Lou Holtz once said that while coaching at South Carolina, he was elated to find out that they had the 11th-highest game attendance in the nation. Then he found out that they were sixth in the SEC.
Even Vanderbilt, who only has a student population of just over six thousand, averages almost 35,000 fans per game in the post-Jay Cutler era.
The truth is that fans are what drive college football programs. Ticket sales mean money, which leads to improved facilities, which leads to better recruits, which leads to bowl games, national television, and more money!
College football in the South is much more than a sport. It’s an event, and for many people, an interpersonal experience. It’s a daylong (several days for some) festival where people migrate to the mossy oaks of a Southern college campus and celebrate more than just their team. They celebrate life.
SEC football is a tradition that is passed down through generations like a wristwatch or a hunting rifle. As soon as anyone has a baby in the south, they get inundated with toddler clothes bearing the logo of a college football team (you gotta teach the kid early). You'll never set your eyes on a more proud human being than when a young father takes his new son to his first tailgate party.
By the way, here is normally where we would describe an SEC tailgate party, but that could be an article all on its own.
Oh, and speaking of kids, you know those friends of yours who got married and started having babies, so you basically never see them anymore unless someone gets married or dies? Well, you’ll see those guys every Saturday in the fall.
This is what drives the passion. Many compare their love of college football and team allegiance to a religion. In the South, we have God, country, and football—and depending on who you’re talking to, not necessarily in that order!
It’s that feeling you get when you first wake up on a Saturday morning and you almost trip down the stairs because you can’t wait to turn on College GameDay. Later on, you’re halfway listening to your wife rattle on about God knows what while you’re loading up the SUV with enough food and drinks to sustain a 60-day standoff with the ATF.
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