British Guy Reacts to College Football Traditions/Chants For the First Time! 

The waving at the hospital tradition might be the most heart warming sporting tradition out there. Must be amazing for the kids during a difficult time in their lives

The American version of an "Ultras" section is the Student Section. It's the closest thing we have to Ultras, but it's different. These are university age kids from 18-23, who aren't going to be as "blue collar" as you'd expect to find in a true Ultras section. So you've got young adults who are capable of getting hyped, being loud, jumping up and down and standing for hours on end, but their chants aren't quite as vicious or crass as what you might find in England. Student Section tickets are sold to students of the University at a seriously marked down rate and the entire section is essentially first come first serve. Because they live very close to the stadiums, even if a team is doing poorly, they typically still show up.

Most every university has a school specific Alma Mater and a school specific Fight Song. Usually few fans know the words to the Alma Mater as it is an older, solemn ode to the school, often written in the early 20th century or before. The Fight Song is led by the marching band and is much more lively and played and sung frequently. Some are so old, and revered that they are ubiquitous. The Notre Dame Fight Song with it's 'Wake up the echos' line is probably the most famous. Then there are cheers. Some are school specific although the pros and smaller schools sometimes copy them (the Tomahawk Chop for example for Florida State and the Gator Chomp for Florida) Then there are the traditions which can include signs, symbols, mascot presentations (the Florida State Chief Osceola riding an Appaloosa on the field with a flaming spear and planting it midfield it is one of the best). The running of a live bison around the field at Colorado pregame and after some TDs is stunning. The swooping of the War Eagle (a golden eagle) over the fans at Auburn is majestic. The run into the field by the 'Sooner Schooner' (a replica of an old Conestoga wagon) being pulled by two beautiful white ponies is thrilling. Add fancy tailgating, pregame boat armadas and sweeping fan gymnastics often with cards or thousands in color coordination. As to singing songs that are well known, they are often the result of an intended once band performance that caught on or a song about the state. Of course Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline has been used by many schools because of its ease of singing by a crowd. Even European teams have borrowed it (Neil Diamond is an American BTW) The Almost Heaven song that you mentioned in which some foreign teams drop West Virginia and insert their moniker is by American John Denver and though it is about West Virginia, Denver wasn't a West Virginian. Some universities mix in bawdy chants and lyrics (most famous maybe Neck at Southern and LSU). You probably won't find a compilation of those. We don't do the flare stuff here. Considered too dangerous and declasse. The schools themseves often do pyrotechnics and canon fire to celebrate seminal moments but no fireworks or flares or weapons inside the stadium (I mean we get enough of that shit outside). American university student sections are quite spirited and creative but no where near the cruising for a bruising, bashing, drunken pitch of ultras. Part of that is that most universities don't allow booze in the stadium (although it is widespread snuck in) and that in theory most students are not legally allowed to drink their first three years. The number of tickets allocated for away team fans varies from school to school and game to game. I would GUESS that an average of about 10% is normal and often if the away team isn't doing well that season and/or the distance is a thousand or more miles between that most of those are reallocated close to the GameDay to the home team. It is in everybody's interest to fill the stadium with paying fans.

A reason the wave is #20 is because the children's hospital was just recently built, and the tradition started a few years into its existence, so it's got little to no history. Clearly it'll improve, but it's pretty new. A few others explained: - #17 is the Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida, hometown of Tom Petty, hence why the crowd is singing "I Won't Back Down". The sign btw says "welcome to the Swamp" #16 is the LSU Tigers band performing a song called "Neck", with the main refrain being "Ooo-oh, suck that tiger dick, bitch!". As you can guess, the band isn't allowed to play it during games hence why it's being filmed here post game. #15 is the Ohio State Buckeyes, pronounced "buck-eyes" not "buckees". The buckeye is a nut from the buckeye tree that's a big symbol of Ohio. #11 is the Clemson Tigers. What most vids fail to mention is that the stadium's nickname is "Death Valley" due to the imposing grandstands on either side, so a previous coach took that literally and brought home a large stone from the actual Death Valley in California and have been using it as a good luck charm ever since. #10 is the Tennessee Volunteers, or Vols for short, and is the state nickname of Tennessee, specifically referencing the state's high number of volunteer militiamen in the many wars America has fought. They're signing "Rocky Top" which is another nickname for the city of Knoxville where the uni is located. #7 is the Oklahoma Sooners fans singing "Boomer Sooner". The Sooner nickname comes from when people were allowed to finally settle the state (after the natives were driven off their land), and the many people who jumped the gun, literally, to lay claim to a piece of land. #5 is the Virginia Tech Hokies, pronounced "Ho-keys" like the Hokey Pokey, and the people in white are active military, as Virginia Tech is both a technical college and a military academy. #1 is the Penn State Nittany Lions and is probably referencing the White Out, a night game every year where everyone dresses in white to intimidate the away team

This isnt soccer, fans from the opposing teams are always welcome in any sport pro college or high school.It's normal to see a fan wearing the jersey of the other team surrounded by the home team's fans and he doesn't have to worry about being assaulted.

There are designated away team sections, but anyone can purchase a ticket anywhere. Sometimes home fans will put their seats up for sale. Usually no problem with fans mixing.

For some of these you're missing the point. The Penn State White Out isn't a single moment in a game or a chant... It's a whole game experience with 110,000 fans screaming in white. It's an insane atmosphere that few things can compare to.

Iowa wave is one of the newest traditions because the children’s hospital was open only a few years ago.

The back story of Iowa children’s hospital is amazing.

So for a lot of these colleges, they will adopt a popular song as "their song". So both Pittsburg (Pitt) and Penn State (PSU) have adopted "Sweet Caroline' even though everyone still can use it. Wisconsin has "Jump Around'. LSU has "Neck" by Jay Da Wizard. Virginia Tech (VT) has "Enter Sandman". West Point (Army) and the Naval Academy (Navy) both use "Tsunami". West Virginia (WV) has "Country Roads" for obvious reasons. Michigan has "Mr. Brightside". Think of it more like "Hey Jude" with Brentford fans or "Free from Desire", where it's a mainstream song for fans in England , everyone knows what to do when it comes on, but it tends to be associated with a particular team when it comes on.

The Kinnick Wave is one of those things that I love about college football. Always makes me a little teary. Gonna see another on in just a few minutes, gonna wave at the kids from my living room...got the Iowa game on the TV as I am typing!

I think the reason the hospital one was so low was that it's very new. But I agree it should be a lot higher up. At most stadiums, there are one or two sections (out of 30 or so) reserved for visiting fans (given to the other school to give to players' family and such or sell to their fans), but there isn't a strict segregation of them like in most European soccer matches. You'll see a few visiting fans in most sections. The only place you're *really* asking for trouble is if a visiting fan ends up in the middle of the student section. There are a few indoor stadiums for college football, but not many. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are Syracuse (the Carrier Dome) and UT-San Antonio (the Alamodome), and I think there might be a couple other teams that use one as an "alternate" home once a year.

The thing with OU's BOOMER SOONER chant is that it's not impactful when you waych it, but it's bone rattling when you're there. I'm a sooner fan, and it's an amazing experience. It more of a chant than anything.

10:08 2 different teams’ supporters will sing the same song to see who can sing it better. That’s where the “going at each other” is lol.

Great video!

I kinda do wish there were more custom songs too but I’m used to it growing up I’m used to a school just adopting an existing song and making it their own

LSU at #16 was definitely after a game, which is why the stadium was pretty empty. LSU’s band doesn’t play Neck during the games anymore due to the vulgar chant, STTDB (Suck That Tiger D***, B****). It’s primarily the student section that does the chant. LSU has been fined in the past for the chant due to being able to hear it on TV during games. They now just do the chant during random songs the band plays or when the opposing team’s band is brave enough to play Neck (usually as a troll) when playing against them, so they haven’t really stopped despite the song no longer being played. So if you ever find yourself in an LSU game thread or see merch that says “Let the band play Neck,” this is why.

Its a crime they put Iowa at #20. An absolute crime. Immediately deligitimized the list out of the gate.

I was at the Iowa-Northwestern game in 2022 and the highlight was waving to the kids. Of course, Northwestern lost by like 40😂😂

Honestly, that video doesnt make justice to many of the great traditions or chants, the clips are weirdly chosen, imo.

Away fans can bring dozens of fans to thousands. Depends on the conference on allotment. Big conferences like the SEC require a minimum of 7,500 seats for away fans. Sometimes they’ll request more sometimes less. Depends on travel and team. This doesn’t include the away fans that will often times buy tickets on the secondary market. Whatever isn’t sold to away fans will be put on general sale to the public for anyone to purchase. One instance of a stadium takeover where an away team’s fan base outnumbered the home team is Georgia at Notre Dame in 2017.

I couldn't make out hardly any songs or music because you talked over the entire thing! 😂😂 & I couldn't even understand anything you said! 😅

Just watching this and also just subbed for videos like these. Songs that the school band plays in the stands are typically the school fight song, adopted by the entire university. You hear mainstream music because it's what fans associate with a good time and gets the heart rate up, and pumps up the players. Or, you might hear sing-a-longs. Meant to make the fans all sing and enjoy their time at the game while in an intermission of any kind. During songs like Zombie Nation used in the #1 of this video, fans/students will enter school lingo into the song where they can. If you listen in the #1 clip, the fans say "WE ARE PENN STATE" whereas another school might say "LET'S GO O U," referring to the University of Oklahoma, also featured in this video. You can also see in clip #12 that in All I Do is Win, the Auburn fans chant "War Eagle" which is used by Auburn fans of saying "Go Tigers," as their mascot is the tiger. Unsure of where the eagle part comes in, but would guess that the chant is used to indicate that you mean "Go Auburn Tigers" instead of "Go Louisiana State Tigers" (LSU.) Helps instill school pride, I suppose. Players of separate teams do not use the same tunnel, typically. Very rarely in American Football do teams share a tunnel. Usually the away team will come out, unannounced, first to a rain of boos from the home crowd. The home team will then do their song and dance routine before walking out to fans going "mental." The fan split you speak of is a thing, depends on stadium sizes and whatever the university chooses, ultimately. I know the UK has made ticket reselling illegal, as I tried to see Haaland, KDB, and City take on Chelsea in May and got scammed. The USA has a plethora of ticket-reselling sites that any fan with the money can use and buy regardless of post code, residence, etc. Home team fans largely make up 85-90% of fans in the stadium. College games start traditionally at noon/12pm in their respective timezone. A game that networks consider "primetime" will be played later at night, and there's also fewer games on so fans of the sport must watch it. Usually a banging matchup or at least exciting teams, to keep ratings. Not every team gets a primetime, nationally televised game. You gotta earn those. That being said, there are what we call "slates of games." The "morning/noon slate," which is games that start at/around noon/1200 in their respective timezone (people in the west and the west coast call it the morning.) The "evening/middle slate," which consists of games starting around 4pm/1600 in their timezone. The "night slate," which is any game starting after roughly 7pm/1900 in their timezone. The last slate is the "late night slate," which only us on the east coast/midwest use as those are games on the west coast/Hawaii. Many times, games in Hawaii won't start until 11pm/2300 ont he east coast. I'm almost done, I promise. in clip #5, the "lot going mental" are likely students of the school. Students always go the hardest, cheer the loudest, and have the most collectively at the games. You can find the students by finding the largest group of people throwing limbs in any one stand, pregame and all game. Never been to a European football match, but have watched many matches online over the last 8 years. Student section energy can best be described as "Ultra energy," in your terms. Many universities also have mainstream songs that their fanbase has tagged with tradition. Wisconsin in the #2 clip uses Jump Around. Every home game, it gets played I believe after the 3rd quarter, and before the 4th starts. a somewhat newer one is Grove St. Party for Kentucky. Alabama uses Dixieland Delight. Another oddly chilling and fun video is hearing the Wisconsin fans sing Fireflies in unison before play resumes. There's many others, but those are some good examples I think. Feel free to respond with any questions, I know I'm a bit late, but oh well. Hope you learned something :)

I’ve been a Gator fan for 50 years and that Tom Petty stuff started a couple of years ago after he died…how that counts as a tradition I’m still trying to figure out. Singing

It wasn't 2 different teams singing, it's the same team Penn State. The clip where they all are wearing the same color (white) is only done for important games and is called a white out game

Most college stadiums are open tops. Of the 30 NFL stadiums, 5 have retractable roofs, 5 are domes (most with giant windows that open/close), 2 have large roof canopies, and the rest are open tops. (SoFi in Los Angeles cosst $5 bn.)

I'll answer why Pitt and Penn State both sing Sweet Caroline, since they're my two favorite teams. Basically, both schools are in the same state, Penn State is in State College right in the middle, Pitt is in Pittsburgh in the west. Almost all the football culture in the state comes from around Pittsburgh, especially for college, since Philadelphia only cares about their NFL team. I can't be certain since the tradition is older than I am, but it likely started at Pitt, and as more people from around Pittsburgh who grew up rooting for Pitt went to Penn State (it's a larger, more prestigious school) they took that tradition with them and it became a thing there as well.

#17 is the most electric atmosphere in college football!

You were asking about the guys in uniform during the video. Virginia Tech (the Hokies) has a Corps of Cadets. They number around 1,100 student and are training to be officers for the US military while earning their degree.

American Sports aren't really rated by their chants but rather by the noise level during the game, our job is to get as loud as possible when the opposing team has possession to disrupt any sort of communication between them which isn't possible in soccer/football because of the time of possession and how often possession flips sometimes, it would be really awkward. We don't have chants talking about shagging grandmas but we get really damn loud during the game. The three games I've gone to at anfield the chants and environment were really cool but it never got near as loud as it does in american sports. I've gone to college basketball games where my ears are literally ringing for the whole rest of the day, that doesn't happen in europe which isn't a bad thing at all. Europe= based on tradition America= based on noise level during game

In Arkansas we have a traditional chant. Its "call the hogs". Its been around since the 1920s and can happen any time in any large gathering of arkansans 😂

There are closed stadiums all over the country, mainly for NFL games. The first one ever built is in Houston. The second one in New Orleans.

"Jump Around" was Wisconsin Badgers

I don’t know why these videos don’t include the live eagle at Auburn. Roll tide.

they play in all weather conditions, rain snow, mud, sleet, wind doesnt really matter they will play lol

If you havent already you should react to the top 20 or so largest college stadiums. And also to the documentary about "The Game", which is the ravilary between the University of Michigan and Ohio State University.

Yeah, every college has a "fight song."

The stadium at number 2 with jump around is Wisconsin

You should check out the espn segment in the Iowa hawk eye wave

My favorite is the masked rider riding across the feild on horseback after every touchdown and throwing tortillas onto the feild at Texas Tech. They also be shooting blanks during game. Guns up👆

react to best college football traditions and environments real good vid for you

My dad went to Virginia tech to watch the Alabama game against them (he's a die hard bama fan), and asked a random drunk guy what's a hokie? Apparently the guy said "IT'S AN ASS KICKIN CHICKEN!" Then he shotgunned a beer and wandered off after burping loudly lol tailgating is crazy man and you meet some real interesting characters

Open top stadiums are the thing in college here. A lot of the stadiums are older.

Bro, closed top football stadiums? Very very rare. There's ZERO closed top college stadiums that I know of. And only 10 NFL stadiums with either permanent domes or retractable roofs. Five each ironically. Domed/Fixed Roof stadiums: 1) Superdome (New Orlean Saints) 2) Ford Field (Detroit Lions) 3) US Bank Stadium (Minnesota Vikings) 4) Allegient Stadium (Las Vegas Raiders) 5) SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles Rams/Chargers) Retractable Roofs: 1) Lucas Oil Stadium (Indiapolis Colts) 2) Mercedes-Benz Stadium (aka the Georgia Dome) (Atlanta Falcons 3) NRG Stadium (Houston Texans) 4) AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys) 5) State Farm Stadium (Arizona Cardinals) But with Football in general, playing out in the elements is part of the fun/game. You ain't played any sport until you play in a snow blizzard. There's been some games in NFL history where it's been snowing so hard that you can't see what's going on on the field from the stands.

Also not your fault but whoever put these clips together did a terrible job from the actual clips to showing the tradition. I know most of the ones they're trying to portray and they just straight up failed lol.

But,Is the wave to the children really considered a traditional thing or a chant? I feel like that’s a gesture to acknowledge the children not so much a traditional school thing. It’s something that should be acknowledged but I don’t think it belongs in this type of video.

There is a Best crowd reactions video you’d probably enjoy

Not having dixieland on here for bama was disrespectful

Being a Brit you don`t know the team`s "nick names". Like ... "the fighting Irish" or "Trojans" or team mascots like Oregon "ducks" or Florida "gators". If you ever make it to the US go to a major college game. Cal has aprox 10,000 seats for the visiting team. Some major colleges have "travel" fans that go to all the away games.

This video doesn't really do college football atmospheres a lot of justice. If you watch "Best College Football traditions/environments" from Paul Varnell, that is much better. Also watch "ALABAMA vs LSU 2022 OVERTIME + FIELD STORM (SkyCam)" to get a glimpse of what that atmosphere looks like in a big game

tickets are first come first serve i believe

bro they are the teams songs but obvi they are main stream this is america. 😂

13:04 At big universities where football games sell out reliably, the typical away support allocation is about 5% of the stadium capacity (rough approximation). However, anyone can buy any ticket on the secondary market. So, it's reasonably common to see a few away fans mixed in with home support. Couple of notes on that subject: A) American fans in general are more cordial toward opposing supporters than are European fans. Of course, there are always a handful of idiots who would do any old school British hooligan proud. But as a rule, it is acceptable to wear opposing colours, cheer, etc amongst any group of fans. (Certain fan groups are less tolerant, but they are the exception). I would feel comfortable wearing away colours in almost any American stadium. I'm also, however, a dyed-in-the-wool Celtic supporter. I cannot fathom going into a Bridgton pub in my Celtic kit, much less going to Ibrox without police escort. B) Certain supporters are well known for following their team in large numbers literally anywhere. In the American vernacular, they say that Team "X's" fans "travel well". For example, last year, the University of Nebraska played a game in Dublin at Croke Park. Twenty eight thousand Nebraska fans made the trip. Many years ago, the same team played a game in Tokyo, and a similar number followed. In the past, Nebraska was a dominant team (they're sh1t now). It was common for Nebraska fans to outnumber opposition supporters *at away games* .

In american sports its not segregated. Theres no home and away tickets. First come first serve. Theres season ticket holders and then the school opens the ticket office online for individual tickets. But home and away all sit together. Generally though there isnt anything more than the fan fair S%&t talking. I was shocked when i went to euorpe and they sepersted us by team.

Theres a third sweet Caroline

*Great video: Ohio State Marching Band Hollywood Blockbusters Halftime Show* [For more interesting college traditions (chuck wagons, etc.) try "Best Traditions in College Football Part 1 & Part 2; the latter part is the better of the two.]

Ain’t no way that’s the clip they show of lsu

College football is great but dont forget mlb nba nhl and nfl.

I think my favorite tradition even tho I’m bias is the “rock chalk” chant that KU (Kansas university) does at the end of the basketball games when we’re winning, I recommend checking out ku basketballs loudest moment, as Allen field house (the arena they play in) holds the world record for the loudest crowd roar in an indoor arena (130 decibels)

Sadly these are mostly chants, only maybe 2 of them are actually traditions

Video must be made by Penn State or big 10 alum.

I had to laugh... in the college stadium video you rant about European sports fans being more hype because they chant random stuff... then in this video when it shows them randomly chanting songs that come on instead of their school song or something you trash it yet again lol

And whoever made this list did not do a good job lol

You need to get an American yttuber to react to proper football

These clips are awful… not your fault obviously but they need to be longer to get the real vibe from it…

'Promo sm'

They did lsu so bad in this video

This video you're reacting to is baddddd. That one at Nebraska didn't even last long enough for the team to run on the field. Hope someone else has recommended a better vid to you.

This is an awful video. There are so many traditions that are amazing that didn’t get shown.

You thinking way too deep into college football. Americans aren’t that deep.