How Big Is Conference Pride, Really?
Every fanbase in the country, grouped into its conference and ranked on what its comment section actually says.
The whole season, one table.
Every rate is the conference’s summed comments over summed totals; big fanbases weigh the figure, exactly as they weigh the conversation. Sorted by Fan Score; click a column to re-sort.
SentimentPositiveNeutralNegativeMixed
Scroll sideways for the full table →
| FS rank | Conference | Sentiment | Happiest fanbase | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MAC | 13 | 71–92 | 28,671 |
| 736.4 | 14 | Central Michigan |
| 2 | FCS | 2 | 19–6 | 4,837 |
| 727.1 | 21.1 | North Dakota State |
| 3 | Sun Belt | 14 | 88–92 | 65,698 |
| 710.5 | 15.8 | Troy |
| 4 | American | 14 | 97–82 | 90,119 |
| 709.4 | 21.3 | Navy |
| 5 | C-USA | 12 | 72–81 | 38,144 |
| 677 | 17.4 | Kennesaw State |
| 6 | Mountain West | 12 | 77–76 | 77,729 |
| 613.5 | 28.5 | New Mexico |
| 7 | Pac-12 | 2 | 9–16 | 12,154 |
| 607.1 | 34.5 | Washington State |
| 8 | Big 12 | 16 | 115–87 | 302,900 |
| 588.6 | 35 | Texas Tech |
| 9 | ACC | 17 | 120–100 | 283,695 |
| 550.6 | 40.7 | Wake Forest |
| 10 | Independent | 2 | 19–6 | 75,189 |
| 548.4 | 40.4 | UConn |
| 11 | SEC | 16 | 125–83 | 880,560 |
| 524.3 | 49.7 | Georgia |
| 12 | Big Ten | 18 | 137–97 | 639,016 |
| 500.9 | 56 | Indiana |
Fan Score is positive comments per 1,000 analyzed. Harm & identity-based abuse combines both tag groups, also per 1,000. The rank column always shows the Fan Score rank, whichever column you sort by.
The SEC and Big Ten post more than half of everything: 60.8% of all comments between them. Independent and FCS aren’t leagues; they’re the buckets for everyone who doesn’t fit. Judge accordingly.
Everything the table doesn’t settle.
Four rankings the Fan Score column has nothing to say about. Every rate is the league’s summed counts over its summed comments, except the mood swings, which average one figure per fanbase.
Most toxic
Harm & identity-based abuse per 1,000 comments
Most mutually supportive
Opponent Respect tags per 1,000 comments
Most miserable
Negative comments per 1,000
Independent and FCS are catch-all buckets rather than leagues, so they appear in these rankings but shouldn’t be read as one.
Every fanbase, one axis.
Each dot is a fanbase, placed by Fan Score: positive comments per 1,000. The heavy tick is the conference’s aggregate. Spread tells you as much as the average: some leagues argue as one, some contain multitudes.
Scroll sideways for the full field →
- SEC, aggregate Fan Score 524.3: Alabama 548.3, Arkansas 331.6, Auburn 554.1, Florida 467.5, Georgia 669.9, Kentucky 522.4, LSU 425.9, Mississippi State 562.6, Missouri 542.3, Oklahoma 524.9, Ole Miss 662, South Carolina 482.8, Tennessee 581.4, Texas 468.7, Texas A&M 541.6, Vanderbilt 622.2
- Big Ten, aggregate Fan Score 500.9: Illinois 532.6, Indiana 739.4, Iowa 600.8, Maryland 326.5, Michigan 472.1, Michigan State 457.8, Minnesota 396.7, Nebraska 466, Northwestern 671.4, Ohio State 584.8, Oregon 551.2, Penn State 424.9, Purdue 538.5, Rutgers 508.6, UCLA 476.4, USC 511.6, Washington 594.6, Wisconsin 281.5
- ACC, aggregate Fan Score 550.6: Boston College 462, Clemson 488.9, Duke 695.1, Florida State 390.8, Georgia Tech 670.1, Louisville 630.3, Miami 548.3, NC State 579, North Carolina 381.7, Pittsburgh 520.4, SMU 681.5, Stanford 538.3, Syracuse 386.7, Virginia 749.3, Virginia Tech 405.6, Wake Forest 803.4
- Big 12, aggregate Fan Score 588.6: Arizona 640, Arizona State 499.7, Baylor 606.5, BYU 595.6, Cincinnati 535.4, Colorado 595.4, Houston 683.2, Iowa State 545, Kansas 440.9, Kansas State 436.3, Oklahoma State 489.4, TCU 719.8, Texas Tech 723.4, UCF 656.2, Utah 559.4, West Virginia 515.8
- American, aggregate Fan Score 709.4: Army 745.9, East Carolina 771.6, Memphis 703.4, Navy 862, North Texas 775.7, South Florida 608.6, Temple 738.9, Tulane 699.3, Tulsa 839, UAB 600.8, UTSA 681
- C-USA, aggregate Fan Score 677: Delaware 664.1, FIU 829.6, Kennesaw State 874.3, Liberty 600.6, Louisiana Tech 662, Middle Tennessee 603.7, Missouri State 782.6, New Mexico State 734, Sam Houston 592.7, UTEP 498.8, WKU 822.2
- MAC, aggregate Fan Score 736.4: Bowling Green 782.6, Central Michigan 803.3, Ohio 768.5, Toledo 655.2, Western Michigan 765.4
- Mountain West, aggregate Fan Score 613.5: Air Force 612.1, Boise State 487.9, Colorado State 431.7, Fresno State 603.3, Hawaii 753.9, New Mexico 836.1, San Diego State 545.5, San Jose State 507.4, UNLV 644.1, Utah State 782.3, Wyoming 571.7
- Pac-12, aggregate Fan Score 607.1: Oregon State 582.9, Washington State 627.4
- Sun Belt, aggregate Fan Score 710.5: Appalachian State 627.3, Arkansas State 717.8, Coastal Carolina 710.3, Georgia Southern 679.3, James Madison 695, Louisiana 687.6, Marshall 751.3, Old Dominion 755.5, Southern Miss 736.4, Texas State 707.8, Troy 779.1
- Independent, aggregate Fan Score 548.4: Notre Dame 546.2, UConn 585
- FCS, aggregate Fan Score 727.1: North Dakota State 737.6
The black tick is the conference’s aggregate rate; big fanbases drag it, which is the point.
Fanbases under 1,500 comments aren’t plotted, too quiet to place fairly. 18 sat out.
Some leagues take losing personally.
Same fans, two moods. The left bar is how negative each conference’s comments run in weeks its teams won. The right bar is the same fans after a loss. The distance between them is the meltdown.
Close losses (one score) cut deepest: 52.1% negative nationally, versus 50.7% after losses of any size.
ACC fans feel it hardest: 24.5% negative after wins, 53.3% after losses, a 28.8-point mood whiplash. The calmest league, the American, still swings 16.8 points.
Win and loss weeks bucket every game a conference’s teams played that week; weeks where a fanbase both won and lost are excluded from both sides. Percentages are negative comments over all comments in those weeks.
Every league argues about something.
Tag applications per 1,000 comments, one card per conference, all on the same scale. The black tick on every bar is the national rate; bars past the tick are what a conference over-indexes on.
SEC
880,560Signature: Explicit Language at 1.1× the national rate
Big Ten
639,016Signature: Sports Betting at 1.4× the national rate
ACC
283,695Signature: Explicit Language at 1.1× the national rate
Big 12
302,900Signature: College Sports at 1.1× the national rate
American
90,119Signature: College Sports at 1× the national rate
C-USA
38,144Signature: College Sports at 1.4× the national rate
MAC
28,671Signature: College Sports at 1.1× the national rate
Mountain West
77,729Signature: College Sports at 1.3× the national rate
Pac-12
12,154Signature: College Sports at 2.1× the national rate
Sun Belt
65,698Signature: College Sports at 1× the national rate
Independent
75,189Signature: College Sports at 1.5× the national rate
FCS
4,837Signature: Off-Field Storylines at 1.2× the national rate
Tag applications per 1,000 comments: a comment can carry more than one tag. Harm and identity-based abuse get their own ledger below.
Pick two leagues and settle it.
The same tale of the tape as the team compare page, one level up. Every bar is scaled against the whole field, so a near-tie looks like a near-tie.
Every rate is the league’s summed counts over its summed comments, so big fanbases weigh the figure. The meltdown gap and mood swings are in percentage points.
Don’t win this one.
Harm and identity-based abuse (threats, hate, slurs) per 1,000 comments, league by league. It’s the category Sence exists to find, and the one nobody should want to top.
The dashed line marks the national rate. Counts combine the Harm and Identity-Based Abuse tag groups, worst first. Per-fanbase rates live on the harm & abuse leaderboard, and each published axis of identity-based abuse has its own board from there.
12 dossiers, one per league.
Every conference has its own page: personality bars, loudest rivalry, full member table.
SEC
16 teams
Big Ten
18 teams
ACC
17 teams
Big 12
16 teams
American
14 teams
C-USA
12 teams
MAC
13 teams
Mountain West
12 teams
Pac-12
2 teams
Sun Belt
14 teams
Independent
2 teams
FCS
2 teams
Every figure on this page is derived at render time from raw counts: positive comments per 1,000 for Fan Score, tag applications per 1,000 for everything topical, summed counts over summed comments for every aggregate. Full details live on the methodology page.