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Today in college football news, I’m writing this while eating pizza at Costco.
Big Question: Who is college football’s most popular team?
It’s an ancient question, one with no real answer. That’s partly because we’ll never agree on which metric we should use, since we obviously should use the metric that most favors your team (at the expense of your rival), but you know how sensitive your rival is about grades, and for good reason.
In college sports, there isn’t much truly universal data. Every team has its own mix of apparel deals, several parts of the country are barely aware of each other’s existence, etc. With NFL teams, we can notice ESPN talks the most about the Cowboys, so that must be the most popular team. But in college, if a TV network talks about a rival team, we get to assure ourselves it’s only because of that conference’s broadcast deals.
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It’s also a question that matters in college sports, where your image is half of your currency in recruiting. (The other half is just currency.)
Every now and then, though, an internet-minded college football person decides to pile a bunch of the data that we DO have into one big spreadsheet, then see if combining those numbers can bring us any closer to an answer.
After tinkering with versions of that experiment in the past, my own answer has been something like: “Definitely Ohio State, based on some hard factors, but also some vibes, like how world-shattering it feels whenever the Buckeyes’ annual loss arrives.” Someone will usually then argue for Alabama or Notre Dame. But now, today’s study by Matt Brown and Austin Meek made me a lot more open-minded about a different candidate: Michigan.
In the nine rankings they assembled — which included alumni numbers, TV ratings and social media — the Wolverines ranked in the top few teams almost every single time, including tops in both categories related to game attendance. Same can’t be said for anybody else.
Having considered these findings, my answer will now be: “Probably Ohio State, but The Athletic has a surprisingly great case for Michigan. That’s where I work. Not at Michigan.”
Here’s that link again: Which college football team has the most fans?
Quick Snaps
🗣️ Pat McAfee: a sleeveless Don Imus. Andrew Marchand on “receipts, and possibly consequences” for saying brainless stuff in the digital era.
🌲 Stanford GM Andrew Luck (yes, it’s gonna keep sounding weird, even after we spent almost a whole newsletter on it) explains hiring his former NFL coach Frank Reich as interim coach.
🐝 Sacramento State has applied to move up to FBS, per ESPN. Off the field, the Hornets have been very aggressive of late. Enrollment of 30,000!
🏈 A total of 17 women have now filed suit against Michigan and former OC Matt Weiss, per the Detroit News.
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🌭 Why Coastal Carolina won’t actually lose much money via the free concessions thing, by the non-The Athletic Matt Brown.
🌸 Can’t say I always agree with Mike Gundy, except for this quote on the NCAA forbidding joint spring games: “If somebody just goes and does it, what are they going to do?”
🌀 Manny Navarro’s latest portal breakdown: the best Group of Whatever transfers rising to Power Whatever conferences. Pleasant feelings for Oklahoma, Oregon, Missouri, Colorado …
💰 Rich Rodriguez’s TikTok ban could have significant legal ramifications for all of college sports. (Total side note: “We try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing” might finish 2025 as the funniest coach statement of the year. The “or whatever” is what truly elevates it.)
Grad School: A mock draft, but it’s by Feldman!
The NFL Draft is not necessarily of interest to readers of college football newsletters, who might or might not be NFL fans — and might or might not have fellow alumni in contention to be early-round picks. I find the draft very relevant to CFB, especially considering how much time college teams put into bragging about (or explaining away) their pro production, but still.
That said, anything Bruce Feldman writes is relevant for readers of college football newsletters. A few things that stood out to me from his very thorough first-round (and then some) mock full of quotes by anonymous coaches:
- Incarnate Word/Washington State/Miami QB Cam Ward, No. 1 to the Titans: Here, Ward sounds like a legitimate QB1, not just the de facto leader of a weak crop. One ACC head coach who expresses concerns about Ward’s risky freelancing still says, “I think it’d be scary passing on him because of what he could be.”
- Jackson State/Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, No. 3 to the Giants: From a Big 12 defensive coordinator, one theory on Sanders’ unbelievable propensity for getting sacked: “I think he thinks he’s better than everybody else, and that does help him elevate his game, but it also gets him into some bad situations.” Fascinating player.
- UNC RB Omarion Hampton, No. 12 to the Cowboys: With so much attention justifiably paid to Ashton Jeanty, some might be surprised to see another back selected this high. “He can be a 25-carry-a-game back,” said an opposing coordinator, “and there’s a lot of different offenses I think he’ll fit into.”
Full Feldman draft here. Also, at No. 14 to the Colts is one of my personal favorite first-rounders: Penn State TE Tyler Warren. Nick Baumgardner explained the “grizzly bear on wheels.”
This is Semi-March
Two quick links, heading into basketball’s Final Four weekend:
That’s it for this week. Send me any thoughts at untilsaturday@theathletic.com!
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(Top photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
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