Your College Football Team Sucks

October 3, 2014 10:05 AM

The NYT, following up previous maps examining the relationship between geography and baseball and basketball fandom, has released a college football fandom map. Like the previous maps, it's based on Facebook Likes and zip code data, so its accuracy may be a little suspect. But it's still fun, especially when it supports your preconceived opinion of a rival school! We discussed the baseball map previously.
posted by COD (53 comments total)

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and question the accuracy of any map that shows any kind of Duke football "fandom." They've had a good year last year, which is probably skewing the results.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:11 AM on October 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

I have to laugh at the SoCal section - all Trojan gold, except for a small patch of blue in the vicinity of Westwood.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:13 AM on October 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

Four points:
In and around the Twin Cities the Badgers are the clear fan favorite, not the Gophers (this phenomenon not at all the case for Packers/Vikings).
Iowa is clearly Hawkeye country, and even the Iowa State zip codes are only ever so slightly Cyclones fans.
Michigan, by contrast, is a study in fan segregation. Lansing area people are huge Spartypants fans and not Wolverine fans at all, while Ann Arbor area people show the reverse.
I started looking at Arizona but then realized that nobody cares about Arizona football.
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:18 AM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and question the accuracy of any map that shows any kind of Duke football "fandom."

I thought the same thing (I mean, Carolina football's not great, but it's *usually* better than Duke, and I think at the very least attendance at games is bigger at UNC, so very weird to see it left out) , but from the top of the map: "Facebook has a discovered a coding error with its data for North Carolina, and we expect to have corrected data soon".
posted by damayanti at 10:22 AM on October 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

I have to laugh at the SoCal section - all Trojan gold, except for a small patch of blue in the vicinity of Westwood.

The Bruins aren't even the most popular team at their own stadium.
posted by Etrigan at 10:23 AM on October 3, 2014

The Indiana map verifies something all Purdue fans know, there are virtually no IU football fans. They root for Notre Dame during football season, then flip the reversible jacket inside-out to be IU basketball fans in the winter.
posted by COD at 10:23 AM on October 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

Just double checked Orange County, NC- which is where UNC is- and it had the *Buckeyes* in the top three but not UNC. I'm guessing they just left the UNC data out.
posted by damayanti at 10:24 AM on October 3, 2014

There is something very satisfying about how Ohio State's area is all of Ohio and almost nothing else. Like, if we broke up the US and reconstituted the states around prevailing NCAA loyalties, Ohio would be by far the least changed state (other than maybe Wisconsin, but I can't tell who that reddish fringe in eastern Minnesota is supposed to go with. Oh, and Hawaii, I guess.).
posted by Copronymus at 10:24 AM on October 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm guessing they only looked for Div I football teams, because I'm having a hard time believing that The University of Missouri is the most popular football program on the campus of Missouri State University in Springfield.
posted by COD at 10:25 AM on October 3, 2014

It's hard for me to believe that Cal is not one of the four favorite college football teams in Berkeley. Something's screwy with this.
posted by escabeche at 10:26 AM on October 3, 2014

yeah, ditto my school and its ZIP code.
posted by xbonesgt at 10:27 AM on October 3, 2014

Being from Ohio but not rooting for Ohio State has caused...misunderstandings.
posted by girlmightlive at 10:30 AM on October 3, 2014

In and around the Twin Cities the Badgers are the clear fan favorite, not the Gophers

Most people don't care about Gopher football. A small, very vocal minority do. Unfortunately, those are the same people who can get multi-bazillion-dollar stadiums built.
posted by gimonca at 10:31 AM on October 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

Michigan, by contrast, is a study in fan segregation.

yes and no - the lansing and ann arbor areas are as segregated as you'd expect - in the rest of the state, the wolverines may have more fans but spartan fans are a sizable minority - in many counties, only a percent or two below
posted by pyramid termite at 10:31 AM on October 3, 2014

Kansas also looks ... off. KU is not a football school, despite some of the alumni's efforts, and there should be a lot more purple. A lot more.
posted by rewil at 10:32 AM on October 3, 2014 [4 favorites]

New York is distorted as shit, because Upstate has one-gorillionth the population density of NYC and LI.

That said, I grew up in Schenectady, and I drank from Orangemen cups.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:32 AM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'm guessing they only looked for Div I football teams

Yup, that has to be it. I noticed the suspicious lack of UMontana Grizzlies fandom in Montana - there has to be something askew with a map that shows all of MT as huge Ducks fans when it's 24/7 wall-to-wall Griz right now.
posted by dialetheia at 10:33 AM on October 3, 2014

Re: Duke, Facebook has a discovered a coding error with its data for North Carolina, and we expect to have corrected data soon.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:33 AM on October 3, 2014

mcstayinskool: "...nobody cares about arizona football."

and yet, arizona has beaten nationally-ranked oregon two years in a row!

i used to be a ucla football fan, until the handicapped parking placard scandal broke. ucla players were stealing them from parked cars on campus. i drove my dad, who was dying of ALS, to ucla a few times for doctor's appointments, and one time his placard went missing, and he went to his grave thinking i had stolen it. i've done some pretty low things in my time, but nothing quite like that. fuck ucla football and all of college football.
posted by bruce at 10:34 AM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Your sports team is vastly inferior
That simple fact is plainly obvious to see
We’re gonna kick your collective posterior
Of course you realize we’re speaking figuratively
Our stats are thoroughly impressive
Our coach really has the Midas touch
Our players are fast and strong and brave
And your guys, eh, not so much

In fact we’ve played teams across the nation
And you’re the worst one we’ve come across
Try to assimilate that information
And it just might help you cope with your impending loss
Oh, and if somehow we are still failing
To effectively articulate the points at hand
Allow us now to summarize them in a manner
That your feeble brains can understand

We’re great (we’re great)
And you suck (you suck)
We’re great (we’re great)
And you suck (you suck)
We’re great (we’re great)
And you suck (you suck)
You see there’s us (we’re great)
And then there’s you (you suck)
We’re really, really great (really great)
In contrast, you really suck (really suck)
Okay, full disclosure, we’re not that great
But nevertheless, you suck

Your sports team will soon suffer swift defeat
That theory’s backed up by empirical evidence
We’re gonna grind up your guys into burger meat
Again, of course, we’re speaking in the figurative sense
What’s the use of even going through the motions
When you know that you’re gonna lose anyhow
So why don’t you save us all some time
And give up now (you suck!)

Did Weird Al miss anything?
posted by Talez at 10:37 AM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Re: Duke, Facebook has a discovered a coding error with its data for North Carolina, and we expect to have corrected data soon.

That's actually good to know, because I looked the county I grew up in and saw that it was listed with Duke number one, which was obviously wrong. I grew up with those ECU fans; they're insufferable, but they're not evil.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:43 AM on October 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

No, which is why that song is utterly brilliant.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:43 AM on October 3, 2014

I understand why my area of NJ likes Penn State (ugh) and Notre Dame (ugh) but why Florida? I mean, I don't object to Florida in any way, I just don't see anything that gets people rooting for the Gators as opposed to some other team.
posted by graymouser at 10:49 AM on October 3, 2014

Okay, full disclosure, we’re not that great
But nevertheless, you suck

That is my Philly sports trash talk boiled down to a single sentence. "Yeah, we're never winning a Super Bowl, but that's still better than being the [Washington team]."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:50 AM on October 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

It's hard for me to believe that Cal is not one of the four favorite college football teams in Berkeley

I came to make the exact same comment. Also, uhh, why are the Oregon Ducks supposedly a giant force in Bay Area fandom? I don't believe this map at all.

Oh and fuck Stanford.
posted by aspo at 10:59 AM on October 3, 2014

I understand why my area of NJ likes Penn State (ugh) and Notre Dame (ugh) but why Florida?

Maybe snowbirds who spend football season in Florida?
posted by smackfu at 11:06 AM on October 3, 2014

I understand why my area of NJ likes Penn State (ugh) and Notre Dame (ugh) but why Florida?

I hate to mention his name for fear of what it might summon, but...

Tebow?
posted by Rock Steady at 11:12 AM on October 3, 2014

I find the map most interesting in the states with more than one dominant football school, such as Arkansas. It's kind of deceptive, as one wants to simply see the map as all X fans here and all Y fans there, when in reality, while Auburn fans out number Alabama around Auburn, they make up roughly 20% or more of the fans in most of the other counties in the state. What's definitely amazing in the SEC is how much Starkville, Miss State, dominates Mississippi. Ole Miss has a much longer and better history of football than its in-state rival (Ole Miss leads in the rivalry game - 61 wins to 43 Miss. State's wins). I wonder if the racist background of Ole Miss, be it the Colonel, the Confederate flag at games, and the race riot on campus, has soured the school for the majority of the black population.

I wish there was also a historical data version of this map. Virginia Tech controls much of Virginia, but until the 90s, I'd be willing to bet UVA was on top.

And yeah, KU has been horrible at football for years now with K-State in or just out of the Top 25. Perhaps the basketball fans simply refuse to cheer for K-State when it comes to football, which could be true for any of the basketball schools that are overly represented based on their performances in recent years.
posted by Atreides at 11:30 AM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

I came to make the exact same comment. Also, uhh, why are the Oregon Ducks supposedly a giant force in Bay Area fandom? I don't believe this map at all.

They're using facebook likes of $something; if your team's social media org isn't active on facebook for reasons (incompetence, productivity, etc) this survey will find it lacking. Or if they're tracking the wrong thing.

It's also probably the case that people in the bay area who went to Stanford give precisely Zero Fucks about football, compared to say U of O.
posted by pwnguin at 11:32 AM on October 3, 2014

I had always questioned the logic of the Longhorn Network but not only does the school pretty much control the whole state of Texas, it is still listed amongst the favorites several states away. It is essentially its own conference. I had no idea...
posted by jim in austin at 11:33 AM on October 3, 2014

Interesting as always; I was surprised to see Army with a patch of territory of its own. (Not at all surprised to see my own alma mater missing—although, my God, they had a winning record last year! When I was there, the only team we could beat was CalTech, and they wisely don't play football any more.)
posted by languagehat at 11:36 AM on October 3, 2014

Another way to think about the Facebook likes bias is: who the fuck clicks Like on their favorite team on facebook? Judging from my departments effort to recruit students into a marketing / advertising job, every marketing student.

U of O has a huge marketing program, thanks in part to Nike's continued success. They have a specialization in sports marketing. Some of this is simply how popular the Ducks are, but it also skews the numbers when you have 500 students a year researching every aspect of the franchise marketing to give themselves a leg up on their application to the marketing management team.
posted by pwnguin at 11:44 AM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

I wish there was also a historical data version of this map. Virginia Tech controls much of Virginia, but until the 90s, I'd be willing to bet UVA was on top.

When I went to Virginia Tech ('78 - '82), we were an independent football school that turned out horrible football teams. We were much more highly regarded as a basketball school and played in the very competitive Metro Conference. So, yeah, you're probably right.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 11:45 AM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was surprised to see Army with a patch of territory of its own.

It's a pretty soft patch -- not over 17 percent anywhere. Plus there aren't any other teams in the immediate area to compete with them (unlike Annapolis), and it's in a dead zone among Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse and UConn.

I'm more surprised that Air Force doesn't have its own area. Texas and Ohio State are ahead of it in its own ZIP code.
posted by Etrigan at 11:51 AM on October 3, 2014

the oregon thing is crazy… the cal athletics twitter account has been going crazy :) i seriously doubt oregon has a huge fanbase in northern california. maybe in eureka or something but not the bay area.
posted by joeblough at 12:09 PM on October 3, 2014

What's going on with Florida's appeal in NH and Maine? Are Protestant Tebow fans a thing around there? (I thought those states up that way were pretty much religion free.)
posted by oddman at 12:10 PM on October 3, 2014

On the Duke front, Duke Football has 18 thousand likes on Facebook. Texas has 1.6 million.

What's going on with Florida's appeal in NH and Maine?

I think it's just a general background noise of nationally popular teams. Texas, Florida, Notre Dame, Oregon, all around 10% each.
posted by smackfu at 12:32 PM on October 3, 2014

After last night, I have to agree. My college football team sucks.
posted by Danf at 12:36 PM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

I think there is some kind of error or design flaw related to Oregon. I assure you they are not the most popular college football team in Mesa County, Colorado. (The map designers didn't think so either since they left Mesa County colored as University of Colorado.) Oregon was one of the top teams in many of the counties I checked across the nation

Did their football team make some viral video that got a bunch of likes on Facebook?
posted by vorpal bunny at 1:09 PM on October 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's hard for me to believe that Cal is not one of the four favorite college football teams in Berkeley. Something's screwy with this.

From TFA: Cal is hobbled by the fact that it's the rare football team without its own Facebook page. Fans can "like" only a Cal athletics page.
posted by kurumi at 1:14 PM on October 3, 2014

Kansas also looks ... off. KU is not a football school, despite some of the alumni's efforts, and there should be a lot more purple. A lot more.

Well some possible factors:
- Most KSU fans aren't so much KSU fans as anti-KU fans. If their metric measures, "Level of talking about KU" it's going to sweep up a bunch of KSU chatter.
- If a facebook post nominally about KU football goes by, it's going to be something like, "KU football proven historically bad yet again," and a lot of wildcats fans are going to click thumbs up on that puppy
- Kansas is not a football state in general, so there are probably a lot of basketball only KU fans who are just going to support anything KU related during the football season pre-basketball ramp up time.
- KSU football is, recently, a lot better than KU football--but it isn't nearly as good as KU basketball is good, recently or historically. So it may not be enough to move the pulse of the more neutral Kansan.
- Lingering embarrassment w.r.t. EcoKat.
- Perhaps many KSU fans eschew social media because that's just playing into Topeka's hands! And Topeka exists to steal money to give it to KU!!
posted by fleacircus at 1:14 PM on October 3, 2014

RAMMER JAMMER YELLOWHAMMER GIVE 'EM HELL ALABAMA

*ahem*

Excuse me. What an interesting map. I look forward to perusing it more closely.

ROLL TIDE ROLL WOOOOOO YEEHAW HAIL SABAN
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:20 PM on October 3, 2014

Man, the Sugar Bowl was great this year!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:43 PM on October 3, 2014

they fixed the cal thing in rev 2.0 of the map.

the cal athletics twitter account was very confused, since the "cal athletics" FB page has like 3x the likes of the "stanford athletics" page… but the lack of a football team specific page for cal football makes sense of it all.
posted by joeblough at 3:08 PM on October 3, 2014

What's going on with Florida's appeal in NH and Maine? Are Protestant Tebow fans a thing around there? (I thought those states up that way were pretty much religion free.)

East coast retiree seasonal migration?
posted by atoxyl at 3:53 PM on October 3, 2014

What's going on with Florida's appeal in NH and Maine?

Snowbirds...
posted by jim in austin at 5:10 PM on October 3, 2014

I find this map to be highly suspect. I live ~1 mile from the University of Kentucky's football stadium, and I can promise you, there are not that many Wildcat football fans in the entire Commonwealth.
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 5:42 PM on October 3, 2014

fleacircus: "- Kansas is not a football state in general, so there are probably a lot of basketball only KU fans who are just going to support anything KU related during the football season pre-basketball ramp up time."

Pretty sure Kansas is a football state, being in America and all.
posted by pwnguin at 12:33 AM on October 4, 2014

Looks like they fixed the North Carolina issue -- it's now all Tarheel blue except for a little Wolfpack red around Raleigh. Duke has vanished utterly from the top spot everywhere.
posted by Etrigan at 10:18 AM on October 4, 2014

And the K-State v. KU borders look slightly saner. I still feel like something's amiss with western Kansas, since @KState_Football has 19.2K Twitter followers to @KU_Football's 15.7K, and my impression was that Western Kansas hated liberal Lawrence. But that seems at least attributable to crossover marketing of a strong basketball team, a wider diffusion of respective graduates outside the state, or even just desperate moves to build an army of Likes with 'Like to Win tix' raffles.

Also amusing: in the zipcodes around Corvallis, OR about 1 percent of the population liked the Ohio State Buckeyes or the Oklahoma State Sooners. Whoops! Since ~1 percent won't make the top 3 cutoff in Ohio/Oklahoma, we can't see which region is most geographically challenged =(. I suppose that's an easy narrow marketing demo though: people within 50 miles that Like the 'wrong' team. Maybe we can raffle free geography lessons for Likes =)

Anyways, a brief aside to Upshot: maybe we could analyze universities by something other than sports? University Presidents? Nobel Laureates?
posted by pwnguin at 11:00 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Well, I'm sure that I'm the only one in my zipcode who's a Wisconsin Badgers fan. But to be honest, I don't think very many people in my zip code care about handegg. Mexican League association football, and baseball, both the Yankees and in DR, are the bigger deals around here.
posted by droplet at 1:16 PM on October 4, 2014

from the department of "if you say so", just now, at latimes.com:

"usc leads arizona state, 7-7, in second quarter"

those times people are such cutups, wish i worked in a place as funny as that.
posted by bruce at 5:49 PM on October 4, 2014

I see people have mentioned Cal and North Carolina issues they've fixed so it looks like they're looking at it. Arizona is messed up too.

The colors look right but it says Yavapai Co. belongs to the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Razorbacks also dominate Pima (which includes U of AZ) and Pinal counties. And it says Maricopa Co. belongs to the Arizona Wildcats (46%) over the ASU Sun Devils (18%) that are actually based in that county, though the county is still gold colored.

If you zoom in to the Zip Code level everything is as it should be.


At any rate, I was hoping one of these would be released!
posted by mountmccabe at 11:46 PM on October 4, 2014