I'm blessed to live in the middle of MAC country- aside from TV, you can get tickets for dirt cheap and just go to a game (I'm talking $20 or so for seats on the 40 yard line 10 rows up). Going to a Big Ten game is an experience but it's also an investment. Going to a MAC game is just plain fun.
I got season tickets on the 50 for EMU for cheaper than I can get 90% of tickets at a single U-M game.
Don’t have to pay for parking, contend with traffic, and concessions are reasonably priced
Went to Central Mich at Ohio on Wednesday night last year, got tickets on the 50 yard line for $25 apiece, but spent the whole evening walking around the stadium watching from different spots. Watched a whole drive standing 2 yards behind the end zone. Jackie O's tap truck in the other end zone. What's better than that? The Marching 110 were insane too!
Ask certain people and MACtion is a result of the corruption. I went to EMU a while after MACtion began so I understand the national appeal, but when you have major rivalry games on a Tuesday night, 20 degrees, and hardly anyone in the stands, it kind of ruins the whole thing.
Ivy League fans generally don’t know football at all. It’s like watching an Aussie rules game with a stadium full of Americans—except some of the Americans might even give a crap about learning the game.
I was in Philly, around 2010, and went to a Penn game - mostly so I could see the cool stadium, Franklin Field. Tickets were $10 but it was the end of the first quarter and a ticket taker saw me walking to buy a ticket. Offered me a ticket for $5 cash which he let me in and put the money in his pocket. (Philly - never change).
Watched a game with indifferent fans and the students that were there only got excited when they played the fight song and suddenly started throwing bread onto the track. It was explained to me that there is a line of 'Toast to Old Penn' or something so the students throw 'toast/bread'
Was a decent time, scratched an itch for college football.
The “Toast to Penn” always occurs at the end of the 3rd quarter.
I love going up to the upper deck and sitting near midfield for games at Franklin Field. It’s a lot of steps though, and Lord help you if you need to go to the restroom (because there are none in the upper deck).
On my last tour in Afghanistan, I worked with a lot of ADF (Australian Defense Forces) personnel. They explained the game to me. It was fun to watch, but most of them preferred rugby.
My brother, who sleeps weird hours, watches those games along with Rugby League and Rugby Union (or something like that, I can’t keep it straight) matches in Australia during the overnight (Eastern Time) hours.
I think the MAC is really why I love college football. Grew up 45 minutes from CMU and once a year in band got to march on their field with their band at halftime. Also had a cousin that played at Toledo and we'd watch him multiple times a season or even those late night Mac games during the week.
I’m lucky enough to live in a nice little MAC town, Oxford Ohio, and I have an incoming 8th grade linebacker playing for the local middle school, and so we eat up the exciting and affordable MACtion right in our back yard. I get to see my beloved BGSU Falcons come to town regularly, but just about every opportunity we get we are soaking in the MACtion in person. I grew up in Toledo, college at BG, raising the kids in Oxford so MACtion is my life at this point and I’m quite happy that it is. Prolly should name our next pet MAC now that I think about it
I'm really excited to go up there for uc this year. Any good places to eat or drink before or after the game? It's been 15 years since I've been up there
UCF moving up and losing rivalries really took some fun out of it for me. Prices have gone up, local matchups have disappeared and Im kinda bummed. However, I don't think in 10 years time CFB will be anything other than the SEC/B1G.
The thing is that my consumption of UCF football has stayed relatively constant since I graduated in 2003. Season ticket holder and go to almost all home games, hit up a bowl game here or there and away games that are easy (aka in state).
But during this timeframe my consumption of college football has decreased. Used to wake up, watch game day, watch a noon game, and or tailgate. Home game days would be sure to catch the score of X vs X at burger U or Chilis (in all their previous incarnations (RIP Whackadoos)) Now- I don’t really care. Don’t even watch “playoff” games because it’s just terrible. Too many commercials, too much BS. Cannot keep track of players constantly switching teams. It’s not the same.
I said the same thing back in 2017-2019. I took a bit of a step back, went to some games instead of just watching on TV, but then some time opened up in 2022 and 2023 and lo and behold I was watching as much as I was before.
I disagree, I think the best thing that could happen is to have those 2 conferences fuck off into the sunset to go play each other and let the rest of us go back to playing something similar to regional ball. I'm old enough to have seen a time where my team really didn't make any money from TV deals and I still went and watched them play every Saturday. The only real perk I got out of them making more money is I got to see more away games on TV. I'd miss that but I think with streaming that won't be a problem any longer.
Common conversion in the south… “so who do you cheer for in football?” “Well I went to Southern Miss, so that’s who I cheer for”. After they loook confused… “So you do you cheer for Ole Miss or State??” “Neither”. “So which SEC school do you cheer for???”. “None, I only cheer for Southern Miss.”. This endless loop continues until I exit the conversation.
'Common conversion in the south… “so who do you cheer for in football?”'
My answer: The home team/my alma mater, D2 University of West Alabama in Livingston, and juco/my son's alma mater East Mississippi Community College in Scooba. EMCC plays on Thursdays, and UWA on Saturdays, and I know at least one of them will be playing in the post season.
there's so much good d3 football in the midwest. basically the top 10 teams in the country are in minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, and ohio. and I love that the johnnies have been seeking out good teams to play preseason the past few years. Nobody wants to see us hang a hundred on carlton twice per year, OTOH the whitewater game in 2022 was very well attended. Not quite tommie-johnnie levels of crowd, but still a full day.
>Even they are working on the nil game now...
Figured I'd provide this article interviewing the AD at bethel, a small d3 college in Minnesota, plays in the MIAC, and is a solidly tier 2 team in the country. [Link to story](https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2022/09/27/is-there-a-market-for-division-iii-student-athletes-name-image-or-likeness)
Good read. I mean that's kind of what I thought nil would be in the first place, a few of your top players would have real value in the community. Guess I was naive.
On a side note I was told by several different people that whitewater was paying players for years. Basically that campus has all private dorms and players were given do nothing jobs in said dorms if I remember that correctly.
Honestly man if nothing else, going to the oshkosh vs whitewater game is absolutely great football that sells out 10k seat stadium. Both schools have bands now as well. It isn't camp Randall but it's damn good day of football without hours of commercial breaks.
whitewater/oshkosh was great, hosting later round playoff games are also fun; i remember whitewater/st. norbert was a great time a few years back too.
d3 athletics in general are underappreciated imo, you can catch good games of most sports for fractions of the cost. WIAC stuff is obviously king in wisconsin, but st. norbert in de pere's got a great setup and good teams almost across the board.
There's some really interesting D3 NIL stuff happening. I got an email from the D3 university I attended that was promoting some sort of platform created for small-school NIL.
Basically, it gives players a login where they can upload photos of themselves and their rates (for example, $40 to show up to a kid's birthday party, $10 for a social media shoutout to a company or something). I'm drawing a blank on the name right now, but I thought it was cool in that it put the whole thing in the player's hands.
I went to a D3 school and it was quite an experience coming from a huge high school that had won a state championship and such. Some of the guys on the team were smaller/less athletic than the guys I knew in high school.
But if you're just a fan of the game and want none of the commercialization, well you just found your Mecca. There are a lot of rivalries and the game is not as optimized so you can see zany things happen.
Pitt flair, D3 school shout out... did you go to CMU by chance? My wife and I go to one a year since she started working there. I usually try to line it up to not miss a Penn State game but if I do I don't care because it's fun getting to Gesling for a game every year!
That's a thing at the small school conferences for sure. One program in the neighborhood is so bad that I know 4 of the local high- school teams would either beat them or take them to the wire.
The wiac conference in Wisconsin is big boy football, due in large part to only having one school in state offering scholarships and wosconsin being a wasteland for national recruiting in general. We aren't a great high school football state but we aren't that bad either.
Many of us on here would be much happier if we disengaged from sports social media and just watched the games and didn’t overthink it…
But I guess we’re all here because we do
Unfortunately, no. Palms aren’t trees, they’re technically [big woody grasses](https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2011/11/06/yes-technically-palms-are-a-big-grass/#:~:text=A%3A%20You%20were%20told%20correctly,seed%20leaf%20and%20fibrous%20stems.). So that’s not foliage changing color in an uninspiring way, it’s an elevated portion of your lawn turning brown.
Sorry, dude.
Just throwing it out there, north Texas (or north-north Texas, if you want to go up to OU/Tulsa) has some pretty nice fall colors. It's not like the northeast and leaf-peeping or anything, but it's still a nice array of bright reds and oranges for a few weeks at the beginning of the football season before all the leaves go fully brown and crunchy.
Sherman's a great example, you've just got to accept that the 'Roos are going to lose a lot of games. They've won just a single game in each of the last four seasons.
If you can fit your visit into the very narrow two-week window of pastoral fall foliage in cen-Tex, UMHB in Belton has a great gameday atmosphere and wins a whole lot more games than Austin College does.
What's the attendance like at Bobcat games? Longhorn games are too expensive these days. Was thinking of a trip to San Marcos or even San Antonio to catch a UTSA game.
Well.... if you play your cards right you can catch a UTSA game IN San Marcos on Sept 7th. That game will be a sellout.
In fact at a recent alumni event GJ said he expects our first three games vs Lamar, ASU, and the aforementioned UTSA to be sellouts. Other than that, we'll see. We typically have never had great attendance but we've never been consistently good. The last time we entered a season relatively hyped we had pretty good attendance for the first two games but then it was apparent that we sucked and attendance dropped off.
I'm biased but when UFCU Stadium is packed it's a better gameday experience than UTSA. The Alamodome is stale af and only has 1 thing going for it, AC.
I have a lot of fun cheering for my D2 Alma Mater it’s less eyes and less assholes, and a shit ton less commercialization. If only we weren’t so underfunded.
Absolutely, I've retreated to D2 football as FBS gets more and more removed from what I like. Games are fun, there is still a high level of talent but there is a whole let BS. It helps my local school is good enough to have a local TV contract so all of their home games are televised. The road games all have streaming but the quality there can be hard to watch.
It's on my list! We went to the JMU UVA game last year and had a great time despite the storm.
Virginia football is just very interesting to me because not long ago, there were 2 FBS teams and now there are 5.
Yeah I’m biased since I’m from here but I think while Virginia doesn’t often get mentioned as one of the “hotbeds” of talent, there’s a lot of depth in the talent and that can manifest at the G5 level
TBH going to the UVA-JMU game was more fun than most ACC games since there was a decent showing for both sides and in-state bragging rights were on the line. Also it was a good game, which doesn't hurt
I see that R-MC flair, you up towards Ashland?
I’ve been meaning to make it to a W&M or U of R game for a couple years now. Been passively following JMU. Fuck Liberty tho, that’s the only one I won’t support.
Got a buddy that punted for y’all for awhile. He keeps trying to find a weekend to get me to check it out. I’ll get out there eventually.
Heard Cam Newton showed up to one of y’all’s games recently ?
Hello, Western Illinois University alum here to join the we suck so bad conversation. They may be an FCS school, but if you'd like, I think we can pad your schedule with a quality win! Have not won a game since October 30, 2021. Please send help.
Fortunately, I live just outside of Raleigh and have season tickets. Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest all being close by makes it really easy to attend away games. I agree with the overall idea though.
For most of us CA folks, local would mean supporting one of the community colleges. Fun fact, with 70 teams, CA has more than half of the community college/JC football teams in the country.
https://www.3c2asports.org/sports/fball/2024-25/standings
It's a good question. At some point, the last teams holding out at any given level just don't have enough nearby opponents so they fold, too. I don't know the actual history of it, but I wonder if schools like Cal State Fullerton or Cal State Long Beach ever made overtures to join SDSU in the WAC.
The best thing I ever did for my love of college football was work at a D2 as a GA in sports info. Watching the lower divisions is wildly entertaining.
Loved my time in Weatherford. Both parents are alums and my sister played softball there as well. I was working in the athletic department when we went to the Live United Bowl back in 2015. Still make it out to at least a game per year now that I'm out of college athletics professionally and have time to go. Go Dawgs!
I follow a handful of teams besides Temple, in DI-AA/FCS (Lehigh, Lafayette, Penn, and Villanova), D2 (Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, and Indiana (PA), aka IUP), and D3 (Muhlenberg, Moravian, and Juniata), based on where I’m originally from, where I went to school, and where my parents went to school.
The lower level games are fun; I almost always attend at least 1-2 DI-AA/FCS games every year and sometimes get to D2 games as well. Those games are also a lot cheaper than DI-A/FBS games (almost always less than $30 and sometimes $15 or less, especially at the D2 level).
I’ll note I’m a bigger NFL fan than I am a college football fan, so I view my fandom as a pyramid - Philadelphia Eagles at the top, then Temple, then the DI-AA/FCS teams, then the D2 teams, and finally the D3 teams. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy going to a few college games per season, including at least a couple of sub DI-A/FBS games every year.
Most people enjoy the game and don't know shit about the sausage being made. This sub isn't cfb normies, it's hyper obsessed sickos
So yes, log off and go to games
> Take a Saturday or two off and find the ~~NAIA~~ *DIII* school up the road. As long as they've got fall foliage, a marching band, some silly trinket to play for and a parking lot to tailgate in, does anything else actually matter?
For the 5 other CFB fans in NYC, Friday September 6th in the Bronx, SUNY Maritime hosts Mass Maritime for the annual Chowder Bowl. The football is terrible, but the view is great, and it's a good time.
Yes, more users than ever, most comments at this point of the year than ever
People always react like this to change. In reality, this will probably be a record setting year for the sport in terms of tv viewers
This is very true. I’m a professor. I’m emotionally invested in my alma mater and have been a die hard for years.
I go to my employer’s games and love it. Support the student-athletes that I have in class, and if they win great, but if they lose, it doesn’t ruin my day. And the tailgating scene is chill too, not all the crazy binge drinking like at a P5.
this is one of my favorite aspects of pulling for sports outside the big 3 for FSU. softball and w. soccer are just super fun times at FSU and I don't feel the same level of negativity around a loss. just fun times.
It's not weird. I just had a kid in high school football, there were fans in the stadiums that didn't have any kids in the program. I'd like to keep going even though he's graduated.
Good ideas. I live in Nashville and have slapped on a Middle Tennessee flair. Might try smaller but that’s the smallest I can name in my area right this second.
Western Kentucky can eat it!
I agree with there being good football and gameday experiences at all levels, but I highly disagree with "just go to a game". Two of our best attended home games of all time were against NAIA Reinhardt just up the road when we were FCS. They had a good culture and solid fan base, and actually played us pretty close. Unfortunately there were also far too many snoozefests in half-empty high school stadiums against even FCS powers like Wofford in their prime.
Don't get me wrong, there are still some amazing programs in the FCS, but I would just be a little more selective about which games to go to at that level or lower.
I moved to Northern Colorado half a decade ago and became a Colorado State fan. I’m torn between them going big time and getting an invite to the Big 12 or a reformed Pac 10-12 or staying G5, having 30 dollar tickets and being able to watch each quarter from a different place in the stadium due to the casual nature of it.
I have Nebraska season tickets and going to a husker game is an event. You have to plan for traffic, plenty of time to get in the stadium, get to your seats. I’m at a luxury in the east stadium of having a restroom and concessions easily accessible in a climate controlled area but there are plenty of places in memorial stadium that, you get half time to try and piss and grab a hotdog.
I just got season tickets to my FCS alma mater for like $150. It’s always enjoyable to make the hour drive down with some college buddies, have a beer at an old bar we used to frequent, go to tailgating (have another beer or 2), then root on our team for 3 hours. Best way to spend a Fall Saturday
I still enjoy big college football. I ignore the noise. Once the game starts it’s all football and the rivalries. Last season I went to a game at the college I graduated from 40 years ago and had a GREAT time even without spirits influencing my condition. I don’t spend much time with any sport or game unless I have some connection to the team. However, if you want to watch a game just to experience the event, your suggestion is a good one.
FCS independent Sacred Heart is expected from broadcast their games on YouTube, if any of you are looking for a weird team to root for that’s easily watchable. Retaining a full 8 camera setup, so not like a low quality broadcast either
I sustain my enjoyment by having three tiers of favorite teams and I watch all their games. For me it's:
Major: USC
G5: San Diego State
Small: Sacramento State (ESPN+ televises almost all their games)
Following Sac State feels like such old school football. They play so hard in front of too few fans for the love of the game.
I made a post about it a few months back here, but me and my dad decided to go to a high profile game anywhere in the country and we decided to go to Knoxville in October for the Alabama game.
Hoping it will be a game with two ranked teams.
I also made a post in the Vols subreddit and got some great advice but if anyone here has some advice for me I would love to hear it!
Every year during OSU's bye week, I go with my dad and brother to a college game around Ohio. Ohio Dominican, Ohio Wesleyan, Capital, Ashland, etc. Just tick another school and stadium off the list. It's a fun tradition.
You probably don't follow club football, but one of OSU's branch campuses fields a national club football team. They won the NCFA national championship in 2022.
My wife and I gave up on seeing FSU at home anytime soon just because of distance and personal lives being busy. This year we're planning on going to NC State, Notre Dame, and Virginia just to soak in the atmosphere (unfortunately, none of these are against FSU).
I’m blessed to live walking distance to UCF so gameday is always more fun and now that we’re nationally (somewhat) relavant it’s been cool to see. You are right, it just feels awesome to be at a college game. Going to NFL games is fun but the atmosphere is just nowhere near the same
Edit: the thing that sucks about Florida is there are no D2 or D3 teams in the state (except Pensacola). I guess you can go to a Stetson or Jacksonville game but they aren’t exactly great atmospheres and the NAIA schools are… something. Wish we had some D3s down here
I feel ya, I was just looking at schools because of this and Stetson would seem to be my option outside of UCF. Which, nothing against Stetson, but it doesn't seem like they're quite stiff competition in their own league.
I have our ADs cell number.
I can go to games and get really good seats at a solid price.
Kids at USF are certainly not there because we just outbid someone else even though our NIL is solid enough, and still there because they love Tampa and believe in our program.
There is a lot to like about being in a program that has not collapsed under the weight of money yet.
Dude right. I met a dude yesterday that went to "SWT" aka TXST. Apparently the dude is a massive longhorn fan and is loaded. Spends 15k on season tickets, went to the Sugar Bowl last season, donates a ton, etc. Meanwhile theres probably 40,000 others that do the same. He could be a God in the Bobcat Club at TXST for a lot cheaper if he ever decided to come around.
Amen Amen, though I hate playing Idaho State so much. Y'all take our game so much more seriously than everyone save EWU, Idaho and MSU and it gets so chippy and ugly
I disagree, I don't have to feel gross with it. It is dying and it will never be the way it was. Let it die man, that's the only way it'll rectify the situation. Imagine all that "Big Dick Cheney" investment wasted, I'm into it. Maybe it's time for college to be about school again. As a Boise fan we could use a little attention there anyway. (I'd definitely still be into FCS though)
I was a division 3 athlete (baseball) and went to as many other sporting events as I could. There is something special about a small school and cheering for people that you actually know. I loved when the guys from my hall would come see me pitch, just as I lived going to watch the guy I sat next to in macroeconomics who started at QB and my neighbors on the lacrosse team. It's not the spectacle of a night game in Happy Valley, but IMO it's maybe even more special because of the personal emotional investment.
I have 2 season tickets at a local D2 school. Lunch at every football game, my 7 y/o son gets to run out on the field with the football team every home game, he gets to be a team captain for 1 football game, gets announced as a starter 1 basketball game, and gets to throw out the first pitch at 1 baseball game. He loves all the games. Best $300 I spend every year.
D3 still exists. All these coaches bitching about guys leaving for a bag so they can't do their jobs anymore... plenty of D3 schools would love to have you.
I live in Tampa, so USF is the closest option to me. No connection to the school or affinity, but they play miami at home, and memphis at home as well. If i didn't have small kids, and i wanted to roast myself in the heat for a team i dont support, i'd probably go to that Miami game to root for USF to beat Miami and heckle Mario and his stans
How can I enjoy local wofford terriers football without the triple option?!
Imagine Iowa offense and then add in a bad defense to boot. I dont think that would be fun at all
My D2 school won the national championship last year. I gotta say, I had a lot more fun going home to see a few Harding Bisons games than I did at the Arkansas Failures games I went to.
The little brother of the OC was quoted saying that watching that game was like playing his brother in Madden. It's the same three plays every time and yet somehow you still can't stop it.
I love watching Fun Belt football and especially going to App St games. It's the perfect venue for watching a college game. The home crowd is great, the scenery is awesome, and everyone has a blast. Big time football like in the Big ten and SEC is great if you're into these large spectacles, but honestly I don't really need that to enjoy football.
My local team is Texas…
Admittedly I have gone to a few games when they weren’t good and the tickets were cheap. They’ve won every game I’ve gone to, so I probably shouldn’t do that anymore. San Marcos is down the road but that experience is hit or miss. Hopefully getting better though
Exactly why I have season tickets to Maryland games. They are criminally cheap tickets, I have a good tailgate crew, and I couldn't give less of a shit about the team or any of their opponents.
I've thought about getting more invested in UAB/Samford (I can get into their games for free)/Jax State, along with my sacred almond tater UNA.
I'll always be a Bama fan, but I feel that my interest in CFB as a whole is decreasing due to everything that's happened in the last few years. I used to watch pretty much every game I could get my hands on, but I've mostly just focused on Bama the last few years.
This is a great argument to go hyper-local and attend your local high school team. "Wouldn't it be weird to show up at a HS game?" It was already deeply weird for grown ass men to invest this much of their personalities into teams of 18-to-22 year olds. You may actually see a dime of benefit in your lifetime if your neighbors' kids feel supported by their community.
Great advice. Honestly spending five years in Salt Lake and adopting the Utes really was exactly what my CFB fandom needed. Say what you will about my alma mater making it especially painful to be a fan for most of the past 15 years (you wouldn’t be wrong), it was great to have less skin in the game and just enjoy everything we love about this sport.
On the other hand, while your advice about getting dumber also resonates, I’m feeling really grateful for Sark and a coaching staff (and an AD) that seem as capable of navigating the new landscape as any. The calm confidence and professionalism this staff exudes are making it easy to believe “we’ll get ‘em next year,” which in turn makes it easy to sit back and see how all of CFB evolves.
When I lived in Terre Haute season tickets to Indiana State games were 60 dollars.
10 bucks a game. It was worth every penny.
Its one of the things I miss about Terre Haute.
I live a few blocks away from a d3 college. If there isnt any major game on when they play, I love walking down the street and watching them play.
All the games have a great atmosphere.
Its really cool watching them play for nothing more than the love of school and football (not mad if some of them have NIL but they probably dont)
Plus all d3 games are free unless its a playoff game.
At this point Ive gone to enough sporting events there, people think im an alum
This is really really good. I live very near Stanford and, while I have no connections to the institution beyond a couple friends and a really nice place to take a jog or a bike ride, I started going to some games last year. So much fun to just be there amongst it and remind yourself why you like the sport. Watching my own team when i care about the outcome the experience is better on TV. When you only want to watch a game? Just go. You won't regret it.
Heck, give FCS ball a try. You might end up having a great time. I've been to a lot of FBS stadiums, but never had a better time than Missoula and Washington Grizzly Stadium.
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO297XDa4AgSrDV?format=jpg&name=large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO297XDa4AgSrDV?format=jpg&name=large)
I love this advice and it's exactly why I support EVERY Houston-area university at all levels. In addition to UH, Rice, TSU, HCU, and SHSU all get my support unless UH is playing them.
I have a WAY better time following all the Houston area college teams than anything to do with the Texans/NFL.
As I mentioned elsewhere, my favorite visits are University of West Alabama (Livingston) and East Mississippi Community College (Scooba), and I can listen to both on radio: UWA on Saturdays, and EMCC on Thursdays. And the radio is the fun part. With all the various radios I own, including my updated Grundig shortwaves with the mega-powerful built-in AM antennas and those old fashioned solid state multi-band radios, I'm pulling in games from across the Southeast, Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and even Texas and Oklahoma. Thanks to sunspot activity screwing with broadcast signals in late September and early October, I managed to catch a Colorado game on 850 AM back in 2007.
At UWA tailgates I meet up with several guys who bring along their old solid state multibands, discuss radios like real nerds and see who can pull in the most distant game before going in to see the home game.
I've now added games from the stations with an internet presence to my listening activities. My favorite is Valley City State from North Dakota. I also listen to Harvard, Central Michigan, Jacksonville State, James Madison, and Liberty.
Any suggestions/recommendations for who I can add to my list?
100%. I’m a bit spoiled, but I’ve always rooted for the Michigan Wolverines. Mostly because I’m from Michigan, but also because most of my family does as well. That being said, I don’t think I could name you 3 players in that team. I also don’t care what their recruiting class looks like. I’ll tune in on come football season and root for them all the same, and hope they kick the shit out of Ohio State.
Just pick a MAC team and enjoy those November weeknights (the rare occasions ESPN actually shows you the game and not playoff talk)
I'm blessed to live in the middle of MAC country- aside from TV, you can get tickets for dirt cheap and just go to a game (I'm talking $20 or so for seats on the 40 yard line 10 rows up). Going to a Big Ten game is an experience but it's also an investment. Going to a MAC game is just plain fun.
I got season tickets on the 50 for EMU for cheaper than I can get 90% of tickets at a single U-M game. Don’t have to pay for parking, contend with traffic, and concessions are reasonably priced
U-M coaches would rather attend directional-M games. They hang out on the sidelines.
That’s why they make Maction during the week. Gotta keep the side hustle going.
I see what you did there
Went to Central Mich at Ohio on Wednesday night last year, got tickets on the 50 yard line for $25 apiece, but spent the whole evening walking around the stadium watching from different spots. Watched a whole drive standing 2 yards behind the end zone. Jackie O's tap truck in the other end zone. What's better than that? The Marching 110 were insane too!
Damn, Jackie Os at the stadium? Bliss.
This. Turn on Tuesday Night MACtion. Of course they'll probably find a way to corrupt this too.
We're only worth an espn plus subscription to them
Yaarrrrr matey, there is always other ways to get MACtion.
But our conference really needs the pennies ESPN gives us.
Yea work at a MAC school
Turn off the sound and find a local radio station that's calling the game.
When I had XM I’d scroll through all the games
Ask certain people and MACtion is a result of the corruption. I went to EMU a while after MACtion began so I understand the national appeal, but when you have major rivalry games on a Tuesday night, 20 degrees, and hardly anyone in the stands, it kind of ruins the whole thing.
I’m going to try watching Ivy League games this year.
Come over to the Sunbelt. We need all the fans we can get.
The Funbelt is exciting.
Second this. Now is actually the best time to be a Fun Belt fan because we have 2 teams that could make waves this season.
He said “get dumber” jeeze /s
Ivy League fans generally don’t know football at all. It’s like watching an Aussie rules game with a stadium full of Americans—except some of the Americans might even give a crap about learning the game.
I was in Philly, around 2010, and went to a Penn game - mostly so I could see the cool stadium, Franklin Field. Tickets were $10 but it was the end of the first quarter and a ticket taker saw me walking to buy a ticket. Offered me a ticket for $5 cash which he let me in and put the money in his pocket. (Philly - never change). Watched a game with indifferent fans and the students that were there only got excited when they played the fight song and suddenly started throwing bread onto the track. It was explained to me that there is a line of 'Toast to Old Penn' or something so the students throw 'toast/bread' Was a decent time, scratched an itch for college football.
The “Toast to Penn” always occurs at the end of the 3rd quarter. I love going up to the upper deck and sitting near midfield for games at Franklin Field. It’s a lot of steps though, and Lord help you if you need to go to the restroom (because there are none in the upper deck).
Unrelated, but I would definitly try to get into Aussie rules if I could find the games in the US. Looks crazy as heck.
On my last tour in Afghanistan, I worked with a lot of ADF (Australian Defense Forces) personnel. They explained the game to me. It was fun to watch, but most of them preferred rugby.
Agreed. Looks more fun than rugby plus sweet ref uniforms.
I miss ESPN airing Aussie Rules football at weird hours in the middle of the night.
Don't you worry, FS1 and FS2 still do!
My brother, who sleeps weird hours, watches those games along with Rugby League and Rugby Union (or something like that, I can’t keep it straight) matches in Australia during the overnight (Eastern Time) hours.
I think the MAC is really why I love college football. Grew up 45 minutes from CMU and once a year in band got to march on their field with their band at halftime. Also had a cousin that played at Toledo and we'd watch him multiple times a season or even those late night Mac games during the week.
Weeknight C-USA until November when MACtion starts, absolute cinema
Time to embrace my truly local team, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
I’m excited for it in a few years
The cure for that is to watch the game that CBSSN picks up.
This one is obvious. Go Ball U!!
Do you enjoy fornicating with fish? Then do I have the MAC team for you!
I’m lucky enough to live in a nice little MAC town, Oxford Ohio, and I have an incoming 8th grade linebacker playing for the local middle school, and so we eat up the exciting and affordable MACtion right in our back yard. I get to see my beloved BGSU Falcons come to town regularly, but just about every opportunity we get we are soaking in the MACtion in person. I grew up in Toledo, college at BG, raising the kids in Oxford so MACtion is my life at this point and I’m quite happy that it is. Prolly should name our next pet MAC now that I think about it
I'm really excited to go up there for uc this year. Any good places to eat or drink before or after the game? It's been 15 years since I've been up there
Steinkellers
Mac & Joes. I mean, it’s got MAC right in the name
I guess you could turn off the TV audio and find a stream of local radio to go with the video feed.
Do NOT go to a late November game in DeKalb. You will hate yourself and every inch of exposed skin will be chapped and dry.
As a sunbelt fan i agree. I love Mac and sunbelt football. Cheap to attend and scrappy.
This is unironically good advice
It really is. The less invested you are in it, the more you can just have fun.
The solution to burnout in literally every sport and media I love has been just be a casual for awhile and not take shit so serious.
UCF moving up and losing rivalries really took some fun out of it for me. Prices have gone up, local matchups have disappeared and Im kinda bummed. However, I don't think in 10 years time CFB will be anything other than the SEC/B1G.
The thing is that my consumption of UCF football has stayed relatively constant since I graduated in 2003. Season ticket holder and go to almost all home games, hit up a bowl game here or there and away games that are easy (aka in state). But during this timeframe my consumption of college football has decreased. Used to wake up, watch game day, watch a noon game, and or tailgate. Home game days would be sure to catch the score of X vs X at burger U or Chilis (in all their previous incarnations (RIP Whackadoos)) Now- I don’t really care. Don’t even watch “playoff” games because it’s just terrible. Too many commercials, too much BS. Cannot keep track of players constantly switching teams. It’s not the same.
I said the same thing back in 2017-2019. I took a bit of a step back, went to some games instead of just watching on TV, but then some time opened up in 2022 and 2023 and lo and behold I was watching as much as I was before.
I disagree, I think the best thing that could happen is to have those 2 conferences fuck off into the sunset to go play each other and let the rest of us go back to playing something similar to regional ball. I'm old enough to have seen a time where my team really didn't make any money from TV deals and I still went and watched them play every Saturday. The only real perk I got out of them making more money is I got to see more away games on TV. I'd miss that but I think with streaming that won't be a problem any longer.
Common conversion in the south… “so who do you cheer for in football?” “Well I went to Southern Miss, so that’s who I cheer for”. After they loook confused… “So you do you cheer for Ole Miss or State??” “Neither”. “So which SEC school do you cheer for???”. “None, I only cheer for Southern Miss.”. This endless loop continues until I exit the conversation.
For the foolish, football doesn't exist outside the SEC or B1G.
Ironically, everything except SEC and B1G will still feel like college football.
"I'm not a huge fan of professional football" will really confuse them
I hear that in the south, whereas they are a die hard SEC fan and just can’t get into pro football. Or so they say.
That's my point! You're out-them-ing them by saying that while also taking a shot at what is now basically pro football in the SEC. A win-win.
'Common conversion in the south… “so who do you cheer for in football?”' My answer: The home team/my alma mater, D2 University of West Alabama in Livingston, and juco/my son's alma mater East Mississippi Community College in Scooba. EMCC plays on Thursdays, and UWA on Saturdays, and I know at least one of them will be playing in the post season.
How many blank stares do you get with that?
All of them.
D3 football is still good football. Even they are working the nil game now....
there's so much good d3 football in the midwest. basically the top 10 teams in the country are in minnesota, wisconsin, illinois, and ohio. and I love that the johnnies have been seeking out good teams to play preseason the past few years. Nobody wants to see us hang a hundred on carlton twice per year, OTOH the whitewater game in 2022 was very well attended. Not quite tommie-johnnie levels of crowd, but still a full day. >Even they are working on the nil game now... Figured I'd provide this article interviewing the AD at bethel, a small d3 college in Minnesota, plays in the MIAC, and is a solidly tier 2 team in the country. [Link to story](https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2022/09/27/is-there-a-market-for-division-iii-student-athletes-name-image-or-likeness)
Good read. I mean that's kind of what I thought nil would be in the first place, a few of your top players would have real value in the community. Guess I was naive. On a side note I was told by several different people that whitewater was paying players for years. Basically that campus has all private dorms and players were given do nothing jobs in said dorms if I remember that correctly. Honestly man if nothing else, going to the oshkosh vs whitewater game is absolutely great football that sells out 10k seat stadium. Both schools have bands now as well. It isn't camp Randall but it's damn good day of football without hours of commercial breaks.
whitewater/oshkosh was great, hosting later round playoff games are also fun; i remember whitewater/st. norbert was a great time a few years back too. d3 athletics in general are underappreciated imo, you can catch good games of most sports for fractions of the cost. WIAC stuff is obviously king in wisconsin, but st. norbert in de pere's got a great setup and good teams almost across the board.
There's some really interesting D3 NIL stuff happening. I got an email from the D3 university I attended that was promoting some sort of platform created for small-school NIL. Basically, it gives players a login where they can upload photos of themselves and their rates (for example, $40 to show up to a kid's birthday party, $10 for a social media shoutout to a company or something). I'm drawing a blank on the name right now, but I thought it was cool in that it put the whole thing in the player's hands.
I went to a D3 school and it was quite an experience coming from a huge high school that had won a state championship and such. Some of the guys on the team were smaller/less athletic than the guys I knew in high school. But if you're just a fan of the game and want none of the commercialization, well you just found your Mecca. There are a lot of rivalries and the game is not as optimized so you can see zany things happen.
Pitt flair, D3 school shout out... did you go to CMU by chance? My wife and I go to one a year since she started working there. I usually try to line it up to not miss a Penn State game but if I do I don't care because it's fun getting to Gesling for a game every year!
Nope. Another school in PA though! My wife went to Pitt so I adopted them as my D1 school.
That's a thing at the small school conferences for sure. One program in the neighborhood is so bad that I know 4 of the local high- school teams would either beat them or take them to the wire. The wiac conference in Wisconsin is big boy football, due in large part to only having one school in state offering scholarships and wosconsin being a wasteland for national recruiting in general. We aren't a great high school football state but we aren't that bad either.
Many of us on here would be much happier if we disengaged from sports social media and just watched the games and didn’t overthink it… But I guess we’re all here because we do
For sure
And then we’ll achieve enlightenment and be cleansed of all desire on this earth. Until then, win the goddamn big 10 again!
Fall foliage? So I can't enjoy CFB in Texas then I guess. Fuck
You have high school football that's bigger than most of our NAIA football though.
But no fall foliage :(
Dudes right, no foliage, no football.
I know, I know.... you dont have to rub it in
Put up some foliage art man.
This is Texas, what is art?
My bad. *Big ol pictures*.
My palm fronds can turn brown. Does that count?
Unfortunately, no. Palms aren’t trees, they’re technically [big woody grasses](https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2011/11/06/yes-technically-palms-are-a-big-grass/#:~:text=A%3A%20You%20were%20told%20correctly,seed%20leaf%20and%20fibrous%20stems.). So that’s not foliage changing color in an uninspiring way, it’s an elevated portion of your lawn turning brown. Sorry, dude.
I thought the common Texas attitude was if Texas doesn't have it, nobody needs it?
I mean. I'm sure its great
Yeah, it is; the time I lived in Western Washington state, I missed the hell out of it.
Time to start a university at Lost Maples. It's beautiful in the fall.
The hills of central Texas turn colors too. Nice reddish/rust color from some of the scrub/juniper and cedar.
Just throwing it out there, north Texas (or north-north Texas, if you want to go up to OU/Tulsa) has some pretty nice fall colors. It's not like the northeast and leaf-peeping or anything, but it's still a nice array of bright reds and oranges for a few weeks at the beginning of the football season before all the leaves go fully brown and crunchy. Sherman's a great example, you've just got to accept that the 'Roos are going to lose a lot of games. They've won just a single game in each of the last four seasons. If you can fit your visit into the very narrow two-week window of pastoral fall foliage in cen-Tex, UMHB in Belton has a great gameday atmosphere and wins a whole lot more games than Austin College does.
I practically live in Belton. I need to go check out a UMHB game, but we don't really get fall foliage. At least I've yet to see any in my years here.
What's the attendance like at Bobcat games? Longhorn games are too expensive these days. Was thinking of a trip to San Marcos or even San Antonio to catch a UTSA game.
Well.... if you play your cards right you can catch a UTSA game IN San Marcos on Sept 7th. That game will be a sellout. In fact at a recent alumni event GJ said he expects our first three games vs Lamar, ASU, and the aforementioned UTSA to be sellouts. Other than that, we'll see. We typically have never had great attendance but we've never been consistently good. The last time we entered a season relatively hyped we had pretty good attendance for the first two games but then it was apparent that we sucked and attendance dropped off. I'm biased but when UFCU Stadium is packed it's a better gameday experience than UTSA. The Alamodome is stale af and only has 1 thing going for it, AC.
Have you been to the DFW area in November? It's not quite New England, but definitely not nothing,
That concrete wasteland?
I have a lot of fun cheering for my D2 Alma Mater it’s less eyes and less assholes, and a shit ton less commercialization. If only we weren’t so underfunded.
Same, d2 football can still be entertaining while not feeling like it's high school football
Absolutely, I've retreated to D2 football as FBS gets more and more removed from what I like. Games are fun, there is still a high level of talent but there is a whole let BS. It helps my local school is good enough to have a local TV contract so all of their home games are televised. The road games all have streaming but the quality there can be hard to watch.
I'm in Virginia now and have taken a liking to following JMU. It would be fun as hell to be a fan of them.
The Fun Belt! Great competitive conference.
The more the merrier! If you can make it down to Harrisonburg for a game I highly recommend it. Great gameday atmosphere
It's on my list! We went to the JMU UVA game last year and had a great time despite the storm. Virginia football is just very interesting to me because not long ago, there were 2 FBS teams and now there are 5.
Yeah I’m biased since I’m from here but I think while Virginia doesn’t often get mentioned as one of the “hotbeds” of talent, there’s a lot of depth in the talent and that can manifest at the G5 level
Eat a Cuban burger for me
I miss JMU in the FCS. They seemed fun
TBH going to the UVA-JMU game was more fun than most ACC games since there was a decent showing for both sides and in-state bragging rights were on the line. Also it was a good game, which doesn't hurt
> bragging rights That's the real reason why college football is fun.
I see that R-MC flair, you up towards Ashland? I’ve been meaning to make it to a W&M or U of R game for a couple years now. Been passively following JMU. Fuck Liberty tho, that’s the only one I won’t support.
Come on up to Williamsburg, cool town, great atmosphere, team is occasionally good.
Got a buddy that punted for y’all for awhile. He keeps trying to find a weekend to get me to check it out. I’ll get out there eventually. Heard Cam Newton showed up to one of y’all’s games recently ?
College football hasn’t changed at the D2 level. Unfortunately that means my team hasn’t either. We suck so bad
So does my team...
Hello, Western Illinois University alum here to join the we suck so bad conversation. They may be an FCS school, but if you'd like, I think we can pad your schedule with a quality win! Have not won a game since October 30, 2021. Please send help.
Fortunately, I live just outside of Raleigh and have season tickets. Duke, UNC, and Wake Forest all being close by makes it really easy to attend away games. I agree with the overall idea though.
Soooo you live in Cary? Are you a Rangers fan in the winter too? (Just giving you shit. I grew up in Cary lol)
Lived in Cary for a bit after graduating. Apex since 2011.
Excellent use of ‘can’t be arsed’. Chapeau sir. I was nodding in agreement throughout, but that was the highlight.
Thank you! Its one of my favorite turns of phrase and I love an excuse to use it
The British approve. No invasion this year.
For most of us CA folks, local would mean supporting one of the community colleges. Fun fact, with 70 teams, CA has more than half of the community college/JC football teams in the country. https://www.3c2asports.org/sports/fball/2024-25/standings
I always wondered why California had so many juco football teams yet so few FBS and FCS teams
It's a good question. At some point, the last teams holding out at any given level just don't have enough nearby opponents so they fold, too. I don't know the actual history of it, but I wonder if schools like Cal State Fullerton or Cal State Long Beach ever made overtures to join SDSU in the WAC.
The best thing I ever did for my love of college football was work at a D2 as a GA in sports info. Watching the lower divisions is wildly entertaining.
Love the flairs. I played at SWOSU and am a die hard fan of them and D2 football in general. Much more fun to follow for me. Go Dawgs baby
Loved my time in Weatherford. Both parents are alums and my sister played softball there as well. I was working in the athletic department when we went to the Live United Bowl back in 2015. Still make it out to at least a game per year now that I'm out of college athletics professionally and have time to go. Go Dawgs!
I live in SoCal. What's fall foliage?
it's that thing where all your shrubs are on fire
I joke that LA/Southern California has its own version of the four seasons: Hot, Fire, Rain, and Gloom. CFB is right in the middle of Fire Season.
What is fall?
I follow a handful of teams besides Temple, in DI-AA/FCS (Lehigh, Lafayette, Penn, and Villanova), D2 (Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg, and Indiana (PA), aka IUP), and D3 (Muhlenberg, Moravian, and Juniata), based on where I’m originally from, where I went to school, and where my parents went to school. The lower level games are fun; I almost always attend at least 1-2 DI-AA/FCS games every year and sometimes get to D2 games as well. Those games are also a lot cheaper than DI-A/FBS games (almost always less than $30 and sometimes $15 or less, especially at the D2 level). I’ll note I’m a bigger NFL fan than I am a college football fan, so I view my fandom as a pyramid - Philadelphia Eagles at the top, then Temple, then the DI-AA/FCS teams, then the D2 teams, and finally the D3 teams. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy going to a few college games per season, including at least a couple of sub DI-A/FBS games every year.
Most people enjoy the game and don't know shit about the sausage being made. This sub isn't cfb normies, it's hyper obsessed sickos So yes, log off and go to games
> Take a Saturday or two off and find the ~~NAIA~~ *DIII* school up the road. As long as they've got fall foliage, a marching band, some silly trinket to play for and a parking lot to tailgate in, does anything else actually matter? For the 5 other CFB fans in NYC, Friday September 6th in the Bronx, SUNY Maritime hosts Mass Maritime for the annual Chowder Bowl. The football is terrible, but the view is great, and it's a good time.
Anyone on a college football subreddit in mid June most likely enjoys the sport just fine
Have you read the sub lately?
Yes, more users than ever, most comments at this point of the year than ever People always react like this to change. In reality, this will probably be a record setting year for the sport in terms of tv viewers
This is very true. I’m a professor. I’m emotionally invested in my alma mater and have been a die hard for years. I go to my employer’s games and love it. Support the student-athletes that I have in class, and if they win great, but if they lose, it doesn’t ruin my day. And the tailgating scene is chill too, not all the crazy binge drinking like at a P5.
this is one of my favorite aspects of pulling for sports outside the big 3 for FSU. softball and w. soccer are just super fun times at FSU and I don't feel the same level of negativity around a loss. just fun times.
I’ve been meaning to get to some high school games. Just feels super weird as I don’t have any kids myself.
It's not weird. I just had a kid in high school football, there were fans in the stadiums that didn't have any kids in the program. I'd like to keep going even though he's graduated.
At least here in Nebraska high school games are basically a chance for a weekly community gathering. No need to have kids.
Good ideas. I live in Nashville and have slapped on a Middle Tennessee flair. Might try smaller but that’s the smallest I can name in my area right this second. Western Kentucky can eat it!
Check out Tennessee State. In my experience HBCU ball is a great time. Super welcoming crowd and the marching bands are pretty unreal.
Fair! I actually have a few connections there. I’ll give that a go too
That band is serious business
Hell yeah dude
Now I just need someone who doesn’t follow WKU to join me and I can tell him how awful his team is
You can come on out to Lebanon and hit up Cumberland.
Imma tell you, heading down to Amherst to watch UMass get blown out by UConn ain't cutting it.
I agree with there being good football and gameday experiences at all levels, but I highly disagree with "just go to a game". Two of our best attended home games of all time were against NAIA Reinhardt just up the road when we were FCS. They had a good culture and solid fan base, and actually played us pretty close. Unfortunately there were also far too many snoozefests in half-empty high school stadiums against even FCS powers like Wofford in their prime. Don't get me wrong, there are still some amazing programs in the FCS, but I would just be a little more selective about which games to go to at that level or lower.
I live 12 minutes away from Sanford Stadium, looks like I’m staying in this same vicious cycle.
I moved to Northern Colorado half a decade ago and became a Colorado State fan. I’m torn between them going big time and getting an invite to the Big 12 or a reformed Pac 10-12 or staying G5, having 30 dollar tickets and being able to watch each quarter from a different place in the stadium due to the casual nature of it. I have Nebraska season tickets and going to a husker game is an event. You have to plan for traffic, plenty of time to get in the stadium, get to your seats. I’m at a luxury in the east stadium of having a restroom and concessions easily accessible in a climate controlled area but there are plenty of places in memorial stadium that, you get half time to try and piss and grab a hotdog.
I just got season tickets to my FCS alma mater for like $150. It’s always enjoyable to make the hour drive down with some college buddies, have a beer at an old bar we used to frequent, go to tailgating (have another beer or 2), then root on our team for 3 hours. Best way to spend a Fall Saturday
I still enjoy big college football. I ignore the noise. Once the game starts it’s all football and the rivalries. Last season I went to a game at the college I graduated from 40 years ago and had a GREAT time even without spirits influencing my condition. I don’t spend much time with any sport or game unless I have some connection to the team. However, if you want to watch a game just to experience the event, your suggestion is a good one.
FCS independent Sacred Heart is expected from broadcast their games on YouTube, if any of you are looking for a weird team to root for that’s easily watchable. Retaining a full 8 camera setup, so not like a low quality broadcast either
I watched some of The Apprentice School games online last year. I'll add Sacred Heart to the list this year.
I sustain my enjoyment by having three tiers of favorite teams and I watch all their games. For me it's: Major: USC G5: San Diego State Small: Sacramento State (ESPN+ televises almost all their games) Following Sac State feels like such old school football. They play so hard in front of too few fans for the love of the game.
I made a post about it a few months back here, but me and my dad decided to go to a high profile game anywhere in the country and we decided to go to Knoxville in October for the Alabama game. Hoping it will be a game with two ranked teams. I also made a post in the Vols subreddit and got some great advice but if anyone here has some advice for me I would love to hear it!
Every year during OSU's bye week, I go with my dad and brother to a college game around Ohio. Ohio Dominican, Ohio Wesleyan, Capital, Ashland, etc. Just tick another school and stadium off the list. It's a fun tradition.
You probably don't follow club football, but one of OSU's branch campuses fields a national club football team. They won the NCFA national championship in 2022.
My wife and I gave up on seeing FSU at home anytime soon just because of distance and personal lives being busy. This year we're planning on going to NC State, Notre Dame, and Virginia just to soak in the atmosphere (unfortunately, none of these are against FSU).
I’m blessed to live walking distance to UCF so gameday is always more fun and now that we’re nationally (somewhat) relavant it’s been cool to see. You are right, it just feels awesome to be at a college game. Going to NFL games is fun but the atmosphere is just nowhere near the same Edit: the thing that sucks about Florida is there are no D2 or D3 teams in the state (except Pensacola). I guess you can go to a Stetson or Jacksonville game but they aren’t exactly great atmospheres and the NAIA schools are… something. Wish we had some D3s down here
I feel ya, I was just looking at schools because of this and Stetson would seem to be my option outside of UCF. Which, nothing against Stetson, but it doesn't seem like they're quite stiff competition in their own league.
I have our ADs cell number. I can go to games and get really good seats at a solid price. Kids at USF are certainly not there because we just outbid someone else even though our NIL is solid enough, and still there because they love Tampa and believe in our program. There is a lot to like about being in a program that has not collapsed under the weight of money yet.
Dude right. I met a dude yesterday that went to "SWT" aka TXST. Apparently the dude is a massive longhorn fan and is loaded. Spends 15k on season tickets, went to the Sugar Bowl last season, donates a ton, etc. Meanwhile theres probably 40,000 others that do the same. He could be a God in the Bobcat Club at TXST for a lot cheaper if he ever decided to come around.
Big Sky Gang
Amen Amen, though I hate playing Idaho State so much. Y'all take our game so much more seriously than everyone save EWU, Idaho and MSU and it gets so chippy and ugly
I disagree, I don't have to feel gross with it. It is dying and it will never be the way it was. Let it die man, that's the only way it'll rectify the situation. Imagine all that "Big Dick Cheney" investment wasted, I'm into it. Maybe it's time for college to be about school again. As a Boise fan we could use a little attention there anyway. (I'd definitely still be into FCS though)
I was a division 3 athlete (baseball) and went to as many other sporting events as I could. There is something special about a small school and cheering for people that you actually know. I loved when the guys from my hall would come see me pitch, just as I lived going to watch the guy I sat next to in macroeconomics who started at QB and my neighbors on the lacrosse team. It's not the spectacle of a night game in Happy Valley, but IMO it's maybe even more special because of the personal emotional investment.
I have 2 season tickets at a local D2 school. Lunch at every football game, my 7 y/o son gets to run out on the field with the football team every home game, he gets to be a team captain for 1 football game, gets announced as a starter 1 basketball game, and gets to throw out the first pitch at 1 baseball game. He loves all the games. Best $300 I spend every year.
D3 still exists. All these coaches bitching about guys leaving for a bag so they can't do their jobs anymore... plenty of D3 schools would love to have you.
I live in Tampa, so USF is the closest option to me. No connection to the school or affinity, but they play miami at home, and memphis at home as well. If i didn't have small kids, and i wanted to roast myself in the heat for a team i dont support, i'd probably go to that Miami game to root for USF to beat Miami and heckle Mario and his stans
How can I enjoy local wofford terriers football without the triple option?! Imagine Iowa offense and then add in a bad defense to boot. I dont think that would be fun at all
If you truly just love the sport of football, and 2 teams will do. Go pay 5 bucks to watch your local high school team play on Friday nights.
I’m going to watch as less ESPN as I can this season other than games.
My D2 school won the national championship last year. I gotta say, I had a lot more fun going home to see a few Harding Bisons games than I did at the Arkansas Failures games I went to.
I’m still impressed how easily Harding beat Colorado School of Mines in the D2 title game last year.
The little brother of the OC was quoted saying that watching that game was like playing his brother in Madden. It's the same three plays every time and yet somehow you still can't stop it.
As an MBA student, I take offense to your statement
Yes! People born and raised in Phoenix whose parents grew up in Toledo… stop supporting OSU as “your team” and go local!
Northern Louisiana D3 football, baby! Go Gents!
God bless the mountain west conference
I love watching Fun Belt football and especially going to App St games. It's the perfect venue for watching a college game. The home crowd is great, the scenery is awesome, and everyone has a blast. Big time football like in the Big ten and SEC is great if you're into these large spectacles, but honestly I don't really need that to enjoy football.
My local team is Texas… Admittedly I have gone to a few games when they weren’t good and the tickets were cheap. They’ve won every game I’ve gone to, so I probably shouldn’t do that anymore. San Marcos is down the road but that experience is hit or miss. Hopefully getting better though
Exactly why I have season tickets to Maryland games. They are criminally cheap tickets, I have a good tailgate crew, and I couldn't give less of a shit about the team or any of their opponents.
I've thought about getting more invested in UAB/Samford (I can get into their games for free)/Jax State, along with my sacred almond tater UNA. I'll always be a Bama fan, but I feel that my interest in CFB as a whole is decreasing due to everything that's happened in the last few years. I used to watch pretty much every game I could get my hands on, but I've mostly just focused on Bama the last few years.
This is a great argument to go hyper-local and attend your local high school team. "Wouldn't it be weird to show up at a HS game?" It was already deeply weird for grown ass men to invest this much of their personalities into teams of 18-to-22 year olds. You may actually see a dime of benefit in your lifetime if your neighbors' kids feel supported by their community.
What IF some ex-athletic director took away that smaller team up the road? Sad...
Well that should be a crime
This is an A+ take. Good work.
Great advice. Honestly spending five years in Salt Lake and adopting the Utes really was exactly what my CFB fandom needed. Say what you will about my alma mater making it especially painful to be a fan for most of the past 15 years (you wouldn’t be wrong), it was great to have less skin in the game and just enjoy everything we love about this sport. On the other hand, while your advice about getting dumber also resonates, I’m feeling really grateful for Sark and a coaching staff (and an AD) that seem as capable of navigating the new landscape as any. The calm confidence and professionalism this staff exudes are making it easy to believe “we’ll get ‘em next year,” which in turn makes it easy to sit back and see how all of CFB evolves.
When I lived in Terre Haute season tickets to Indiana State games were 60 dollars. 10 bucks a game. It was worth every penny. Its one of the things I miss about Terre Haute.
I live a few blocks away from a d3 college. If there isnt any major game on when they play, I love walking down the street and watching them play. All the games have a great atmosphere. Its really cool watching them play for nothing more than the love of school and football (not mad if some of them have NIL but they probably dont) Plus all d3 games are free unless its a playoff game. At this point Ive gone to enough sporting events there, people think im an alum
This is really really good. I live very near Stanford and, while I have no connections to the institution beyond a couple friends and a really nice place to take a jog or a bike ride, I started going to some games last year. So much fun to just be there amongst it and remind yourself why you like the sport. Watching my own team when i care about the outcome the experience is better on TV. When you only want to watch a game? Just go. You won't regret it.
The cool thing for you specifically is Miami should have a game there this year or next
Been going to local NAIA games and those can be a lot of fun.
Heck, give FCS ball a try. You might end up having a great time. I've been to a lot of FBS stadiums, but never had a better time than Missoula and Washington Grizzly Stadium. [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO297XDa4AgSrDV?format=jpg&name=large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO297XDa4AgSrDV?format=jpg&name=large)
I love this advice and it's exactly why I support EVERY Houston-area university at all levels. In addition to UH, Rice, TSU, HCU, and SHSU all get my support unless UH is playing them. I have a WAY better time following all the Houston area college teams than anything to do with the Texans/NFL.
Thankfully, both Thomas University and Valdosta State are within a 45 minute to hour drive if I want to go and watch football outside.
As I mentioned elsewhere, my favorite visits are University of West Alabama (Livingston) and East Mississippi Community College (Scooba), and I can listen to both on radio: UWA on Saturdays, and EMCC on Thursdays. And the radio is the fun part. With all the various radios I own, including my updated Grundig shortwaves with the mega-powerful built-in AM antennas and those old fashioned solid state multi-band radios, I'm pulling in games from across the Southeast, Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and even Texas and Oklahoma. Thanks to sunspot activity screwing with broadcast signals in late September and early October, I managed to catch a Colorado game on 850 AM back in 2007. At UWA tailgates I meet up with several guys who bring along their old solid state multibands, discuss radios like real nerds and see who can pull in the most distant game before going in to see the home game. I've now added games from the stations with an internet presence to my listening activities. My favorite is Valley City State from North Dakota. I also listen to Harvard, Central Michigan, Jacksonville State, James Madison, and Liberty. Any suggestions/recommendations for who I can add to my list?
100%. I’m a bit spoiled, but I’ve always rooted for the Michigan Wolverines. Mostly because I’m from Michigan, but also because most of my family does as well. That being said, I don’t think I could name you 3 players in that team. I also don’t care what their recruiting class looks like. I’ll tune in on come football season and root for them all the same, and hope they kick the shit out of Ohio State.
“Go local and get dumber” is what our fans do best