Largest Fan Bases?

#26
#26
Lawrence Wright said:
This is rich coming from a fan of a school with the only major college football program in the entire state.
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I wouldn't be surprised if there are more UT fans in WNC than in WTN. Vast cultural differences across the state... hence the 3 stars on the state flag.

Your post, however, doesn't make sense. Considering UF's meteoric rise to the national spotlight.. you won't know how your fanbase will react until UF starts hitting some losing seasons. How many of your fans have tasted those apples? Wouldn't surprise me if they switch "favorite teams" especially if FSU or Miami are doing well at that point.
 
#27
#27
DC Vol said:
I wouldn't be surprised if there are more UT fans in WNC than in WTN. Vast cultural differences across the state... hence the 3 stars on the state flag.

Your post, however, doesn't make sense. Considering UF's meteoric rise to the national spotlight.. you won't know how your fanbase will react until UF starts hitting some losing seasons. How many of your fans have tasted those apples? Wouldn't surprise me if they switch "favorite teams" especially if FSU or Miami are doing well at that point.
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Your post is refreshing in that it appears you, like many of us, have chosen to ignore that Ron Zook was UF's coach not so long ago.
 
#31
#31
Lawrence Wright said:
This is rich coming from a fan of a school with the only major college football program in the entire state.
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Are you trying to say UF doesn't have a bandwaggon fanbase? Just take a look at any middle school or high school, with all the timmy tebow jerseys being worn around.. If they had a survey of 12-21 year olds, florida would be #1.
 
#32
#32
VolSkier said:
Are you trying to say UF doesn't have a bandwaggon fanbase? Just take a look at any middle school or high school, with all the timmy tebow jerseys being worn around.. If they had a survey of 12-21 year olds, florida would be #1.
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And I can easily recall a time in your state when every elementary school kid was wearing a #16 jersey, and every other baby born in the mid/late 90s was named Peyton.

UF definitely has its bandwagon fans, but our state is very diverse and divided when you consider FSU, Miami, and upstarts like USF are in the picture.

That's not the case in Tennessee, and it never will be....that was my point.
 
#33
#33
VolSkier said:
Are you trying to say UF doesn't have a bandwaggon fanbase? Just take a look at any middle school or high school, with all the timmy tebow jerseys being worn around.. If they had a survey of 12-21 year olds, florida would be #1.
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thats prolly more to do with 2 football and 2 basketball titles


i think tebow is by far more hated then liked
 
#34
#34
Lawrence Wright said:
Your post is refreshing in that it appears you, like many of us, have chosen to ignore that Ron Zook was UF's coach not so long ago.
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Zook never had a losing season. I would have thought that you, of all people, would know that. I said "losing seasons"... to refresh your abysmally short memory and/or attention span. Yeah, I'm going Ad Hominem.

If you were saying that in reference to Zook being canned even though he went 23-14 in 3 seasons is because of Florida's "expectations of success" that, in fact, bolsters my point in relation to your fanbase's mentality. When the losses start coming... how will they cope?

No one stays on top forever.
 
#35
#35
DC Vol said:
Zook never had a losing season. I would have thought that you, of all people, would know that. I said "losing seasons"... to refresh your abysmally short memory and/or attention span. Yeah, I'm going Ad Hominem.

If you were saying that in reference to Zook being canned even though he went 23-14 in 3 seasons is because of Florida's "expectations of success" that, in fact, bolsters my point in relation to your fanbase's mentality. When the losses start coming... how will they cope?

No one stays on top forever.
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And if you knew your history you'd know UF sold out Florida Field, traveled well and supported the team (not unlike South Carolina fans now) back when Doug Dickey and Charley Pell were in charge, and UF rarely if ever got a whiff of an SEC title back then.

I can't speak for the younger generation of UF fans, but I've lived through the rough times, grew up in Jacksonville when UGA owned us then like we own them now. I attended UF when Kyle Morris, Donald Douglas and Lex Smith started at QB, and I attended All-American Bowl watch parties to cap off a "successful" 6-6 season. At no point will I ever take UF's success for granted.
 
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#36
#36
Bandwagoners are fact of life; there used to be a lot more FSU and Miami stuff here in north Florida but now all you see is blue and orange. Saying that Florida doesn't have a crap ton of them is just a fallacy.

It's more of a compliment than a insult, really. The more of a bandwagon following you have, the better you've been doing.
 
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#38
#38
Just throwin' my two two cents in. I know plenty of people who have the Gators their whole life. Seems like there is alot more of them now than five years ago though.

I'd be willing to bet UF is very close to the top of biggest fan base.
 
#40
#40
Lawrence Wright said:
And if you knew your history you'd know UF sold out Florida Field, traveled well and supported the team (not unlike South fans now) back when Doug Dickey and Charley Pell were in charge, and UF rarely if ever got a whiff of an SEC title back then

I can't speak for the younger generation of UF fans, but I've lived through the rough times, grew up inJacksonville when UGA owned us then like we own them now. I attended UF when Kyle Morris, Donald Douglas and Lex Smith started at QB, and attended All-American Bowl watch parties to cheer against Jeff George and Illinois. At no point will I ever take UF's success for granted.
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My post was talking about 20 year olds and younger. Also, you're the hipster of football... you were cool before it was cool to be cool.

But it's not really just Florida. It's kind of what Florida represents. A lot of kids that age have an overwhelming sense of entitlement... being a fan of a school that hasn't, really in their lives, seen anything but the utmost of success has to create a schism within the "fanbase". Because UF undoubtedly has such a big fanbase and has seen so much success... I doubt all of those fans (if not probably but 60%) are die-hard fans for life.

People who are old enough to remember when the UF/UT game would pretty much decide the SEC as well as possibly the premier bowl games will accept it and move on. People who only remember putting up almost 60 on UT will have no idea what to think... especially if, like you said, FSU USF and Miami are doing well.
 
#41
#41
TXVOL07 said:
texas university sells the most t-shirts.
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Their football program revenue alone is bigger than most entire Athletic Departments... even of moderately major schools.

Not to mention the school itself has an Ivy League-esque endowment.
 
#42
#42
VOLinFL_ said:
Just throwin' my two two cents in. I know plenty of people who have the Gators their whole life. Seems like there is alot more of them now than five years ago though.

I'd be willing to bet UF is very close to the top of biggest fan base.
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In the state of Florida, absolutely.

In the Southeast, Alabama has us beat by a good margin. I'd put Tennessee second, followed by UF and UGA.

Nationally it's Notre Dame, Ohio State and Texas. UF doesn't have generations of consistent success to warrant a large national following.
 
#43
#43
Right now going into this season here is where I think they would rank.

1. Notre Dame (always going to be the biggest)
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Ohio State
5. Alabama
6. Oklahoma
7. Michigan
8. Penn State
9. Nebraska
10. Tennessee/Georgia/Florida State
 
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#44
#44
not sure how SC can be consiered #6 when they didn't sell out mutliple games last year despite being in the second largest metro area in the country. the others listed have had sell outs for decades
 
#45
#45
Ericvol2096 said:
Right now going into this season here is where I think they would rank.

1. Notre Dame (always going to be the biggest)
2. Florida
3. Alabama
4. Ohio State
5. Texas
6. USC
7. Oklahoma
8. Michigan
9. Penn State
10. Tennessee/Georgia/Florida State
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Texas is at least #3 if not #2 or #1. No way does Bama have a bigger national fanbase than OSU or Texas.
 
#46
#46
Ericvol2096 said:
Right now going into this season here is where I think they would rank.

1. Notre Dame (always going to be the biggest)
2. Florida
3. Alabama
4. Ohio State
5. Texas
6. USC
7. Oklahoma
8. Michigan
9. Penn State
10. Tennessee/Georgia/Florida State
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Nebraska should be somewhere on that list.

FSU should not.
 
#47
#47
for some reason West Virginia sticks out to me...I was in Mexico on a mission trip and saw a WV shirt there...
 
#49
#49
chavisut said:
Easily top 5 most loyal, devoted fan bases. Not sure how large of a fan base they have though.

Most of the FSU bandwagoners from the '90s have disappeared.
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Yeah I've also wondered that about Nebraska. I know the tradition is there and all but I rarely see or have even met many Nebraska fans and I've been and lived all over the US.
 
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