Here’s a slow Saturday question for you.
How many different P4 teams have you seen play in person?
Quick count for me is around 40. Throw in some G6 teams, it’s way more from my days at Georgia Southern, too.
Now, as a bonus question, which opposing team had the nicest/best fans?
Hands down: Wisconsin. The 1998 Outback Bowl was a fun time and a nice group of people. I could say the same, if I’m being honest, about Notre Dame and Purdue fans, too. Decent folks.
How about you?
I got 80 counting through that list, but I’m not 100% certain it’s accurate. A few were “I think they came to Sanford for a paycheck game one time” schools, and I imagine I forgot seeing one or two that were the same category. What’s funny is I remember distinctly that I haven’t seen Central Michigan because I watched the Knowshon leap live on TV while at Florida before the Gators/Hurricanes game.
Of those -80, I’ve seen 23 play a a game in their home stadium.
Forgot nicest fans…
Probably Missouri in 2012. They were naively polite. They’ve gotten a little more used to the conference, but they’re still a really strange cultural fit.
Honorable mentions: agree with Notre Dame. I wouldn’t have been nearly as polite if someone bought up half the seats in Sanford. They were plenty nice at the Sugar Bowl a couple of years ago as well, though that was a strange atmosphere.
Army and Navy both are in a completely different category but both are extremely hospitable. Highly recommend anyone to go see a game at a service academy (and/or Army/Navy, but that’s a much tougher ticket).
Hawaii fans were precious. They weren’t rude about it, but really thought they could hang. After the game, they didn’t seem to care that they had been exposed as a fraud and were just enjoying the weirdness of New Orleans. I enjoyed watching it through their eyes.
I may be the only one to say this, but Baton Rouge is by far my favorite road trip. Once you get used to the ribbing from LSU fans, you won’t have a more fun interaction with an opposing fan and you’ll eat better at many of their tailgates than any restaurant in Louisiana. Baseball might be even more fun in that town.
I was at Mizzou in 2012 as well with my family. Their first SEC game. It was wild. We had a bunch of people randomly walk up and welcome us to their town, so excited to be part of the SEC.
Just a crazy experience — it was great!
We went to that one too. They had no idea what they were getting into. Most were shocked how many Georgia fans were arriving.
We went to Missouri in 2012. Had a fan asked me if we always traveled with a big crowd. I said yes (they played Alabama the next week) but the Bama fans will be arriving by Wednesday. He couldn’t believe me.
The day after the Rose Bowl, we were having Mimosas with brunch. An OK couple sent two over to us.
Notre dame, Missouri and Colorado minus the students.
Awful. I did that walk of shame through the campus after Caleb King fumbled at the end of the game. Colorado students were awful during the game and heaped abuse on the Georgia fans after the game. Just an awful experience.
Note Dame for sure!
OkSt a close #2.
I think I got to 38 if I counted correctly.
Nicest fans … I guess since I don’t go to a bunch of road games, I’ll have to go with NC State. They are knowledgeable but know their place. They love their team and hate anything Carolina blue.
I may have told this story here before. When I lived in the Triangle, the first time I went to an NC State game was in 2002 to see them play Florida State (a friend had NCSU season tickets) the Saturday after Michael Johnson at Auburn. I wore a red shirt with no logo with a red Georgia cap with a Power G on it. A guy who was sitting behind us saw it and said something to the effect of “Don’t judge us. You know what real football looks like.”
Considering for how long I had season tickets as a student and then after graduation I would have expected it to be much higher, but I also counted 38 P4 teams only.
I didn’t always go to the bowl games which probably would have added a few more teams.
I guess others have interacted with more rival fans. I don’t know who I would say are the friendliest. I guess I enjoyed my trip to Austin so I will go with Texas. But I really wasn’t hanging out with them.
I do wish I would have made the trip to South Bend.
Also, I only counted UGA games.
Somewhere in the low 30s for me, and hands down Notre Dame fans. Welcoming, generous, and magnanimous in defeat.
I count 52 for me, but probably a few more as I didn’t go back and count all of the P4 patsies from my college days. This figure includes a half dozen teams that I watched as a guest/fan with friends and family at their stadiums (Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State, Northwestern and Michigan).
Most unpleasant fans were the students in our road loss to Colorado! Nicest fans were either Notre Dame in South Bend or Hawaii in New Orleans.
I landed on 45, but feel it is probably more because I can’t recall all the Cupcake games I’ve seen in Athens and Boulder.
I’ll have to agree with the above sentiment about Colorado student fans since I was one in the early 90’s. We were pretty bad then too. Also very little football knowledge. That surprised me when I got out there in 1989. I assumed since the Broncos we had a solid tradition of winning that football fans out there would be more educated on the game, but remember thinking what a bunch of idiots were around me during my first season there.
I’ll say Nebraska for the nicest fans I’ve encountered. When Colorado finally beat them for the first time in forever and we stormed the field my freshman year the visiting Nebraska fans stayed in the stands and applauded for us finally beating them. They also treated us well when we visited Lincoln.
My best guess is 57 that includes some Georgia Southern and a few random games by others too. Nicest fans clear choice Notre Dame. Followed by Missouri and Perdue.
Nicest fans have to be Iowa St &, oddly enough, Texas A&M.
Hard to remember all of them, especially the paycheck games, but I’m somewhere over 40 like you.
Notre Dame fans were the nicest by far to me. LSU fans are great before the game, and if they win, after the game. If they lose, especially at night, just keep your head down and leave quickly.
Hawaii fans were okay except for this one jackass that sat in front of us. He seemed to be above all the “redneck southerners” from Georgia so I enjoyed cheering extra loud just for him.
I wanted to include the Hawaii fans. They were a blast at Harrah’s on the craps table. Made them bark for points with the dice.
Post game around us not so much. June Jones spoiled or ruined their expectations.
I got 59, the current SEC, the original ACC, ( my dad was an original IPTAY member) so I was at Clemson every Saturday home game from age 8 to 17 plus bowl games including Woody Hayes’ last game. Every Georgia P4 OCC home game since ‘85.
My FiL was honored at UNC so went to watch, probably the nicest fans, very subdued fans, I guess waiting on basketball season..Women sitting in front of me was balancing her checkbook during the game.
Since you specifically said P4, I’m not even going to try and remember some of the paid games (i.e. band days in the mid-90s).
My count is lower since I’ve been more of a TV watcher the past couple of decades, but I still have some great memories of in-person games. Oddly, of the 12 SEC teams that were there in the 90s when I was in Athens, Alabama is the only one I never saw in person (and still haven’t). And I haven’t seen any of the newbies in person, either.
My count (in rough order of seeing them): 19
Georgia
TCU OR Baylor (my grandfather took me to my first game when I was in elementary school in either 1988 or 1989 but I can’t remember. I just remember it was a Texas school and I spent about 30 minutes after the game collecting the plastic cups as souvenirs).
South Carolina
Mississippi State
Tennessee
Kentucky
Florida
Auburn
Georgia Tech
Wisconsin
Vanderbilt
Ole Miss
Virginia
UCF
LSU
Purdue
Arkansas
Houston
Clemson
9
I guess around 40. Nicest fans USC. In 1977 I saw USC play Alabama in the Coliseum. The fans I met were very knowledgeable about football and I had a great time. I have to admit, when the USC band cranked up their fight song, you can’t help getting goose bumps.