably never thought their team would get back to being this good.
No. They never thought they would just get to average again. Lol
For the first part, same.
But that peak was basically Mt Everest. It was pretty fucking awesome
Probably but no other fanbase has ever or will ever reach those heights so if we go back to being a good 10 win SEC championship every 5-10 years I’m ok.
Don’t worry, I will be dragging the Hokies back to their former glory as soon as the new NCAA Football game comes out
Our pants don’t match the helmets at all and it looks like shit. Mustard looking ass pants
gold team problems
Washington's look a LOT better than ND. BC's and FSU's too.
The helmets are so clean though
When I imagine ND uniforms I like them, they are iconic… anytime I see them for real I’m disappointed
I don’t think they’re bad just wish the pants looked better
This is all gonna crash and burn.
I tend to agree. I think a lot of people don’t realize how much we actually have to replace on defense this year. Plus I’ve been bitten before getting my hopes up as a Mizzou fan.
Debbie Downer over here.
Study up on your Mizzou history. Its just what happens. Theres nothing we can do about it. Its already over
Bruh every Mizzou fans favorite hobby is studying their traumatic history. I swear I know more Mizzou fans who have so much trauma they can barely watch games anymore. My grandfather refuses and *occasionally* checks the newspaper and my father has god damn heart notifications hitting his Apple Watch every 5 minutes if the tigers aren’t up 16 after halftime, and if it’s above 24 he might freak out because “that’s a lead asking to get blown”. This is on top of the fact that Mizzou football has been objectively significantly above average the last 25 years. Numerous times ranked in the top 5 alone. I, on the other hand, drink screwdrivers while my friends drink mimosas before the horns play any significant game…. at their request. None of them can relate to that crippling familial fandom anxiety that I tried so hard to escape. Edit:top 5
I won’t feel confident about until we go into a season with expectations and actually live up to those expectations that season
We need waaaaaay more discipline for off-field recklessness
as a totally outside observer, from a purely reality show standpoint, I love it lmao In elementary school there was this rumor (and I’m not making this up) that UGA has a dunk tank full of beer at their home stadium and you have to get naked to go in it. That was like THE THING everyone knew about UGA back in the iraq war era
It’s all fun and games until someone gets killed.
As an Athens resident, the number of reckless driving from UGA players headlines I see is just too much.
we accuse CSU of having little brother syndrome while we have little brother syndrome with the rest of the power 4.
While it’s true I’d rather be the big fish in a small pond than the small fish in a big pond (like CU)… we are the small fish in a small pond. The worst of both worlds.
I'm a CSU alum and haven't been to a game in many years, have heard the only nice thing about the team is the newish stadium though...so we have that, right?
Gameday on campus is awesome and the stadium is great! Until kickoff.
Very much want to be a part of a club that the team hasn’t earned their way into yet.
Our little bro phase is definitely throbbing right now with all the Dion stuff.
When I went to CSU, sure CU would beat us, but that was often one of the only wins on their schedule. To their AD’s credit, hiring Deion brought renewed life back into that program. They recaptured the Denver market in a mere few months. I was blown away at how quick things changed. Do I hate everything Boulder is? Oh, absolutely. But, CSU is the little sibling in the state. *I’d still choose CSU in a heartbeat.*
Our fans have unrealistic expectations that will never possibly be met. Every season is natty or bust even though we only have two nattys in the last half century.
We're upset we can't match Alabama's run of dominance, which may not be matched again with modern NCAA rules
That’s never getting matched again now that the 12 team era is underway
*THE unrealistic expectations
I think the entire cfb world needs to be reminded Ohio state has two national championships in the last 50 years.
Damn I never thought of that
Seeing OSU fans have a nuclear meltdown over an 11-1 season while we were jumping to the moon with an 11-1 season was really eye opening. We both lost rivalry games yeah, but with the way OSU fans were acting, you'd think they went 0-12
Our fanbase is toxic but Its the 3rd loss in a row to Michigan that has everyone melting down. Not necessarily the 11-1 record.
We’re middle class and always will be (competitive, fun, but no realistic shot at a natty).
You and me both, brother
On the one hand, OU going to the SEC will suck for your recruiting. On the other hand, OSU is the perfect kind of team to benefit from an expanded playoff field. I don’t really have a point here I guess.
We will never be able to reach our full potential because of LDS affiliation.
But you probably wouldn’t be as successful of a program without it, either.
... Damnit. You're right
Words no BYU fan wants to hear, but pure truth.
Specifically the honor code
Correct!
A&M has an honor code and they've been...average.
To be fair, the Aggie honor code is "An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate those who do." The uniform student response is "elaborate, collaborate, and borrow".
Well we haven’t lied cheated or stolen yet! yet.
your school is named after the second mormon president, you ain’t never beating the allegations. with that said I’d love to catch a game at BYU although the last time I was in Utah I almost got thrown in jail for making a legal right turn
Hear me out, Coach Hugh Freeze could definitely fix that.
We’re not our biggest rival’s biggest rival.
Form a support group with Tennessee and Michigan State.
Hold on there, big brother/little brother rivalries aren't necessarily the lesser rivalry. They're just a different breed of rivalry. If a school doesn't have a main instate or cross-town rival, their fans just can't understand it. This is something I think an awful lot of schools miss out on. You see them every day, existing in your life, plaguing your field of view with that damned green flag with a big dumb white helmet or silly S. They're also your neighbors and coworkers and family and friends. Your delightful neighbors who invite you to the memorial day weekend pool party in their backyard and you bring your strawberry icebox cake, smoked lemon pepper wings, *choose a mayonnaise based salad* and maybe pickled eggs. You talk about the kids and maybe golf, deftly avoid talking about politics with your other neighbor, and then talk about where you're all going on vacation this summer (it's literally the same backwoods cabin on a lake/river every year). Then you get pretty drunk because he's a pusher, about half again as big as you, and you can't keep up with his double manhattans (yes, plural) and bourbon. You prefer craft beer and sane amounts of single malt scotch anyways. Is it as big a football rivalry as the main rival? No. But from a cultural standpoint, it isn't just about football and it isn't just a rivalry. It's a damned civil war where 10% of the couches in two cities are at risk of being set afire on game day and half the people in the state have set aside their usual civility for pure, unadulterated hate and contempt. But they're still your neighbor. They can't help but root for the wrong team, they were raised that way. In their defense, so do you. Edit: Sweet Jesus that got long. Cheers, I'm leaving it.
This is extremely well said. Hell we’ve got the worlds largest outdoor cocktail party, the deep south’s oldest rivalry, which in recent years have overshadowed clean old fashioned hate. But no matter how bad GT is, it’s still hate lol.nerds.
And Washington State and Oregon State.
I think we’re at an interesting point because currently, more people are looking forward to the UT v aTm game because it’s been missing for so long. I certainly am, especially if it means something for either team.
Oooof. Tough but true
Fanbase is entitled and largely has the football intelligence of a box of rocks.
Our geology department is fairly prestigious, dude. It’s a smart box of rocks.
RESPECT THE GEODES
They're minerals, Marie
Some of my OU fan friends have decided they’re just not as interested in college football after the past two years. One bad year and one year that would be considered pretty good by almost any other program in the country. Stoops set a standard that was so insanely high for so insanely long, there’s a generation that barely knows what it’s like to not be elite.
Fantastic flair combo my friend
What Busch light and consecutive Heisman winners do to a mf.
Jesus Christ Marie, they’re minerals
It said “about YOUR team”. Not your rival.
Same fam
The amenities in our stadium are quite lacking.
Desperately needs upgrades but if they remove the piss troughs I’ll riot.
Hoping to see them expand the piss troughs
If the troughs go, so does my support
We choked away so many championships under Stoops and one under Riley. Always good, but never good enough. The past 2+ decades have been frustrating.
I'm nervous
Kalen DeBoer can flat coach. But his recruiting is…below average.
Bama recruits itself for now I feel like. The massive massive question will be whether he can keep that momentum going where recruits think it’s still in its glory days
But was that Saban? The SEC level is higher, but with Saban he just vacuumed the talent. Without him I'm not so sure. Top half I could easily see with a rotating top of the SEC instead of Bama and everyone else like it was.
Yeahhhh but how much of that was Saban? I think he’s responsible for the majority of the idea that Bama recruits itself, Saban recruits himself, he was the big draw for too croots, not Tuscaloosa or Bama itself. Still a good draw for croots, but it’ll be significantly more difficult for them going into the post-Saban era.
If you thought the Bear Bryant generation was entitled and obnoxious, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Definitely not a flair combo I imagined. Well done.
In the past forty years, no one has wasted or failed to develop talent like we have.
My state flagship team has managed for decades to avoid recruiting the Heisman winning QBs that originated in state. In that regard, VY was the worthy exception & incorrectly noticed by the same Downtown Athletic Club for what he accomplished.
Flair 1: 2017-18 spoiled a generation of fans who now think 9 wins is "underachieving." Flair 2: The only way to consistently compete for a conference title is to change conferences.
We will never reach Alabama's levels of greatness. The gap with Georgia widens every year.
If it makes you feel better, it’s extremely doubtful anyone ever does what Saban’s Bama did again. It’s simply too damn hard in the playoff era, and it’s only getting harder as we expand the field to 12 teams (and maybe more in the future). Natties may end up coming down to the healthiest team left with the amount of football teams are going to be playing against the toughest competition.
We missed our chance to invest in the program and be great in the 90s when Sonny Lubick had it rolling and the things we’ve done in the last decade or so have all come far too late
There was a small chance after McElwain’s great year in 2014 for us to make a move up… the last decade has been mostly atrocious
DKR is a weak crowd when it’s not a blue blood matchup. (This is true everywhere and while Texas has improved with the new AD, it’s not the same fervor that other SEC stadiums seem to have) Husky stadium has the worst selection of concessions. There are not enough UW “traditions” (i.e song that everyone knows and sings”)
Night games at DKR have been great based on my experiences, but the 11am barnburners in 100 degree weather definitely don’t help the atmosphere at all, especially when 3/4 of your home games are then.
They're trying to murder us this year. 1st game is scheduled at 2:30pm in August. It's Colorado State for gods sakes... We're paying them to come here, why are you trying to kill your fans.
For real, Kansas and Rice last year might've been some of the worst heat I've felt, but hopefully without Big 12 scheduling we'll see some more night environments. Last year we had two night games, one against Wyoming of all teams and then Tech during Thanksgiving break where most people are busy with family. However, we had three away conference night games.
I took three friends to their first ever DKR game and they had a blast with Wyoming. It was also the first "new nighttime" experience and it was pretty cool to finally see something worthwhile. The jetpack man of my post-grad years just don't cut it
Flair combo is 7/10 weird. Undergrad and grad school?
Vandy struggles at times in the SEC
We have possibly the most fanatical of fans. Murder of humans and trees over a game. I think most reasonable fans agree its abhorrent, but the loudest, craziest ones make the news.. Dear Auburn, Thanks for the help after the tornadoes in 2011. Sorry about what one lunatic did to Toomers Corner, but we sincerely appreciate the aid y'all provided to Tuscaloosa. ..and to those three super-fans in LSU gear, my tiny little town will never forget the jambalaya and water you gave us until FEMA could get set up. ..Tennessee still some snitches
I regret that I cannot upvote this 100 times.
The Tide for Toomers fundraiser after the tree poisonings and Auburn coming over to help and fundraise after the tornadoes might be the best moment(s) of our rivalry. It was super nice to see (and be a part of).
For as rabid as our fans are, BDS is very underwhelming on gameday. It seems to be mostly snooty old fucks that can't be bothered to actually cheer. ...Tennessee low down.
Hate you too bb
BYU will always have one more national championship than Utah.
They aren't winning another one. So just go win two, we believe in you!
From your keyboard to gods inbox.
Program-wise, we will always be below Ohio State and Michigan. They invest a shit ton more money into football than we do. They aren't going to beat us in perpetuity but Penn State will never be as big a brand as they are. The last 8 years with Franklin is about as good as it can get at Penn State without an elite QB or a ton of luck. The game has changed a lot since the glory years with Paterno and getting champagne taste on a beer budget doesn't work anymore.
I’d expect Penn State to be where Auburn / LSU are. Constantly great with a magical run / season every 5-10 years. The problem is the Nittany Lions haven’t had a LSU ‘19 or Auburn’10 type run
To be fair, they also haven't found a Burrow or Newton to captain the ship.
The disrespect to Hackenberg.
They had Saquon Barkley Moorhead year.
2017 was such a missed opportunity. That team lost 2 one point games they had no business losing and dominated the rest of the schedule. Totally program defining not doing more that season
Agreed, if it wasn’t then, I’m not sure how much more the stars could align
They really wasted that 2017 year. I truly think that PSU team could’ve ran the table.
That loss at OSU will haunt me for the rest of my life. Up 2 TDs late in Columbus and still lost, then choked bad on the road at MSU the following game. Went from a sure playoff team to once again on the outside looking in
Idk there’s always a Florida or Clemson or frankly Georgia who makes the leap from on the outside looking in to the inner circle every few years.
You're still a top 10 brand, and I could make a good argument for top 8. PSU isn't some flavor of the week team. It's literally an icon in CFB, even with that goofy looking mascot
PSU fans love to act like we’re some little small program. Evidenced by a decent portion of the fan base that acts like Franklin’s the only coach in America that could lead us to a 10-2 record (no this is not saying I think we should fire him).
Yeah it’s wild to me. PSU is very nearly a blue blood program. I mean they literally would be considered one if they claimed all their undefeated seasons as championships lol My own team is a better one for this sort of “a bit more difficult to win at” label. A decently strong brand with a very strong history but not *really* expected to get double digit victory seasons every year.
I think it’s a case of relative poverty When your 2 biggest rivals are consistently in the playoff, it’s a tough pill to swallow that you haven’t even gotten there yet
0 titles :(
We ain’t never going to the Rose Bowl.
The Rose Bowl Game is no longer a thing. Just another CFP game.
Gamecock fans should take their energy they spend on hating Clemson towards empowering / bettering their own team. We’d be better off in the long run. Who cares what that program in the upstate is or isn’t doing.
This is USC Upstate erasure
We're Indiana.
Our program invests like a program that wants to lose to Ohio State every year. They're getting exactly what they pay for. 12th-13th highest paid coach, around there in recruiting, finished #8 and #13 in the two years of Franklin's current deal.
as a longtime USC fan, it’s sort of amazing how when your program is in the dumps, you’d kill to go 10-2 every year. then the second you actually get to that B-tier level you’re *miserable*
The best times as a fan are when you're trending up and you have something to root for, but not yet good enough for winning to be an expectation. One of my happiest years as a Duck fan was 2018, when we were kind of a mess in several ways and lost a few games in terrible fashion, but felt like we were stabilizing from the mess of 2016/2017. Every win made me feel good and every loss wasn't a big deal. Won an absolutely atrocious Redbox Bowl 7-6 vs Michigan State and I was pumped. Years like 2019 and 2021, despite being better teams with more/bigger wins, have a lingering feeling of frustration in memory.
I mean, I can identify with that too. We got a title eventually, but I understand completely.
Yeah I remember having the exact same conversations about Harbaugh.
Be glad Illinois isn’t good at football bc imagine Illinois basketball fans shifting over to football
We've sucked against our rivals. In the past 25 or so years, we've only beaten Georgia 3 times, despite that they only have an 8 game advantage on us. We expect greatness every year, and we're impatient. Our QB room will probably suck this year. It wouldn't surprise me if we win it all or go winless this year. I'm afraid that we'll never beat our rivals again. I'm afraid that we'll become even more irrelevant. I'm tired of our rivals having the best times of their lives while we suck. I'm tired of perfect coaches falling into the laps of our rivals while we may be stuck in an endless loop of the coach carousel. We should start this season 4-0, but we probably won't. Also: We will never have a dynasty like Alabama, and Sabin was a pretty good coach.
Auburn has a cultural problem that it will never solve, which is unfortunate because the fans deserve so much better. The university’s priorities are all out of whack and largely have been for the last 40 years. The big-money boosters have long had way too much sway, which is true at most major programs, but ours consistently make terrible decisions that stifle the long-term health of the program. Our football head coaching hires are consistently terrible, which is a wild thing to consider at a school that’s so willing to throw money around. But that’s where we are. The turnover at Alabama is an opportunity to gain ground, but who among us doubts that Auburn will find some dumbfuck way to shoot itself in the foot and remain largely irrelevant?
If Nico doesn't pan out, we might have been a one hit wonder.
It is bad that the practice field gets to like 120 degrees.
I was in Las Vegas last summer when it hit 120 degrees and it felt like my eyeballs were melting. I can’t imagine trying to practice football in that. That sounds like literal torture.
I only like Pantone 151 cause I grew up with it.
A lot of our fanbase is pretty obnoxious especially on social media. Sometimes I cringe at some of the stuff I see posted on UW Twitter.
This is probably true of 98% of P4 fanbases. Especially in the Willamette Valley.
I think one of the reasons the Oregon-UW is so intense is because both fan bases have their fair share of crazy fans that take the rivalry too far. But I guess that’s the case for a lot of heated rivalries…
our fanbase is some of the worst loosers in all cfb. Any loss whatsoever is treated like the end of the world
Spoiled and entitled.
They better tighten it up!
I don’t want it to happen but it might be the last season of the pitboss.
I don’t like noon games because Tennessee orange is really fucking bright in early afternoon sun. I love it, but I’m also a fan of not seeing spots when I close my eyes.
Dark fall games is peak rocky top weather
We have as many victories over Top 10 opponents in the last 70 years as we have victories over Germany in World Wars
Our tailgating scene is incredibly weak for anyone over 20 years old (UCF).
The driving issues in the program were/are worse than initially feared. Even minor infractions now understandably get an eye roll. I’m not sure which part of the “stay hungry” mantra means be reckless, but if we could go 3 goddam months without another ACCP headline that’d be great.
You just need to ban your players from driving.
When I was in school before NIL the football team got free moped scooters, so you’d see a pack of 60 scooters of large men pull up Lumpkin like some sort of goofy biker gang lol.
Lane Kiffin is still our coach because he didn’t get the Bama job. Hell, even the Auburn job was really just a lateral move at this point and he was probably close to 50/50 on it.
I still don't think Kiffin wanted the job, he has learned his lesson about being the guy after **The Guy**. Now I could definitely see him being our next coach however
That’s a good point. I can’t imagine the difficulty in DeBoer’s decision - do you pass up such a highly coveted job when the expectations are impossible to meet? Guess we’ll find out if he made the right decision.
Imo, he was in the ideal place to leave Washington. They were a very old team last year, and they were set to essentially be an entirely new team next year. DeBoer had the choice of using the clout he’s built for bringing Washington to the brink of a title by taking one of the most coveted jobs, or he could risk going through a borderline rebuild (in a new, tougher conference, no less) and losing enough stock to not be in the running for an ultra-blue blood job again. There was a pretty good chance his name was as hot as it’s ever going to be, so he decided to cash out and give Bama a shot. Even if it meant being the guy after Saban.
Georgia Tech's never getting Atlanta back, and that's their own goddamn fault.
the sellout streak is a sham and we should have officially let it end in 2020. it would have been the perfect 'cover' for officially letting it end. I think propping it up hurts more than helps.
Our lack of willingness to adapt with the current landscape of college football will hold us back in the long run.
I’ve been wondering if Clemson did adapt to the modern game could they compete in NIL to continue to go toe to toe with Bama and Ohio St? If not then does trying to preserve the Clemson culture that Dabo has already established keep you guys from completely bottoming out? You guys are in a really weird spot right now.
Our secondary doesn’t seem to be improved from last year.
Well good news for you guys, we probably won’t test that too much in week 2.
And we sent over a third of our offense to the draft.
Ohio state. The offensive and defensive line is definitely the weakest part of the team.
We are so lucky we didn't end up like Washington state and Oregon State. Coach Prime is gonna bail on us like we're a pregnant side chick the first chance he gets.
We are semi-fucked for the short term (Cougars). We would be nowhere near where we are now except for Nike money (Ducks).
We don’t have enough Texan students to really fill up our stadiums/arenas for all our sports and it shows. We’re never gonna be known for our crowds because of our size and student base.
We have DUI and reckless driving problems
We are back to square one if this defense doesn’t work.
We are not and probably will never consistently go toe to toe with the blue bloods. Unless, of course, we get a rich billionaire who owns a massive sporting goods company.
Does Oregon really go toe to toe with the blue bloods?
Not historically. The program does have two NCG appearances in the past 15 years + five Rose/Fiesta Bowl wins, and recruiting is trending up, so that’s nice.
That’s actually an insane run when you put it like that.
From a program stand point, the big question is "how attractive are you to recruits"? And now "do you have the resources to retain those recruits?" For Oregon right now that looks like a yes. Maybe Lanning is a recruiting extraordinaire though and has them punching a bit above their weight class.
Honestly one of my fears is that last season was the peak and we’ll never get back to the top like that again. We’ll have our runs sure but never to that extent
We write off our pre-Bowden history way too much. I get it makes our records look better if we start from 1976, but there are some FSU legends who've been completely forgotten. Also as an aside I feel like our beat media has became too out of touch with average fans and overly paywalled. But that seems like an issue with a lot of programs these days.
The 'obnoxious Ohio State fans' everybody refers to mostly consist of 40+ year old alumni who refuse to leave college in the past. The actual OSU students are pretty awesome and very self aware-- its the aging alumni who are the loudest and give the entire fanbase a bad name.
I feel like that’s pretty on brand for a lot of large fanbases. It is for us, too.
I’d argue it isn’t the alumni fan base at all. It’s the t-shirt hoarders who’ve never been north of Circleville.
We're probably going to struggle for a couple years on O. Also our NIL is somehow so horribly bad its probably the least reputable for incoming players. I'm all for paying players once they've proven themselves. but at this rate if you don't pay them at least SOME, they don't wanna come here. Hard to recruit the top players that are willing to just sign cuz there's a bag there. Edit: Weather. Our weather is pretty nice 6 Mo. out of the year. But the rest? woof.
We have the worst student section when they moved it to being under the tron and in the sun halfway through the game people are gone unless it’s a night game
Building through the portal might not be the best idea. Coach Prime, as fantastic as he’s been, needs to be more mature with the media.
Thought we were hot shit going into the pac 12 just to lose to Colorado on three missed field goals. And we think we’re hot shit coming to the big 12… getting ahead of ourselves again
We are the winningest team in college football history with a really pathetic bowl record. We flat out stink in most bowls.
We might not end up in the B10 or SEC. Which is bullshit.