Best and worst

By Staff
Justin Schuver, Sports Editor
If there’s one thing that separates college football from other sports it’s the pageantry. No other sport has such distinctive uniforms, such varying traditions, such giant edifices that exist only to hold 100,000 screaming fans.
To whet your appetite for college football and water cooler discussion, here’s a rundown of what I think is the best and the worst in that unique pageantry of Division I college football.
Best fight song: “Notre Dame Victory March” — Am I biased? Absolutely. On the other hand, go to any high school football game across the country and the odds are you will hear one of the schools using this as its team’s fight song. It’s been used in Hollywood movies (“Airplane!”) and has entered the annals of sports cultural literacy (You can’t find an article about Notre Dame that doesn’t include “waking up the echoes.”). I feel no shame in naming this the best fight song in college football. (Honorable mentions: “Hail to the Victors” – Michigan, “Anchors Aweigh” – Navy)
Worst fight song: “Michigan State Fight Song” — It starts out with a great opening line (“On the banks of the Red Cedar”) then quickly devolves into a mess with lyrics that feel like they were written by three-year-olds (“Watch the points keep growing”). At one point, it seems like every other word is “Rah” or “Fight.” Add in the fact the lyricists couldn’t be bothered to give the song a title and you’ve got a real stinker.
Best tradition: Dotting the “I” at Ohio State — It’s something I’ve never gotten the chance to see live, but you have to admit the idea is absolutely fabulous. For that one brief moment, the Ohio State band’s sousaphone player has to feel like he or she’s on top of the world as he or she runs to dot the “I” in the band’s “Script Ohio” formation. (Honorable mentions: Texas A&M’s Yell Practice, Clemson’s Death Valley rock)
Worst tradition: Auburn fans rolling Toomer’s Corner after a win — T.P.ing is a great way to celebrate a football victory. If you’re a high school freshman.
Best stadium: Bryant-Denny Stadium (Alabama) — It has a nice location and seats a large crowd without being obnoxiously big. The scoreboard is nice while not terribly intrusive and the acoustics are great. Following its new expansion, this stadium can match up to any field in the country. (Honorable mentions: Doak Campbell Stadium – Florida State, Jordan-Hare Stadium – Auburn)
Worst stadium: Carrier Dome (Syracuse) — Football was not made to be played on turf. Football was not made to be played indoors. Apparently the folks in upstate New York missed the memo. It’s like watching a game in a warehouse.
Best team color combination — Iowa (black and yellow) — Legendary Iowa coach Hayden Fry chose these colors because they were the same ones worn by the then-dominant Pittsburgh Steelers. The yellow also reminds a viewer of corn, which is of course Iowa’s signature agricultural export. I like the colors; they’re unique but they don’t clash or look garish. (Honorable mentions: Notre Dame – blue and gold, North Carolina – powder “Carolina” blue and white)
Worst team color combination — Florida (blue and orange) — Ugh. Just say no. These two colors look awful together. And that boring helmet with the bubbly cursive “Gators” doesn’t help the look one bit.
Best fans: Tennessee — To be fair, for this category I only picked schools where I’ve actually been in contact with their fans before. I’d have to give the nod to Tennessee on this one; their fans were polite both in Knoxville and when they came up to Notre Dame. (Honorable mention: Alabama, Florida State)
Worst fans: Michigan — It seems like the vast majority of them are loud, obnoxious bandwagon-jumpers who always blame the referees whenever anything goes wrong. For all their crowing, you’d think they’d have something more to show for it than one championship in the last 50 years. For a stadium called the “Big House” that holds eleventy bajillion people, Michigan Stadium can be eerily quiet when the Wolverines aren’t playing well.
Best name: Nebraska Cornhuskers — It’s easily shortened, it’s colorful and it’s unique. It identifies itself with the state and flows well with the word “Nebraska.” Plus if you’re a Nebraska fan you get to wear a giant ear of corn on your head, and who wouldn’t love to do that? (Honorable mention: Alabama Crimson Tide, Notre Dame Fighting Irish)
Worst name: Syracuse Orange — This is political correctness gone amuck. The original name of Orangemen had historical significance but the new version sounds like the name of an Arena League football team.