With college football kicking off this weekend, many of us will be watching with some interest…some of us with a little more interest because of our past, our families, or maybe where we’ve lived.
I opined last week about enjoying Hawaii football, but I’m sure there are those among us who watch some college football teams outside of the Red and Black and have a rooting interest.
Me? I’ve mentioned before I worked at Georgia Southern, so my time and welcome there, especially from a few chance meetings with Erk, leaves me a perpetual Eagles fan (I also hold a degree from Statesboro, so there’s that). I also worked at the University of Central Florida, so I sometimes watch with interest, but my time there wasn’t the greatest and I only watch out of curiosity, and not much more. And no, I don’t support the program’s self-proclaimed national championship from a few years back.
Aside from the Dawgs and the Eagles, I don’t have many others I pull for with any level of heart. When watching, I usually pull for the underdog, whoever that would be, unless the underdog is Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, Tech…etc. And in the event that they’re playing each other, I just root for a new crack in the tectonic plates to swallow both programs whole.
How about you? Who’s your “other” rooting interest, if you have one…and why?
Wife and I spent some time in Lawrence, KS so I root for the Jayhawks in Football
Whoever is playing Auburn.
there are 135 FBS teams…
1-133… of my support goes the B.M.F from the University of Georgia Bulldogs
134… anyone playing the nerds
135… Notre Dame, the decree from St Patrick in the year of our lord 431 that all Irish Catholics henceforth shall cast thine eyes of support upon the green and gold (except for those souls whose blood runs Red&Black and/or when they play UGA)
I feel the same way except I’d put anyone playing the Gayturds at #133.
Also, while I do have an Irish Catholic guilt to pull for ND, I also feel a tinge of joy when they lose just because of the arrogance of their fans. I call that the Martin Luther effect…
last point agreed, love the school but hate their fans
My son is a fairly recent ND grad. Have to admit, the place kinda grew on me.
Syracuse and Fran Brown. Amazing what he’s done there in a short time period.
Ole Miss is my second favorite SEC team. Don’t know how they manage but the “scenery” is very notable..Munson said OM had the best scenery in the conference.
LSU is fun..otherworldly on Saturday night…
Grandson plays at Troy so I’ve made a few trips over there…Troy is a beautiful campus/stadium…but I have to drive past the only SEC school with a Buc-ees to get there.
I hate the Vols and GT equally…Which ever one we eventually lose to first will immediately become most hated.
You’re not looking for a crack, you’re looking for a subduction zone. 😉
Geaux Tigers for my purple and gold cousins, although their dress habits and Brian Kelly make that a chore lately.
I played golf with a couple of LSU fans not too long ago. You could have seen those two from the space station with the naked eye.
” You fuckers auditioning for court jester or did you just get lost looking for the Mardi Gras float?”
I play in a Pick-em league, so I usually am rooting for whoever I picked to win, unless that team is Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, USCe, USC, Texas, Ohio State, Michigan, ND, Miami, or the Nerds. Those are the main teams I despise to the extent that I don’t care if I get my pick wrong if it means they lose.
I like BYU. A lot of those kids have been on missions and are married. They have to follow strict rules. Can’t help but pull for them.
I don’t have an ‘other’ rooting interest. But I hope Notre Dame loses every game. So I root for whoever they’re playing, no matter who it is. Been that way my whole life. Even as a kid. I grew up in an Irish Catholic family. So, everyone assumed that I was an ND fan. Nope. Hated them as long as I can remember.
Iowa. Best reason I can give is growing up in GA in the 70’s-80’s you had to be a fan of the Falcons and one other team who actually won games. For me that was the Steelers, and the Hawkeyes had similar unis, an old school coach in Hayden Fry, and little chance of playing the Dawgs. Nowadays, I still respect a team that wins fairly consistently with exceptional punting and not much else.
I love to watch college football.
Outside of the dawgs I’ll watch any sec team with interest as measurement.
As far as interest, Oregon. My brother is a huge Oregon fan and I love the uniform chaos.
I root for UGA. I root against any team that wears orange. If Auburn played Al Qaeda I’d supply the goats for Al Qaeda’s victory celebration.
Spent some time in Lafayette La, so I can pull for the Rag’n Cajuns. As stated above rooting for everyone who plays auburn, no exceptions. I have on occasions wished for a bus crash before their games, no fatalities, just enough of an incident to cancel their game.
We are Georgia. The rest is the enemy. Occasionally I will root for the enemy of my enemy.
But I have adopted the little fighting Falcons of the Air Force Academy.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend” great quote by somebody and true when it comes to college football.
I used to pull for Georgia Southern until I experienced the couple of jerks that sat behind me during the 2015 game. Now I don’t care if they win or lose.
I follow Furman because that’s where my youngest daughter attends.
I used to respect Alabama’s program due to a high school teacher from the pre-Bammer days. Otis would know of whom I speak.
I have some good work friends who are A&M Aggies and VPI Hokies. I do give them respect.
Probably about the only other program I like is NC State who we adopted during our time living up there. We have lots of friends who are either State grads or fans.
This might get me kicked off, but it’s Auburn. My wife is an alum and my son ( who loves the Dawgs btw,) just started his freshman year this week. So, when they aren’t playing us I like to see them do well.
I absolutely do understand…
But as the old joke went..”I don’t believe I’d have told that”….. (kidding…you gotta do what you gotta do)..
We’ll give some grace to a DGD who lives in eastern Alabama. 😉
Raleigh is a hell of a town. I can relate. NC State has had some moments where they’re super fun to watch, too, and I love their helmet swag with the giant wolfpack logo.
For the size of Carter-Finley, their home crowd is really good. I enjoyed every time I got invited to a State game. I went to a State-FSU game the week after Greene to Johnson. I wore a red shirt with a Georgia cap to the game. The NC State guys we sat with were like, “Please don’t judge us. We aren’t as serious about this as you guys are.”
That crew hates UNC with the passion of a 1000 suns fueled by a 1000 suns. It’s not a Fech kind of thing, but there is a bit of little brother but not insecure little brother.
State should be the best football program in the state, but they find ways every year to shoot themselves in the foot.
State 100% has a little brother mentality towards UNC. They may have had the upper edge in football for the last decade or so, but UNC lives rent free in their heads thanks to basketball. I lived in Chapel Hill for 20 years and have many good friends who are State fans. They are as irrational towards Carolina as the Nerds are towards Georgia.
Basketball? I absolutely agree with you. They don’t like being in the shadow of the 2 shades of blue.
I didn’t see it with football due to the people I interacted with. They hated UNC, but it wasn’t an animus that makes you think, “Good grief, these people want UNC to lose more than they want State to win.”
I’ve worked at NC State for 14 years, and of course I cheer for them — I mean, bless their hearts, you know? — but I can tell you that there is absolutely zero optimism about the coming football season. God help this whole place if East Carolina whips their asses to start the season.
(I’m also the author of the worked-at-Clemson comment elsewhere, my login just didn’t “take.”)
I’m wondering if they are going to cancel the home and home with us.
I didn’t even realize there was a home-and-home on the horizon between us, but I sure hope it happens.
2033-34 – Athens in 2033. Raleigh in 2034.
One of my best friends who is a State fan (and now likes Georgia, too – I got him hooked at the Auburn 2014 game) is dreading the beatings if it happens.
I like seeing Fran Brown and Dan Lanning do well.
I have to admit I like watching USC games televised from the Colleseum. They have the finest cheerleaders in existence and their band hardly ever stops playing. It just screams college football to me for some reason.
Hate the team but love the cheerleaders!
Don’t kid yourself. You love ALL cheerleaders.
Tech even if they are hot? I don’t think so.
This is that one area of our difference that I mentioned in your other post. I love Georgia football, but I have almost zero interest in any other team. And I definitely won’t be watching any game where the Dawgs aren’t on the field.
I worked at Clemson for some eight years as a lecturer and administrator and was there to see the Bowden-to-Dabo transition. It still tickles me that they were more or less openly saying Dabo was a year-or-two caretaker until they got a “real” coach hired, and he ended up taking them to the promised land. So I’d say I pull for Clemson unless we’re playing them or them losing helps us in some way.
Other than that, LSU. My dad went to banking school there a couple of summers and always spoke super-fondly of the experience, and my own experiences at those games as an adult were good ones.
One of my best friends used to teach at the banking school. He felt the same way about the place.
I had an uncle (RIP) who was a huge LSU fan from his Air Force days being stationed in Biloxi listening on WWL out of New Orleans before going to Nam. He had season tickets to games for years and would only go once every 2 years or so.
Even after coming back from SE Asia, he was an LSU fan until the day he passed. He was buried in an LSU purple and gold sweater. Everyone wore something purple and/or gold to his memorial service.
He liked to pick at everyone in town about Georgia, but deep down, he liked Georgia, too.
I’ll have to say yes to LSU other than when we play them (although the carpetbagger “fambly” head coach makes that really difficult right now).
It’s fading now but for a long time, I had a soft spot for Florida State.
-I really liked Bobby Bowden
-Mark Richt came from there
-Having spent two years at Valdosta State, we ventured down to Tallahassee often (to party with the Tri-Delts)
-They hate the Gators
-They hate Tech
-They hate Clemson
-They’re not a conference rivalry for UGA
1990s FSU was a fun team to get behind, especially since Miami was so detestable. Before I got the job at UCF I interviewed at FSU and they took too long to answer and I had to complete my masters so I was on a deadline. What could’ve been.
That’s fair. I’ve had to revisit that as my now son-in-law is an FSU alum (although he’s getting an online master’s degree from Georgia).
I would have applied to FSU back in the day, but they told me I was outside the radius for an out of state tuition waiver.
Grew up in Thomasville in the 80’s and 90’s. UGA is MY Team, but have attended FSU games(30 minutes to Tally versus 4 hours to Athens)for decades other than my time in Athens. I pull for the Noles when they are not playing my Dawgs.
I tolerate LSU because my wife went to school there, but only when it doesn’t affect the Dawgs. I pull for Iowa State because I have several friends that went to school there, & I had a great time out there at the Iowa State-Iowa game a couple of years ago.
I mostly hate watch games that may affect UGA.
I was raised a Bulldog, but attended the University of Colorado at Boulder during the glory days of McCartney. So I pull for the Buffs also. I will admit when the two have played I have pulled for Georgia and did attend both games.
I also went to Vanderbilt for my MBA, but don’t really root for them.
What do you think of Coach Amazon Prime?
Mixed feelings. The program needed to think outside the box to become relevant again and he has done that. Definitely changed the energy and culture. Shedeur needed to be reigned in some , but was not. His antics were obnoxious. Deion was flamboyant as a player, but seemed more in good fun. Maybe Shedeur bothers just because I am getting older and people need to get off my lawn.
I think the Buffs will be bad again now that all the skill position talent went to the NFL. I also don’t think Prime’s strategy of using the portal more than recruiting HS talent is going to build sustainable success. They bring in small recruiting classes and rely too heavily on transfers. Hard to build any continuity that way. And don’t get me started on the lack of talent on the lines of scrimmage.
I have a feeling Juju Lewis is going to get his brains beat in out there.
That is highly likely. Shedeur was the most sacked QB in college football. He was sacked almost 100 times in two seasons at Colorado.
Lewis is the poster child for what an NIL recruitment can lead to. He reclassifies to make bank (he would be a senior at Carrollton this year) and then decommits from USC, who then immediately gets a commitment from another QB. He gets shopped around. Kirby says thanks but no thanks because we have our guy identified next year. Bama says we have our guy in this class. Sleeze must have been on the golf course every time Lewis showed up at the cesspool. It really seemed no one wanted him in the SEC.
Colorado seemed to be the only program willing to shell out whatever it was going to take to get his commitment.
His star fell after the reclassification. At one time, I believe ESPN’s recruiting service had him as the top high school recruit regardless of position or class when he was considered as a 2025-26 player.
It is looking like Lewis will be the backup to start the season behind a transfer from Liberty who was a two year starter there.
As far as college football goes, I root for UGA only.
To quote that great American Lewis Grizzard, I wouldn’t pull for Georgia Tech with 3 engines out on their team plane.
Same for Florida, Auburn, 10RC, and Bama.
I watched and rooted for Miami when Richt was there, and I still occasionally watch their games. I’m hoping they beat the Irish, and I hope Beck has an outstanding year. I’ll probably watch more of them this year because he’s there.
Aside from that, I’ll root for any former UGA assistant who’s now a head coach unless they’re playing against our Dawgs, but I don’t make a particular effort to catch their games.
I’m a college football fan. It’s getting harder every year to maintain that attachment. Georgia is my school. Rooting against all of our rivals is a big part of the fun. Enjoying a good meteor game one where both hated rivals look bad is enjoyable. When Erk was running Georgia Southern I attended several of their national championship games. They were a lot of fun to follow. I’ll always say he should have gotten the UGA HC job.
Like others here I enjoy watching the Kirby tree of coaches succeed. Fran Brown is a big favorite. Rooting against all things Big Ten is increasingly more fun. Most recently beating Texas has become much more enjoyable than I expected. The Aggies were right saying we would quickly learn to hate them.
My younger brother went to Jacksonville State, so they get my rooting interest, particularly when they play/upset an SEC team.
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for LSU. The “lovable psychopathy” of their fanbase, the awesome tailgating, the tiger eye at midfield, the wild ass games against Florida are all really cool IMO. Also, anytime someone mentions UCF, I always think of Stephen Godfrey calling them a “diploma factory for Hilton night managers”.