10 Craziest Student Sections in College Football
Student sections are the lifeblood of the in-stadium experience in college football. Those supporting their classmates on the field are usually the loudest and craziest fans in the entire building on fall Saturdays.
An awesome student section can go a long way for teams, as they can use these wild crowds to whip up the entire stadium into a deafening atmosphere. That's where miscommunications, pre-snap penalties and more costly mistakes can come in and change a game.
But which student sections in college football could be classified as the craziest as we head into the 2016 season?
Here are 10 of the wildest student sections you'll find right now, based on a number of important factors—size of the section, national reputation, noteworthy traditions and dedication. These sections get to the stadium early, stay loud the entire game and even continue to bring the noise after the clock hits all zeroes.
Of course, plenty of tough cuts had to be made to trim this list down to a neat 10, so there are bound to be passionate suggestions in the comments below. Tell us which sections you think are the craziest.
Arizona
1 of 10
Let's kick off the countdown with the student section that was crowned the best in the country by the National Collegiate Student Section Association last summer after a nationwide vote. The "ZonaZoo" has a reputation for being loud and extremely effective at Arizona Stadium in the fall.
The student section has also been known to get out of hand with their celebrations. In 2009, the Zoo prematurely stormed the field with less than a minute left in a game against Oregon—one that the Ducks later won in overtime. But the Zoo's timing was perfect two years earlier when they knocked off Oregon and tore down the goalposts.
According to ESPN.com Pac-12 writer Ted Miller, several players he has talked to over the years—including former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez—called Arizona "the toughest place to play in the Pac-12 other than Oregon's Autzen Stadium." And the ZonaZoo dwarfs Oregon's student section in size for football games.
The ZonaZoo is a famous student section both by the football field and on the hardwood for Arizona, and they've been heralded as one of the best around by multiple outlets over the years. These Wildcats definitely know how to bring the energy in the Arizona desert.
Florida
2 of 10
When Florida is rolling, "The Swamp" is one of the loudest and most intimidating venues in all of college football. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium also has one of the largest marked student sections in the country, with student tickets nearly making up one-fourth of the 88,548 seats, according to Adam Silverstein of OnlyGators.com.
Last year, a lot of the famous buzz came back to Florida's student section after some underwhelming campaigns under former head coach Will Muschamp. The school nixed the ticket lottery it used to have, and new head coach Jim McElwain penned an encouraging letter to the student body last spring, per Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel.
The letter worked for McElwain and his Gators. Florida went 6-1 in Gainesville in Jim McElwain's first year, only losing to rival Florida State. The home-field advantage made a huge difference in back-to-back victories over rival Tennessee and then top-10 foe Ole Miss.
As one of the largest student sections in the country, Florida should be a fixture on countdowns like this, especially with the way McElwain got the Gators back to the SEC Championship Game in 2015. The massive wave of students doing the famous "chomp" and bellowing "Go Gators!" makes it tough on any opponent stepping into "The Swamp."
LSU
3 of 10
The student section at LSU's Tiger Stadium puts the "death" in "Death Valley." When the lights come on for a traditional night game in Baton Rouge, this 25-section block of rowdy students makes LSU's home one of the most intimidating environments in all of college football.
"It's just tough to win in Death Valley when you have thousands of unruly purple-and-gold-clad students raining chants, profanities and boos down on you in a stadium that traps sound right over the top of teams," Edward Aschoff of ESPN.com wrote in 2014. "The roar from the students after those three most intimidating notes ('Hold That Tiger') in college sports... will send shivers down your spine."
As Aschoff writes, LSU's crazy student section has also been known to get out of hand with some profane additions to the Tigers' famous chants. Last year, rain couldn't even stop the section, as it danced and partied in the stands through a long delay before the cancellation of the Tigers' season opener.
LSU's student section is a massive wall of deafening noise and unlimited energy that has helped Les Miles post an unbelievable winning percentage in night home games. The experience is hard to top anywhere in the country.
Ohio State
4 of 10
Let's do some quick math here. Ohio State's Columbus campus had the fourth-most undergraduates (44,741) enrolled in the United States, according to U.S. News and World Report. Ohio Stadium is the third-largest venue in college football. The Buckeyes have gone 50-4 since Urban Meyer arrived, so the OSU students right now have had plenty to cheer.
Add all that together, and it's clear—Ohio State should have one of the biggest and best student sections in all of college football. Tradition supports that, too, as the Block "O" student section has been around since 1938, famous for its capes and card stunts.
Today, the Block "O" is located on two different ends of the stadium, making sure opposing teams won't be able to get away from the energy that the student section brings. They help make one of the biggest stadiums in America become an incredibly intimidating atmosphere.
Ohio State's massive student sections are loud and dedicated, as Urban Meyer said in a 2014 press conference he makes it a special point to his players to thank those who support the team each and every weekend.
Penn State
5 of 10
There's no denying the passion Penn State's student body has for its football team. The Nittany Lions boast one of the biggest student sections in the country, and they sell out tickets each year in no time.
According to the university, Penn State sold more than 21,200 student season tickets last summer, and the sophomore allotment sold out in eight minutes. All the underclassmen seats were claimed in a combined 25 minutes. Penn State said the student section has consistently sold out in Beaver Stadium during the past four decades.
On game days, the senior "S Zone" stands out for its color coordination in a sea of student frenzy. In 2004, the student section started an impromptu "White Out" for a game against Purdue. It's become one of Penn State's most famous fan traditions, now blanketing the entire stadium in jaw-dropping white.
When the lights kick on in Beaver Stadium, the intensity amps up thanks to a gigantic student section that will overload both your sense of vision and hearing. Whenever great student sections in college football are the topic of discussion, Penn State is usually one of the first names that gets mentioned.
Tennessee
6 of 10
The turnaround of Tennessee football under head coach Butch Jones has definitely brought more life back into the gigantic Neyland Stadium on Saturdays. That energy has extended to Tennessee's strong student section, which overwhelmed the ticketing system for the Volunteers' 2015 game against Oklahoma.
According to Tanner Hancock of the Daily Beacon, Tennessee received a record-breaking 13,283 ticket requests for the game against Oklahoma, which turned out to be one of the best games of the entire college football season. Through the rebuilding effort, Tennessee's craziest fans in Neyland have been behind their team.
"They have been with us every venture of the way, and the greatest illustration is (students) needing a ticket," Jones told the Daily Beacon last September. "When most universities are having problems getting students to the game and getting them to come early and stay to the end of the game, we have not had that problem here at Tennessee."
The atmosphere in the 102,455-seat Neyland Stadium has been bumped up even higher in recent years thanks to the dedication and the volume generated from Tennessee's student section. The Vols will rely on that heavily in 2016 as they look to contend for a championship.
Texas A&M
7 of 10
It's the home-field advantage that's known around the college football world by one name—"The 12th Man." Texas A&M brings it in terms of student section size and noise all game weekend, and that starts on Friday night.
In one of the most breathtaking traditions in the game, Aggie students pile into Kyle Field late on Friday nights before home games for the "Midnight Yell," where they practice the chants that they will unleash on Texas A&M's visiting opponents hours later. Since the Aggies have joined the SEC, the sessions before Texas A&M has hosted Alabama have been legendary.
During the games, the noise and the movement of the student section has been known to cause the now-expanded Kyle Field to literally sway. And if the energy of the 12th Man is rocking giant structures, imagine what that is like on the field for opponents.
With a force that goes up to the 40,000 mark in number of seats and a tradition for practicing how loud they're going to be the next day, Texas A&M's student section is the best kind of crazy for a college football program. These Aggies are quite proud of their traditions and have the volume to match.
Texas Tech
8 of 10
Texas Tech's student section isn't the biggest. It isn't the most famous. But if you're looking for the craziness, Lubbock, Texas and Jones AT&T Stadium is the place for you.
Even when the Red Raiders struggled to a 4-8 record on the field in the 2014 season, Texas Tech still averaged more than 11,000 students per home game. That's the kind of dedication a program that isn't exactly a superpower in the college football landscape wants to see from its fans.
"It's pretty incredible how many people come out there, even before we are warming up," former Texas Tech tight end Jace Amaro told the program's website in 2013. "It gets us fired up and really helps us get ready for the game and it psyches the other team out when you have almost 20,000 students just yelling at them on the sidelines the whole game."
For pure insanity, the Tech students bring it in a variety of ways. They are famous for chucking tortillas onto the field. They've also been known to dress oddly on occasion, from full black body paint for the famous Michael Crabtree win against Texas in 2008 to Futurama characters for a game close to Halloween in 2013. A "future Mrs. Kliff Kingsbury," complete with a wedding dress, was also in attendance.
Virginia Tech
9 of 10
Even though the Virginia Tech Hokies haven't been championship contenders in a while, Lane Stadium remains one of the toughest places to play in college football. A lot of that has to do with the student section, which is a major part of an incredible tradition.
Right after the deafening "Let's Go" and "Hokies" chants and right before the team takes the field, Metallica's "Enter Sandman" rings out across Lane Stadium. The student section leads the jumping up and down that rattles across the stadium. The entire scene—especially for a huge game like last year's home contest against then-defending national champion Ohio State—will give you goosebumps.
No matter the score on the board or what record the Hokies have, the Virginia Tech student section has a reputation for staying loyal throughout all the home games. At its peak, the noise level has famously led to a lot of opposing false starts in Lane Stadium and some frustrating communication for offenses.
The section helped make Frank Beamer's final games last season quite memorable, and the section will continue to bring the volume in the new era with head coach Justin Fuente.
Wisconsin
10 of 10
Size, rowdiness, awesome traditions—the student section at Wisconsin checks all of the boxes. No matter the temperature or how the game is going on the field, the atmosphere in Camp Randall Stadium is top-notch.
The premier tradition for the Badgers is "Jump Around," the iconic House of Pain song that is played between the third and fourth quarters of every Wisconsin home game. Those in attendance follow the song's title quite well, causing the stadium's upper decks to move in raucous celebration.
The energy created by "Jump Around" carries on well into the fourth quarter, which serves as a huge boost for the Badgers. After the game, the noise continues with the "Fifth Quarter." While most stadiums have the marching bands play as fans head for the exits after the game, Wisconsin's student section began sticking around to sing and dance in the stands in the 1970s. Today, it's a massive tradition for Badgers of all ages.
While Wisconsin might not have as big of a stadium as some of its Big Ten brethren, it can provide a truly crazy home-field atmosphere thanks to its wild student section.
Justin Ferguson is a National College Football Analyst at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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