The Top 10 Teams College Football Loves To Hate
If we were to take a journey into the very core of college football we might well discover a large fiery orb filled with hate.
Is this very real revulsion, disgust and detestation the reason we love college football so much?
At the very least being a hater has to be considered one of the best aspects of college football.
Indeed, watching the team we hate lose is almost as good as watching the team we love win; but, not near as good as the ecstasy experienced when our own beloved program totally annihilates our most detested opponent.ย
The hater rejects compassion, frowns upon empathy, dismisses kindness; ultimately providing a safe haven for frostiness, contempt and spiteful behavior.
There is regional hate, conference hate, in-state hate, border hate, interstate and intrastate hate, rivalry hate, historical hate, old hate, new hate, and hate without cause.
There is no question that we hate, but why do certain programs get more than their share of the glorious hatred?
Do we hate them because of their arrogance, their over abundance of funds, their stupid loud fight song, their chant with or without hand motion, their awful colors, theirย ugly stadium, the fact that they whipped our team seven years ago and we canโt get past it, their over confident coach, their tendency to get over rated every year, the region they represent, that they seem to ignore the rules, that they recruit thugs, or just because it feels so right and it feels so good...
Or perhaps, might it be instead that it is the nagging fact that they are talented, dominant, recruit nabbing, winning machines?ย Oh yes, being hated does have its definite upsides.
In a forum that celebrates this type of beautiful disdain what are the ten current teams that all of college football loves to hate the most?
Not who has been hated the most over time, or who is hated most within a conference or region, or who you or I hate the most personally, but, who are the current national leaders of the love to hate?
Yes, which are the programs that fans from coast to coast eagerly tune in to watch compete; all yearning to see a stunning upset, an ugly loss or at least an embarrassing performance?ย
The following slideshow attempts to identify the top 10 programs that our college football nation most loves to hate...
10. Florida
1 of 10
Even with Tim Tebow out of the picture at Florida there are still plenty of reasons to hate the Gators.
Urban Meyer and company front a squeaky clean image but many Gator haters will tell you that they believe Florida is a dirty program that doesnโt follow the rules but doesnโt get investigated by the NCAA.
Regardless of the validity of those claims, the nation grows tired of a team that wins, wins big, and wins year in and year out.
Based on this, Gator haters will have plenty to rant about in the years to come.
9. Michigan
2 of 10
Itโs hard to believe how quickly Rich Rodriguez has managed to transform the football program at Michigan from a contender to a team quite literally on the brink of despair.
Despite their 8-16 mark over the past two years the Wolverines still have a solid contingency of haters.ย This large group is no doubt enjoying every golden moment of the debacle at Michigan and will be launching โKeepRichRod.comโ websites if deemed necessary.
The Michigan hate should not be mistaken asย an completelyย Ohio State driven initiative, the Wolverines have plenty of enemies that arenโt nuts.
8. Boise State
3 of 10
How has Boise State gone from the sweethearts of college football to a team that many people are just sick and tired of hearing about?
Has the novelty of the blue field and the state of Idaho worn thin or are football enthusiasts no longer intrigued by a team from the WAC in the BCS?
They have certainly made their mark on the BCS and modern college football and they deserve a lot of recognition for bringing their program to the national level.
But, how can a team thatโs strongest conference foes are Nevada, Fresno State and Louisiana Tech be considered as a national title favorite over teams that have to manage a hazardous run through the Big 12 or SEC?
Sure, they have put up some numbers but who have they put the numbers up against?
Until we have a playoff in college football and teams that deserve a shot (like Boise State) prove themselves in a series of games that lead to a championship (not just an easy schedule with a couple of good non conference games) we wonโt know if they belong in a national title game.
Regardless, the nation may be growing weary of the Boise State question.ย Its preseason AP No. 3 ranking just adds fuel to the fire.
7. Oklahoma
4 of 10
Oklahoma is another team (like Ohio State) that seems to questionably find its way into the BCS title game only to lose.
You canโt argue with their home record or their storied tradition, but what about that Boomer Sooner song (which is purportedly a weird combination of the Yale and North Carolina fight songs) and that chuck wagon?
Bob Stoops has a tendency to come across as smug and is not afraid to run up the score on opposing teams.
Iโm not saying these are necessarily horrible traits, but, they sure will bring on the haters.
6. Alabama
5 of 10
The defending national champs are bound to be disliked.ย Since the BCS title game in January college football fans are treated to photos, videos, and sound bites of the Crimson Tide holding up the national championship crystal football.ย Sickening.
Typical of todayโs โover coverageโ ESPNโs All-Access Showย covering Alabamaโs preseason, which details every minute of Alabamaโs practice sessions, amps up the already over media saturated Tide haters.
But, all titles aside, Nick Saban alone might be enough to put Alabama on the hate list for 2010.
Not only does Saban have his own band of haters all over the country; there also exist hotbeds of disgust for the Crimson Tide head coach in exotic locales such as Eastย Lansing, Michigan, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana where his string of broken promises left rabid fan bases gasping and now hating.
You have got to wonder if, after a couple of more wildly successful seasons, Tuscaloosa will be added to the breeding grounds of hate if Saban gets back in the mood to roam (perhaps to Dallas?).
5. Miami
6 of 10
Miami might have had a few years of relative failure, but they are clearly on their way back to national prominence and haters everywhere are preparing themselves for their return.
Not only is โThe Uโ a swaggering and arrogant โcall to armsโ but Miami is a program that has had so many run-ins with the NCAA that there exists an enormous perception that no matter what, this is a dirty program.
And what about โThe Uโ president Donna Shalala? She even has haters...
4. Ohio State
7 of 10
When the Buckeyes come up on โhate listsโ there is a lot of talk about how they continue to be at the top of a somewhat weakened Big Ten, and even with this and one loss they manage a spot in the BCS National Title game.ย
This more than likely ends in defeat and the country wonders why Ohio State was even in the game to start with.
Overrated, advantageous scheduling (minus one big non-conference game that they allowed to lose and still move on from), Heisman candidates that you have to wonder about, and a rabid brain washed fan base are all objects of the OSU haters.
But, for me anyone who wants to prance around and call themselves โTHEโ Ohio State University deserves at least a slice of the hate pie.ย
The three little letters in that specific โtheโ are the most conceited ones in all of college football.
3. Texas
8 of 10
The Texas Longhorns are a fashionable team to root for.ย They have the โLonghornโ symbol which is found across the country plastered on the back of expensive SUVs, they have that cool โburnt orangeโ color, they are from liberal and scenic Austin, and they seem to represent the entire (unwilling) state of Texas.
Mack Brown is a politician in coachโs shorts.ย He combs his hair just right, says all the right things, wins and loses gracefully and even has his own personal heir apparent in Will Muschamp.
He is so smooth no one ever discusses the allegations and player conduct at a university who runs one of the slickest PR campaigns in the country.ย
And, what about a program that is so cocky and powerful that it feels entitled to speak for ten other universities in the recent conference reorganization fiasco?ย If Texas seemed benevolent and parental in their representation of the Big 12 they were also more than happy to ensure they retained the biggest piece of the money pie.
If you donโt intend to follow DeLoss Dodds like a little school child in line to go to the playground, you will apparently find yourself out in the cold.
Call it jealousy, call it envy, but, most people really donโt want to be a Texas Longhorn, they just want to hate them and they love every minute of it (as do the Longhorns themselves).
2. USC
9 of 10
As much as the nation might have hated the Trojans under the laid-back, wavy-haired Pete Carroll the 2010 hiring of Lane Kiffin might bring the hate fest to an entirely new level.
Carrollโs success and status as a true โmedia darlingโ (who cares how he jovially laughed with his talented players) brought the ire of many who got sick and tired of the happy, wealthy Trojans.ย And what of a team that was so successful during years when the Pac-10 was somewhat weakened? Who cares about the facts, they sure are pretty and the sky sure is blue out there in California...
The recent NCAA sanctions against USC combined with the hiring of the highly vocal, young, confident (without due cause) Lane Kiffin may soon make USC the most hated program in America.
News flash: the people of Knoxville, Tennessee loathe the USC Trojans and so does a huge chunk of the college football nation.
1. Notre Dame
10 of 10
Notre Dame hasnโt won a national championship since 1988.ย Prior to beating Hawaii in the 2008 Hawaii Bowl the Irish lost nine-straight bowl games.ย ย Since Lou Holtz finished in South Bend after the 1996 season Notre Dame has a 57.2 winning percentage.
These are the actual results of the only football program in the nation to have all of its home games broadcasted exclusively by a major network.ย NBCโs contract with Notre Dame started in 1991 and is currently scheduled to go through the 2015 season.
Notre Dameโs independent status, its refusal to consider football conference affiliation, its automatic bid to the BCS if it finishes in the top eight, and the mediaโs tendency to cover every minute detail of a team that neverย quite deliversย all add fuel to the Notre Dame hatersโ fires everywhere.
The Irish are seen as elitist, football snobs living off a tradition rich football past but without producing results in this millennium.
Who cares if they wear the blue jerseys or the โspecial occasionโ green jerseys?ย Who cares what kind of gold is on their helmets?ย Who is afraid of a little leprechaun?
As a football fan, you have got to respect their place in history, but why give them all the press when they havenโt done anything (lately, yet).ย Reminds me a little bit of immediately comparing Tony Romo to Troy Aikman.ย
And what about a football program that (and look at the results over the past 15 years) flatly refuses to play in bowl games that are โbeneath themโ?
A team that hasnโt won a bowl game since its 1994 24-21 Cotton Bowl victory over Texas A&M and lost the next nine consecutive bowl games (by a not-so-close margin of 315-157) might need some โcockyโ counseling.
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