Head to head

Whose comment section wins?

Pick any two fanbases and compare what their comment sections say, stat for stat.

Big Ten
Illinois
Fighting Illini
vs
Big Ten
Rutgers
Scarlet Knights
On the field
Illinois won 3513 on Nov 1.
The comment sections had their own opinions.
ILL sentiment · 15,179 comments
Positive53.3%
Neutral12.2%
Negative32.7%
Mixed1.9%
RUTG sentiment · 5,649 comments
Positive50.9%
Neutral9.3%
Negative37.5%
Mixed2.4%
Mood

Who is happier

Fan Score counts positive comments per 1,000, so a loud fanbase cannot buy its way up the board. Positive share tells the same story as a percentage of everything said.

Illinois
Rutgers

Fan Score

532.6 (better)
508.6

Positive comments per 1,000 (higher wins)

Positive share

53.3% (better)
50.9%

Share of all comments that are positive

Edge

Who is harsher

Negativity, toxicity and explicit language, every one of them per 1,000 comments so the two sides stay comparable whatever their volume.

Illinois
Rutgers

Negativity

327 (better)
374.6

Negative comments per 1,000 (lower wins)

Toxicity

32.9 (better)
34.7

Harm and identity-based abuse per 1,000 (lower wins)

Explicit language

26.7
(better)13.6

Explicit-language comments per 1,000 (lower wins)

Identity-based abuse, tag by tag

Tag applications per 1,000 comments

0.1Race0.7
1.6Gender1.1
0.3LGBTQIA+0.9
0.6Age0.2

Illinois left, Rutgers right. Tag applications per 1,000 comments, on the same scale across every row. Reported as rates only: this block never picks a winner.

Subject matter

What they talk about

Three topic groups where neither direction is better, just louder. These rows describe a comment section instead of scoring it.

Illinois
Rutgers

Betting talk

4.1
5.1

Sports-betting comments per 1,000

Team & front office talk

98.2
107.6

Team and front-office comments per 1,000: coaching, the athletic department, and gameday

NIL & portal talk

7.2
11.3

NIL and Transfer Portal tag applications per 1,000, which may overlap

Shape of the season

Week by week, side by side

The same season read twice: weekly mood for both comment sections, the weeks the two teams actually met, and where each fanbase lands nationally on the seven topic groups.

Rivalry pulse

Weekly comment shares: Illinois up, Rutgers down
Illinois positive ↑Rutgers positive ↓Negative shareHover a W or L for that week’s result
ILL 35RUTG 13
Illinois had the happier comment section in 13 of 22 shared weeks, Rutgers in 9. When they met on Nov 1, Illinois won 35–13; Illinois’s comments were the more positive that week.
Weekly positive and negative comment shares for Illinois and Rutgers
Week ofIllinois resultIllinois positive shareIllinois negative shareRutgers resultRutgers positive shareRutgers negative share
2025-08-23W66.7%16.2%W49.3%35.5%
2025-08-3060.7%18%53.6%38.1%
2025-09-06W64.8%23%W63.6%23.2%
2025-09-13W50.9%33%W L53.8%30.8%
2025-09-20L17.7%68.6%36.2%53.3%
2025-09-27W59.6%28.2%L33.9%56.6%
2025-10-04W63.1%22%L81.1%10%
2025-10-11L34%50.7%27.1%60.2%
2025-10-1841.3%43.2%L39.4%48.4%
2025-10-25L25.2%63.3%W64.5%24.6%
2025-11-01W64.9%23.3%L55.1%34.8%
2025-11-0864.7%14.5%W63.1%28%
2025-11-15W59.7%26.7%70.7%17.9%
2025-11-22L27.9%64.3%L34.8%53%
2025-11-29W65.8%18.1%L34.6%53.3%
2025-12-0662.8%14.3%69%24.1%
2025-12-1383.8%7.8%50%0%
2025-12-2082.1%7.3%66.7%33.3%
2025-12-27W80%12.2%16.7%50%
2026-01-0363.9%20.1%74.1%22.2%
2026-01-1043.6%30.3%78.3%8.7%
2026-01-1735.8%31.2%70.7%18.7%
Reactions from that night · Nov 1
Illinois

it's Gameday game will be broadcast live on here https://www.syanaz.king-cpasports.com/football.php

neutralBroadcast & MediaFacebook

Either the crowd is late arriving or the stadium is going to be half empty.

negativeCrowd & AttendanceFacebook
Rutgers

We had these guys beat last year. They got a gift and second chance that they never should have gotten. Let’s play this game like it’s the Super Bowl. Chop every play until the final whistle! GoRU!

positiveOpponent HostilityFacebook

off to Illinois to get beat.

negativeOpponent HostilityFacebook

Fingerprint duel

Each fanbase's national percentile on the seven comment-topic groups, overlaid.

IllinoisRutgers
Harm · RUTG +9 ptsIdentity-Based Abuse · ILL +16 ptsExplicit Language · ILL +25 ptsCollege Sports · RUTG +31 ptsOff-Field Storylines · ILL +27 ptsSports Betting · RUTG +11 ptsTeam & Front Office · RUTG +8 pts
Each axis is the team's percentile among ranked FBS teams for that tag group; deltas are gaps in percentile points. Low-volume fanbases are excluded from each cohort.
  • Illinois Harm: 52nd percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Illinois Identity-Based Abuse: 37th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Illinois Explicit Language: 62nd percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Illinois College Sports: 56th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Illinois Off-Field Storylines: 80th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Illinois Sports Betting: 76th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Illinois Team & Front Office: 24th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Rutgers Harm: 61st percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Rutgers Identity-Based Abuse: 21st percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Rutgers Explicit Language: 37th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Rutgers College Sports: 87th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Rutgers Off-Field Storylines: 53rd percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Rutgers Sports Betting: 87th percentile of ranked FBS teams
  • Rutgers Team & Front Office: 32nd percentile of ranked FBS teams

The season, felt twice

Weekly positive share for both comment sections on one axis; hover shows the week's combined comment volume. Illinois's positive share was higher in 12 of 22 shared weeks, Rutgers's in 10.

ILLRUTG
0%42%84%Aug 23Jan 17
Weekly values: ILL, RUTG
Week ofILLRUTGComments
2025-08-2366.7%49.3%705
2025-08-3060.7%53.6%713
2025-09-0664.8%63.6%1,462
2025-09-1350.9%53.8%1,229
2025-09-2017.7%36.2%2,475
2025-09-2759.6%33.9%1,720
2025-10-0463.1%81.1%1,047
2025-10-1134%27.1%972
2025-10-1841.3%39.4%491
2025-10-2525.2%64.5%1,032
2025-11-0164.9%55.1%528
2025-11-0864.7%63.1%958
2025-11-1559.7%70.7%789
2025-11-2227.9%34.8%910
2025-11-2965.8%34.6%1,939
2025-12-0662.8%69%378
2025-12-1383.8%50%183
2025-12-2082.1%66.7%126
2025-12-2780%16.7%1,949
2026-01-0363.9%74.1%495
2026-01-1043.6%78.3%479
2026-01-1735.8%70.7%248
Behind the numbers

Sence read 2,498,712 college-football comments to build this site. It can read yours.