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
Northwestern left, USC 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 | Northwestern result | Northwestern positive share | Northwestern negative share | USC result | USC positive share | USC negative share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08-23 | – | 100% | 0% | – | 55.9% | 23.9% |
| 2025-08-30 | L W | 12.1% | 78.8% | W | 50.6% | 33.7% |
| 2025-09-06 | – | 50.6% | 33.3% | W | 34.6% | 50.5% |
| 2025-09-13 | L | 50% | 35% | W | 57.9% | 29.1% |
| 2025-09-20 | – | 70.8% | 29.2% | W | 54.1% | 30.3% |
| 2025-09-27 | W | 64.8% | 25.4% | L | 37% | 51% |
| 2025-10-04 | W | 75.4% | 6.2% | – | 54.3% | 27.3% |
| 2025-10-11 | W | 75% | 14.4% | W | 69.7% | 16.3% |
| 2025-10-18 | W | 76.8% | 14.1% | L | 42.7% | 41.8% |
| 2025-10-25 | L | 56% | 36% | – | 56.5% | 27.9% |
| 2025-11-01 | L | 68.8% | 31.3% | W W | 60% | 24.8% |
| 2025-11-08 | – | 94.7% | 0% | – | 61.3% | 23.7% |
| 2025-11-15 | L | 39.3% | 46.4% | W | 60.5% | 24.7% |
| 2025-11-22 | W | 86.7% | 7.6% | L | 49.9% | 40.3% |
| 2025-11-29 | L | 88.2% | 2% | W | 52.5% | 33% |
| 2025-12-06 | – | 68.3% | 11.1% | – | 42.2% | 41.4% |
| 2025-12-13 | – | – | – | – | 56.7% | 26.2% |
| 2025-12-20 | W | 66% | 28.3% | – | 68.5% | 17.7% |
| 2025-12-27 | – | 54% | 32% | L | 20.2% | 70.9% |
| 2026-01-03 | – | 60.4% | 17.6% | – | 49.8% | 34.4% |
| 2026-01-10 | – | 25% | 75% | – | 62.2% | 23.4% |
| 2026-01-17 | – | – | – | – | 51.7% | 34.1% |
“The tv announcers/refs will be all over USC to win due to the pressure of them possibly being eliminated from the CFP”
“Go Cats!! This is a bowl eligible game !!”
“Im Colorado. Fill the Coli up!!”
“Still not enough reason to attend a game on a Friday night in LA. Bad traffic, no tailgating , no thanks.”
Fingerprint duel
Each fanbase's national percentile on the seven comment-topic groups, overlaid.
- Northwestern Harm: low volume, not ranked
- Northwestern Identity-Based Abuse: low volume, not ranked
- Northwestern Explicit Language: low volume, not ranked
- Northwestern College Sports: low volume, not ranked
- Northwestern Off-Field Storylines: low volume, not ranked
- Northwestern Sports Betting: low volume, not ranked
- Northwestern Team & Front Office: low volume, not ranked
- USC Harm: 81st percentile of ranked FBS teams
- USC Identity-Based Abuse: 76th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- USC Explicit Language: 76th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- USC College Sports: 78th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- USC Off-Field Storylines: 52nd percentile of ranked FBS teams
- USC Sports Betting: 68th percentile of ranked FBS teams
- USC Team & Front Office: 57th 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. Northwestern's positive share was higher in 14 of 20 shared weeks, USC's in 6.
| Week of | NU | USC | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08-23 | 100% | 55.9% | 630 |
| 2025-08-30 | 12.1% | 50.6% | 2,220 |
| 2025-09-06 | 50.6% | 34.6% | 2,865 |
| 2025-09-13 | 50% | 57.9% | 2,594 |
| 2025-09-20 | 70.8% | 54.1% | 1,985 |
| 2025-09-27 | 64.8% | 37% | 1,552 |
| 2025-10-04 | 75.4% | 54.3% | 647 |
| 2025-10-11 | 75% | 69.7% | 3,627 |
| 2025-10-18 | 76.8% | 42.7% | 2,274 |
| 2025-10-25 | 56% | 56.5% | 402 |
| 2025-11-01 | 68.8% | 60% | 1,666 |
| 2025-11-08 | 94.7% | 61.3% | 2,490 |
| 2025-11-15 | 39.3% | 60.5% | 3,077 |
| 2025-11-22 | 86.7% | 49.9% | 4,561 |
| 2025-11-29 | 88.2% | 52.5% | 2,820 |
| 2025-12-06 | 68.3% | 42.2% | 1,581 |
| 2025-12-13 | 0% | 56.7% | 1,793 |
| 2025-12-20 | 66% | 68.5% | 610 |
| 2025-12-27 | 54% | 20.2% | 3,116 |
| 2026-01-03 | 60.4% | 49.8% | 699 |
| 2026-01-10 | 25% | 62.2% | 740 |
| 2026-01-17 | 0% | 51.7% | 176 |