You knew it was coming.
After releasing the most hated teams by state in the NFL....
Major League Baseball....
and the NBA...
the folks at Reddit have produced a map of the most hated college football programs by state. The results are, well, the results you'd expect from an anonymous Internet survey.
But, I still have questions.
Some of these make no sense (Ole Miss being hated in New Mexico, Vermont hating Maryland) and can be written off due to a small sample size. New Mexico, for example, had 18 respondents.
But some of these really make no sense.
- How is Ole Miss the most hated team in Alabama? The Rebels are 19-75-2 all-time against Alabama and Auburn. I would've bet anything that Auburn is the most hated team in Alabama, since that state leans so heavily toward the Tide.
- I guess the good people of Kansas are still smarting about K-State's loss to Ohio State in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl.
- Fans Notre Dame, Indiana and Purdue have settled on a common enemy of Michigan... State? Odd that Michigan is the most hated team in Wyoming and Montana, but not Indiana. For whatever it's worth, Michigan is an all-time 121-39-1 against the Hoosier State's three FBS teams, while Michigan State is a less threatening 104-91-4.
Other results, however, are worth reading into.
- For instance, it's interesting that hate for Texas still runs strong in Arkansas after two full decades of SEC membership. Those programs have met just four times since Arkansas left the Southwest Conference in 1991, and have only a 2021 matchup in Fayetteville on the schedule.
- Similarly, I was surprised West Virginia found Virginia Tech more hatable than Pittsburgh. The Mountaineers and Hokies have played only 51 times, haven't met since 2005 and won't again until 2017.
- Overall, conference realignment just stinks. Missouri should clearly still be playing Kansas. Texas and Arkansas should find a way to play more often than five times in 30 years, and the same for West Virginia and Virginia Tech (and Pitt, for that matter). Nebraska should always be the most hated team in Colorado, not Alabama.
- Among 7,873 total responses, Ohio State (2,121 total votes) and Michigan (1,615) are easily the most despised programs in America. The next closest villain is Alabama at 513 votes.
- I found this amusing:
- Finally, should Notre Dame be worried that only 1.23 percent of respondents bothered to give Notre Dame the honor of their No. 1 nemesis?
UPDATE: Reddit has provided a more accurate map.
