College Football Preseason Rankings 2011: The Top 25's Best Game-Day Traditions

The unveiling of the Preseason Coaches' Poll has become something of a tradition in college football over the years. Every summer, coaches across America take a few minutes away from their busy schedules to send in their ballots to the good folks at USA Today, putting only minimal thought into who's included and at what spot to place each team.

And, as is tradition, that poll comes to have a tremendous bearing on a number of important events throughout the season, including whose games get televised nationally and which teams play in the BCS National Championship Game.

No big deal. Really, it's not...

But back to my original point about traditions, college football is a sport unlike any other in that it combines the rituals inherent in our nation's fine institutions of higher learning with the rabid fanaticism of the gridiron game that is often held up as America's sporting passion.

Every school with a Division I football team has some tradition or ritual that it reenacts every game day, including, of course, those 25 lucky schools that were so haphazardly chosen as the best in the land heading into the fall of 2011.

Seeing as how arbitrary the Coaches' Poll is, we've decided to put together a fairly meaningless re-ranking of USA Today's Top 25 according to each school's most signature tradition.

Read on to find out where your favorite school's Saturday pastime ranks and feel free to weigh in with a comment or two! 

25. Florida State: Chief Osceola

Florida State's pregame tradition of Chief Osceola planting a burning spear into the turf at midfield checks in at No. 25 here not because it's necessarily the "worst" ritual of any Top 25 team so much as it's standing as far and away the most controversial.

The university maintains that the ritual, which was spearheaded by FSU alum Bill Durham in 1977, not only has the approval of the Seminole Tribe, but is also actively supported by the natives of northern Florida.

However, other American Indian groups oppose the spectacle, asserting that it is a gross and offensive caricature of tribal cultures across the country.

With the subject being as touchy as it is, I'll leave it to those who are more invested in the matter to determine whether this particular ritual is "good" or "bad."

24. Oregon: Wearing Ugly Uniforms

Some would argue that Oregon's long-standing "tradition" of wearing the ugliest uniforms in college football is just as offensive, if not more so, at least to the fashion sensibilities of fans unfortunate enough to watch the Ducks play.

If nothing else, the Ducks deserve credit for wearing so many different combinations of colors and designs, courtesy of Nike co-founder and Oregon alum Phil Knight.

In fact, tracking what Oregon's football players wear from week to week has become a tradition in itself, even spawning a website to help dedicated fans keep track of the latest and "greatest" outfits donned by their beloved Ducks.

Kudos to the program's equipment manager for making sure everyone is actually wearing the same thing each week.

23. Mississippi State: Cowbells

As disturbing to the eyes as it is to watch Oregon prance around in such dreadful attire, one could argue that it's just as off-putting to the ears, if not more so, to sit in Davis Wade Stadium on a Saturday afternoon and endure the rattling of 40,000 cowbells by the Mississippi State faithful.

That's right, folks—40,000 cowbells.

So many, in fact, that the SEC was forced to bring the hammer down on the Bulldogs and their fans in 2010 by mandating that they limit their use of the "artificial noisemakers" to "just" a handful of designated occasions on game day: pregame, timeouts, quarter breaks, halftime, and, of course, whenever MSU scores.

Thus, opposing teams have every incentive to refrain from using their timeouts and to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.

As for fans of the Maroon and White, clearly they have a fever and the only prescription is more...well, you get the idea.

22. Notre Dame: "Play Like a Champion Today"

I'm not (necessarily) trying to diss the long-standing tradition of Notre Dame football players slapping the famed "Play Like a Champion Today" sign on the way out of the locker room.

Rather, I'm just pointing out that, frankly, the Fighting Irish haven't played like champions in quite a while—23 years, to be exact.

As such, this ritual, exciting as it may be for folks in South Bend, has lost a deal of its luster over the years nationally.

Just sayin'. 

21. Nebraska: Playing the Other Team's Fight Song

I'm still somewhat on the fence about whether it's awesome or awful that the Cornhusker Marching Band's tradition of playing their opponent's fight song during its "Pregame Spectacular."

Though, admittedly, I'm inclined to think that it's actually pretty badass, especially if Nebraska's band plays it better than the other team's band does.

Kids who go to band camp aren't usually thought of as particularly ballsy, but this particular ritual definitely requires some unusually sturdy fortitude.

Particularly if Big Red loses the game. 

20. Oklahoma State: Lewis Leap

The Green Bay Packers' "Lambeau Leap" is easily the most famous move of its kind in all of football, though Oklahoma State's "Lewis Leap" definitely deserves more recognition than it's gotten to this point.

The Cowboy's crowd celebration derives its name from Lewis Field, the original title of what is now Boone Pickens Stadium.

What began as a spontaneous jump by OSU football players into the student section after victories has since become an integral and exciting part of how the team celebrates its success and thanks its most avid fans for their ongoing support. 

19. Florida: "We Are the Boys from Old Florida"

The tune from the famed "We Are the Boys from Old Florida" that is so proudly sung by Gators fans may not be wholly original, but the song's pride and practice has made it more famous than its copycats.

Florida students and fans have been singing it since at least the 1930s, with the song nowadays being played by the Pride of the Sunshine, the school's marching band, at the close of the third quarter of every home game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The song (lyrics below) is traditionally recited with fans on their feet and their arms interlocked:

"

We are the boys from old Florida
F-L-O-R-I-D-A
Where the girls are the fairest,
The boys are the squarest
Of any old state down our way

We are all strong for old Florida
Down where the old Gators play
In all kinds of weather
We'll all stick together
for F-L-O-R-I-D-A

"

18. Arkansas: Calling the Hogs

Arkansas' "Calling the Hogs" doesn't have a definitive origin nor is it necessarily confined to use on game days, though those considerations do little to diminish how awesome it is to see and hear Reynolds Razorback Stadium erupt with "Woooooooooooo, Pig! Sooie!" as fans in Fayetteville egg on their beloved Razorbacks.

Arkansas fans and alums are known to practice their hog calls just about anywhere in public that they happen to meet, thereby solidifying it as a sort of cultural rite along with its standing as one of the great cheers in all of college football.

17. Alabama: Rammer Jammer Cheer

Playing against Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the eighth-largest non-racing stadium in the world, is intimidating enough. Throw in the recurrent "Rammer Jammer" chant and the place can get downright scary for visiting teams.

The cheer is considered so intimidating, in fact, that the university mandated that the school's Million Dollar Band only lead it in the final minutes of games that are already well in hand, on account of the fact that the lyrics include the word "hell." For those unfamiliar with the "Rammer Jammer," it goes something like this:

"

"

Hey [team nickname]!
Hey [team nickname]!
Hey [team nickname]!
We just beat the hell out of you!
Rammer Jammer, Yellowhammer, give 'em hell, Alabama!

"

"

The name "Rammer Jammer" is derived from the school's student newspaper from the 1920s, while the yellowhammer is the state bird. Whenever Alabama plays Auburn in the Iron Bowl, Crimson Tide fans recant the "Rammer Jammer" with "Hey Auburn!" rather than "Hey Tigers!"

Presumably because there are other "Tigers" in the SEC... 

16. Oklahoma: Sooner Schooner

Just as Oklahoma is one spot ahead of Alabama in the preseason Coaches' Poll, so too does the Sooner Schooner "grade out" as one spot better than the Rammer Jammer.

The official mascot of OU, the Schooner is a smallish replica of an old Conestoga wagon pulled around the field by two ponies, Boomer and Sooner, and ridden and maintained by the RUF/NEKS, the Sooners' all-male spirit squad.

What makes the Sooner Schooner so awesome is the way that it's managed to be a part of college football history. The 1985 Orange Bowl, for example, between Oklahoma and Washington will forever be known as the "Sooner Schooner game." In that game, the Schooner scooted onto the field to celebrate an Oklahoma field goal, only to get stuck in the mud in front of the Huskies' bench, thereby drawing a 15-yard penalty for the Sooners, while the field goal was disallowed on a vague technicality.

The Schooner was the subject of yet another embarrassing/hilarious moment for the program in 1993. During Oklahoma's game against Colorado that year, the Sooner Schooner scampered onto the turf to celebrate a field goal, but, upon taking a sharp turn, promptly tipped over and sent those riding onto the ground.

Most notably, in the course of events, the driver broke his arm and the RUF/NEK queen, who happened to "go commando" that day, could only watch helplessly as her skirt flew up in front of thousands of fans.    

15. Boise State: Smurf Turf

Boise State's famed blue turf isn't necessarily a game-day tradition, per se, but it still ranks among the most unique features of any football stadium in America.

The "Smurf Turf" at Bronco Stadium has come under fire of late, with opposing coaches claiming that the turf, combined with the Broncos' matching blue uniforms, gives Boise State an unfair visual advantage.

Clearly, the turf, and not the superior coaching and talent the Broncos have churned out year after year, is what's made the Boise State football program so dominant over the last decade or so, right?

14. TCU: The Frog Horn

Speaking of unique traditions, few football staples are stranger than TCU's Frog Horn.

The, uh, attraction was built by engineers at the Burlington Northern Railroad Company in Springfield, Missouri and donated to the university, which has since put the Frog Horn to good use by using its 120-decibel whistle to celebrate touchdowns by the Horned Frogs at Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.

13. Michigan State: Zeke the Wonder Dog

Of course, halftime shows count as game-day traditions, especially those involving lovable leaping animals like Zeke the Wonder Dog.

Zeke, and subsequent iterations of Zeke, have been performing at intermission of Michigan State home football games since the 1970s. The original Zeke was a champion frisbee-catching yellow Labrador and, in 1978, became the only non-human to earn a letter for sports at Michigan State.

The show went dormant after Zeke's retirement in 1984 until 2002, when Zeke II came on in a supercharged version of the show. The routine has been going strong ever since, with the torch passed to Zeke III back in 2007.

12. Virginia Tech: Enter Sandman

Virginia Tech isn't the only school to employ Metallica's "Enter Sandman" as part of its repertoire of football rituals, though the Hokies do make the best use of it.

The tradition, which began in 2000, has since emerged as one of the most intimidating and enthralling in all of college football. The song is played at the start of each home game as the Hokies run out onto the field at Lane Stadium while fans in the stands jump up and down to thunderous effect.

No wonder Frank Beamer's boys have always been so good at home!

11. Ohio State: Script Ohio

Few pregame rituals in all of college football are as widely recognized as the Script Ohio.

The famous formation was first performed by The Ohio State Marching Band, known to the Buckeye faithful as "The Best Damn Band in the Land," on October 24th, 1936 before a game against Indiana.

The ritual itself involves a complex series of winding moves that evolve through the routine as the band plays Robert Planquette's "Le Regiment de Sambre et Meuse." The performance always concludes with the dotting of the "i" by a fourth- or fifth-year sousaphone player, at which point the attendant crowd at the Horseshoe invariably goes wild.

10. Wisconsin: The Fifth Quarter

Few postgame traditions in college football can hold a crowd quite like Wisconsin's "Fifth Quarter."

After each Badgers home game at Camp Randall Stadium, the University of Wisconsin Marching Band goes through a rather structured routine in which it plays the winning team's school song to its fans and then plays the other team's school song to its fans before breaking out into an exciting and chaotic 15 minutes of fun and music all over the field.

The band has been known to break out into a number of festive songs during the Fifth Quarter, including "Tequila," "The Chicken Dance" and "Space Badgers," among others.

Once time is up, the band members rejoin the ranks to play "Varsity" before exiting the stadium to the tune of "It's Hard to Be Humble."

Indeed it is, at least for a band that puts on a show as good as Wisconsin's.

9. Texas: Bevo

Everything really is bigger in Texas, including the school mascots.

That certainly holds true for Bevo, the Longhorns' living mascot.

The Bevo lineage extends all the way back to 1916, when UT alum Stephen Pinckney rounded up $124 to buy a steer named "Bo" for his alma mater.

The steer came to be known as Bevo following the Thanksgiving Day game against what is now known as Texas A&M, when Ben Dyer, the editor of The Alcalde, referred to Bo instead as "BEVO."

Since then, Bevo has been the subject of a series of pranks between the Longhorns and their rival Aggies. Through all 14 iterations, Bevo has remained as calm and docile as ever while reminding those who dare challenge the Longhorns in Austin that they'd best not mess with Texas.

8. Texas A&M: The 12th Man

As quiet as Bevo is for the Longhorns, the "12th Man" is just as loud for the Aggies on game day at Kyle Field.

Plenty of football teams, both collegiate and professional, have claimed the moniker as their own, though it originated at Texas A&M. The term first came about during the 1922 Dixie Classic, during which Aggies coach Dana X. Bible, fearing his team wouldn't have enough healthy players to make it through the game, sought out the services of E. King Gill, a former Aggies reserve who'd left the team after the regular season to play basketball but who happened to be in the stands that day.

Gill came down and suited up for the Aggies, and though he didn't play in the team's 22-14 victory over favored Centre College, he was said to have provided moral support and insurance in case A&M needed him to fill in.

Since then, the entire Aggies student section has adopted the title of "12th Man" as a tribute to their incredible enthusiasm in support of their beloved football team. The bond between the players and the student section runs so deep, in fact, that fans have come to believe that "when the team scores, everybody scores."

And they mean it, as students are known to kiss every time the Aggies put points on the board. 

7. Georgia: Uga

No offense, Bevo, but Uga still reigns as the most popular live-animal mascot in all of college football.

The English bulldog has served as the mascot for the University of Georgia since 1956 and has long been bred and cared for by the Seiler family of Savannah, Georgia.

The Uga throne has sat empty since February, when Uga VIII tragically succumbed to canine lymphoma, but will likely have a replacement by the start of the 2011 season.

When healthy, Uga stalks the sidelines at every Bulldogs home game between the hedges and even travels to most of the team's away games, fully clad with a spiked collar, a red letter sweater and even a student photo I.D. throughout.

6. Auburn: Tiger Walk

The Auburn Tigers sport a laundry list of long-standing game-day traditions, though none has caught on elsewhere quite as well as the Tiger Walk.

Often imitated but never duplicated, the Tiger Walk, which began in the 1960s, began as a meet-and-greet of sorts between the players and fans, and has since morphed into a ceremonial march by the team into Jordan-Hare Stadium ahead of every football game attended by tens of thousands of rabid Auburn fans.

The Tiger Walk has become so popular among supporters, in fact, that it has now become a staple of the team's pregame ritual even while playing on the road.

5. Penn State: Paternoville

Paternoville is relatively new as far as college football traditions go but is among the most exciting and awe-inspiring in the country nonetheless.

Started in 2005, Paternoville is essentially a pregame camp-out in front of Penn State's Beaver Stadium, not unlike the famed "Krzyzewskiville" that takes over the exterior of Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke during basketball season.

Thousands of eager students pack Paternoville each week to line up for the best seats for the Nittany Lions games, with legendary coach Joe Paterno and his players often stopping by to lend support to their biggest fans. 

4. Missouri: Harpo's Goal Post

Some might quibble with the inclusion of Harpo's goal post as a tradition because it hasn't happened all that often over the years.

However, when Missouri fans get together to tear down the goal post at Faurot Field like they did after defeating Oklahoma in 2010, the ensuing chaos is nothing short of awesome.

Since 1971, Harpo's Bar and Grill in Columbia has been the destination for the goal posts whenever they've been dismantled. Why Harpo's remains something of a mystery, though it would make sense as a place that the hundreds of fans needed to pull the posts down in the first place can agree upon as a festive end point.

3. South Carolina: The Cockaboose Railroad

South Carolina has long been known for its excellent tailgating, though Gamecocks pregames have stood out more than ever since the creation of the Cockaboose Railroad.

First opened in 1990, the Cockaboose Railroad is a series of old cabooses that sit dormant outside of Williams-Brice Stadium that have been souped up for the enjoyment of USC fans who enjoy the finer things in football.

A seat on the Cockaboose Railroad is about as hot a ticket as you'll find at any college football tailgate, with the most dedicated of Gamecocks fans shelling out thousands of dollars for a unique opportunity to celebrate the college game in style.

2. Stanford: The Marching Band's "Breakfast of Champions"

The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band has long been known as one of the zaniest, if not most off-putting, bands in all of college football, despite not being an actual marching band, per se.

Known colloquially as "The World's Largest Rock and Roll Band," the LSJUMB has been a lightning rod of controversy over the years, most notably for denying John Elway of a chance to play in a bowl game as a result of "The Play" in 1982 during the Big Game against rival Cal.

Curious as the Stanford Band's behavior may be, it makes a lot more sense when taking into account the band's traditional pregame breakfast of beer and donuts, otherwise regarded as the "Breakfast of Champions."

Not to mention the band's history of sneaking alcoholic "rank drinks" into the stadium to be consumed by its members during games. One might understandably compare playing in the Stanford Band to tailgating with instruments, which would not exactly make for an untrue statement, to say the least. 

1. LSU: Extravagant Cajun Tailgating

Tailgating is anything but unique to LSU, but it's the way that Tigers fans "geaux" about their festivities that sets them apart as the best game-day tradition in college football.

Whereas fans at most schools barbecue traditional American fare like hamburgers, hot dogs and ribs, Bayou Bengals fans cook up full-blown Cajun feasts stocked with everything from gumbo, boudin and jambalaya to alligator, crawfish, etouffe and even whole pig.

All of which is prepared just outside of Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. As such, hanging out in the parking lot at a Tigers game can and often is a cultural experience in and of itself.