Whose comment section wins?
Pick any two fanbases and compare what their comment sections say, stat for stat.
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.
Fan Score
Positive comments per 1,000 (higher wins)
Positive comments per 1,000 (higher wins)
Positive share
Share of all comments that are positive
Share of all comments that are positive
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.
Negativity
Negative comments per 1,000 (lower wins)
Negative comments per 1,000 (lower wins)
Toxicity
Harm and identity-based abuse per 1,000 (lower wins)
Harm and identity-based abuse per 1,000 (lower wins)
Explicit language
Explicit-language comments per 1,000 (lower wins)
Explicit-language comments per 1,000 (lower wins)
Identity-based abuse, tag by tag
Tag applications per 1,000 comments
Illinois left, Western Michigan right. Tag applications per 1,000 comments, on the same scale across every row. Reported as rates only: this block never picks a winner.
What they talk about
Three topic groups where neither direction is better, just louder. These rows describe a comment section instead of scoring it.
Betting talk
Sports-betting comments per 1,000
Sports-betting comments per 1,000
Team & front office talk
Team and front-office comments per 1,000: coaching, the athletic department, and gameday
Team and front-office comments per 1,000: coaching, the athletic department, and gameday
NIL & portal talk
NIL and Transfer Portal tag applications per 1,000, which may overlap
NIL and Transfer Portal tag applications per 1,000, which may overlap
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
| Week of | Illinois result | Illinois positive share | Illinois negative share | Western Michigan result | Western Michigan positive share | Western Michigan negative share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08-23 | W | 66.7% | 16.2% | L | 86.2% | 9.4% |
| 2025-08-30 | – | 60.7% | 18% | – | 41.6% | 46% |
| 2025-09-06 | W | 64.8% | 23% | L | 25.6% | 60.3% |
| 2025-09-13 | W | 50.9% | 33% | L | 43.1% | 42% |
| 2025-09-20 | L | 17.7% | 68.6% | W | 80.7% | 10.2% |
| 2025-09-27 | W | 59.6% | 28.2% | W | 84.7% | 8.8% |
| 2025-10-04 | W | 63.1% | 22% | W | 81.5% | 8.6% |
| 2025-10-11 | L | 34% | 50.7% | W | 86.6% | 2.5% |
| 2025-10-18 | – | 41.3% | 43.2% | – | 82% | 8% |
| 2025-10-25 | L | 25.2% | 63.3% | L | 48.4% | 42.1% |
| 2025-11-01 | W | 64.9% | 23.3% | W | 83.9% | 10.2% |
| 2025-11-08 | – | 64.7% | 14.5% | W | 77.6% | 12.4% |
| 2025-11-15 | W | 59.7% | 26.7% | W | 81% | 9.6% |
| 2025-11-22 | L | 27.9% | 64.3% | W | 85.5% | 7.6% |
| 2025-11-29 | W | 65.8% | 18.1% | – | 91.7% | 3.4% |
| 2025-12-06 | – | 62.8% | 14.3% | W | 92.8% | 3.1% |
| 2025-12-13 | – | 83.8% | 7.8% | W | 88.8% | 3.6% |
| 2025-12-20 | – | 82.1% | 7.3% | – | 94.6% | 2.4% |
| 2025-12-27 | W | 80% | 12.2% | – | 84% | 12% |
| 2026-01-03 | – | 63.9% | 20.1% | – | 84.5% | 8.3% |
| 2026-01-10 | – | 43.6% | 30.3% | – | 80% | 6.7% |
| 2026-01-17 | – | 35.8% | 31.2% | – | 88.9% | 0% |
““Huge mistake” dude donated 100 million. Do you want to be mediocre forever?? If he wants his face in the endzone let him”
“Jason M. Rahn they can, they just don't have to rename a stadium that is HONORING soldiers. They could've named the street or a corner”
“Gregory J. Penzotti And an Offensive Coordinator that can call some basic up-field pass routes for our receivers.”
“Gonna get blew tf out western Michigan sucks ass”
Fingerprint duel
Each fanbase's national percentile on the seven comment-topic groups, overlaid.
- 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
- Western Michigan Harm: 4th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- Western Michigan Identity-Based Abuse: low volume, not ranked
- Western Michigan Explicit Language: 20th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- Western Michigan College Sports: 29th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- Western Michigan Off-Field Storylines: 4th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- Western Michigan Sports Betting: low volume, not ranked
- Western Michigan Team & Front Office: 17th 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 3 of 22 shared weeks, Western Michigan's in 19.
| Week of | ILL | WMU | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08-23 | 66.7% | 86.2% | 357 |
| 2025-08-30 | 60.7% | 41.6% | 879 |
| 2025-09-06 | 64.8% | 25.6% | 1,378 |
| 2025-09-13 | 50.9% | 43.1% | 872 |
| 2025-09-20 | 17.7% | 80.7% | 2,313 |
| 2025-09-27 | 59.6% | 84.7% | 1,412 |
| 2025-10-04 | 63.1% | 81.5% | 1,038 |
| 2025-10-11 | 34% | 86.6% | 925 |
| 2025-10-18 | 41.3% | 82% | 353 |
| 2025-10-25 | 25.2% | 48.4% | 606 |
| 2025-11-01 | 64.9% | 83.9% | 626 |
| 2025-11-08 | 64.7% | 77.6% | 555 |
| 2025-11-15 | 59.7% | 81% | 827 |
| 2025-11-22 | 27.9% | 85.5% | 1,152 |
| 2025-11-29 | 65.8% | 91.7% | 1,579 |
| 2025-12-06 | 62.8% | 92.8% | 639 |
| 2025-12-13 | 83.8% | 88.8% | 812 |
| 2025-12-20 | 82.1% | 94.6% | 290 |
| 2025-12-27 | 80% | 84% | 1,968 |
| 2026-01-03 | 63.9% | 84.5% | 552 |
| 2026-01-10 | 43.6% | 80% | 471 |
| 2026-01-17 | 35.8% | 88.9% | 182 |