I just recently did a poll on the C-USA Board to find out how our posters were tied to the school they root for. I tried to keep it simple with only 2 responses...Student/Graduate OR "Sidewalk Fan". SOME were very put off by the term "Sidewalk Fan" to describe one's allegiance, but as I later explained...That was just I term I used to keep it simple and is often used here locally in the Nashville area for Vandy fans who didn't attend or graduate from there, but have season tix. It's not meant to be offensive in ANY way...just trying to understand the tie and keep the response simple. You either went to school there or you didn't.

My curiosity comes from the assumption that most Flagship State U's have that built-in element of fans that grow up rooting for a school, whether they have a direct tie to the school or not. That is especially prevelent in the south with college FB...see Alabama or Tennessee. I wondered how different that was for C-USA/G5 school fans versus that "assumption" on my part. Turned out that the overwhelming responses showed a DIRECT student tie at some point to the responders on our board. BTW, it's not a bad thing if someone didn't attend the school...Just curious.

I know that this board still has a lot of G5 posters, but certainly is going to have a fair amount of P5 fans as well. Also, this is certainly not scientific, but curiously wondering what the response might be here? Let me know what you think?

Again, don't be TOO sensitive to the choices...Just trying to keep it simple.

Thanks!!

Cincinnati alum and fan.

I think the conclusion will agree with your hypothesis, that Power 5 schools have a much larger mix of t-shirt (what you call sidewalk) fans while G5 schools fan bases are comprised mostly of alums. There are some exceptions within the G5, as I know UC has a pretty significant number of fans who do not attend school there (mostly originating out of the Huggins era basketball program throughout the 90s and early 200s).

USF & Georgia Tech Alumni

WMU alumni.

I love Kalamazoo and the West Michigan region. Naturally, I'm a big fan.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using CSNbbs mobile app

Other...

I was attending college in Denver, CO, at a school that played D2 BB and no football. I started watching the University of Cincinnati with their tournament teams in the early 90's, then started watching their FB teams. I have always loved cheering for an underdog, and UC football was perfect. Then, when my job took me to the Cincinnati area, I got FB season tickets when they were still in CUSA. Then, after I moved to WV, I still caught UC football whenever I could...I was down near Huntington, so I saw them play at Marshall and caught a couple of games up in Columbus, and drove to Cincinnati a couple of times each season and for spring games, etc... Now, I live in Morgantown, so trips to Cincinnati are harder to get time for, but that's one of the reasons I really wanted UC to get into the B12.

Anyway, I have been following UC for 20+ years but never went to school there.

Other.

While I didn't attend Clemson my family has deep ties.

I think you are starting with an assumption (G5 fans are more likely to be alums than P5) and then seeking it's verification. A more broad analysis of what produces fandom would likely produce a far different result than you are looking for. Right off the bat, there are more people in general than those who attend college, yet many who never attended college have a rooting interest in a particular school. Then there are those who graduated from a school that has no football and still pull for a state school or one they chose for a variety of reasons.

The key element in your question is "the school you root for," not the school you support financially, buy season tickets to watch or purchase its apparel/products. Due to sheer numbers of "fans," there will always be more people pulling for the P5 schools that are state schools and have large enrollments. But it's easy to see how a school with a small alumni base, e.g. Tulsa, could have a higher percentage of alumni who are fans than Oklahoma, a state school with broader appeal.

Zombie, I agree with you. I think I was really just kinda curious how the scenario plays out here in these boards.

Sent from my SM-G935V using CSNbbs mobile app

Alumni

University of Louisville and University of Kentucky Alumni .

But how can you tell, in this poll, who is a fan of P5 teams and who is not?

Could have gone anywhere, could only afford Temple.


2 TU degrees, Philly born, soft pretzel and cheese-steak nourished.

.

Guarantee you that most G5 are alumni while around half of P5 are Wal-Mart fans. In NC you hear what the Clemson guy said a lot about UNC. You can meet a UNC fan and I guarantee you that they did not attend UNC but if you ask them they will be like My family has deep ties to Carolina or my uncle or grandfather or great grandfather or great uncle went to Carolina. Or even my neighbor gave $100 one time to the Rams club.

Both. Was a fan before I attended grad school there.

Actually I chose to go to grad school at UC because I was already a fan. It was a stupid reason, but it's worked out allright.

Illinois alum and fan.

P5 schools are generally going to have more non-alum fans, but state flagships and flagship equivalents (e.g. UCLA, Texas A&M, etc.) also produce a disproportionately large number of graduates. If you look at the top 35 schools in the US by enrollment, 22 of them are P5 schools. So, the P5 generally has both more alums on top of non-alum fans.

Technically, both, but for football purposes, I picked other. If we're talking basketball, baseball, or soccer, I'll have to go with my alma mater.

University of Texas at Dallas and Northeastern University graduate. Went to UTEP my first two years but for family reasons had to move back to DFW but I'll always be a fan. Before UTEP was on my radar, I was a big UCLA fan (born and raised in L.A.) Both UTD and NU have no football programs with the latter discontinuing football after the '09 season. UTD plays in Div-III and they're known as the Comets. Northeastern (Huskies) is in the CAA and they have a big hockey rivalry with Boston University.

Cincy alumnus and fan. I also wear UC t-shirts on occasion. Does that make me a dreaded t-shirt fan?

I'm so thoroughly a Bearcat that I refuse to root for my kids' alma maters (University of Colorado at Boulder, and Colorado State University).

UAB alum. Also, there are 7 UAB degrees in my immediate family and one parent teaches part-time there. I've been around the school my whole life.

(12-27-2016 01:48 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  Guarantee you that most G5 are alumni while around half of P5 are Wal-Mart fans. In NC you hear what the Clemson guy said a lot about UNC. You can meet a UNC fan and I guarantee you that they did not attend UNC but if you ask them they will be like My family has deep ties to Carolina or my uncle or grandfather or great grandfather or great uncle went to Carolina. Or even my neighbor gave $100 one time to the Rams club.

The bammers would answer, "Mah pawpaw done seen Bahr Brahnt." Half of them think a Walmart receipt is a degree.