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Every year, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has some of the top college football teams in the country. With that comes some of the most passionate and loyal fan bases in college sports, including Texas, Alabama and several others.
Which one of these is the most loyal? Well, Joe Cox of College Football HQ on SI revealed his list just days before Week 1 kicks off.
Alabama Named Most Loyal Fan Base in SEC
Cox ranked all 16 SEC teams, but the Alabama Crimson Tide fan base came in at No. 1. Below is what Cox wrote about the fans in Tuscaloosa.
“Factors here include a raucous stadium, an actual museum to a legendary coach, a traveling contingent like few others, and even off a coaching transition and a disappointing season, expectations and excitement remain sky-high in Alabama,” he said.
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Alabama also leads the way with 16 recognized college football national championships.
But as Cox mentioned, even after the retirement of legendary head coach Nick Saban, the fans were excited and showed support for his successor Kalen DeBoer.
Despite a 9-4 record in Year 1 with DeBoer, there is still plenty of buzz in Tuscaloosa.
The LSU Tigers came in at No. 2 on the list after a shaky tenure over the past five seasons.
“Anybody who doesn’t think LSU is elite deserves to play a night game in Tiger Stadium,” Cox wrote. “It’s rowdy and LSU fans get a little more “stand by your team” credit than most elite programs because it’s been a roller coaster ride for the Tigers (two non-winning seasons in the last five).”
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Below is the full ranking from Cox.
- Alabama
- LSU
- Texas
- Georgia
- Texas A&M
- Tennessee
- Florida
- South Carolina
- Auburn
- Ole Miss
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
- Vanderbilt
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Vanderbilt Remains at the Bottom
As for the bottom of the list, it shouldn’t be surprising that Vanderbilt is last, although the Diego Pavia hype has given Commodore fans something to cheer for lately.
“Sure, Vandy fans love their Commodores… if there’s no good concerts in town or the weather is perfect or if the opposing team’s fans didn’t buy up all the tickets. Vandy barely hit 70% of seating capacity for last season in a shocking 7-win campaign,” Cox added.
Vanderbilt doesn’t draw many fans in for football games, and if the Commodores aren’t winning, filling their stadium is a tough sell.
Even in 2022, Vanderbilt was still at the bottom of the list, although Georgia took the No. 1 spot in these rankings from UGA Wire.
