College Football in the South

Most southerners can agree on certain things: sweet tea, showing love for your country, and church on Sunday are only a few of a plethora of traditions that makes the south truly unique. One aspects of a southerner’s life that cannot be overlooked is the undying passion for college football.

This passion is one unparalleled by any other region, as the game is often paralleled with religion. The unconditional love for one’s local team, as well as the hatred towards their rivals, are aspects passed down through generations and generations.The tailgating, pregame rituals, the marching band, and the buzz of game day are traditions almost as exciting, and sacred, as the game itself. How did the sport become such an integral part of the region’s culture? Through the harsh eras in south and pride of one’s home, football found its place into the heart of history and lifestyle below the Mason-Dixon. To understand how the game developed into an intrinsic piece of culture, one has to first comprehend a few matters.One of these matters is the fact that southerners are an extremely proud people.

Southerners often speak of their way of life, both new and old, with great fondness and admiration. John Shelton Reed writes of this in his book My Tears Spoiled My Aim... and Other Reflections on Southern Culture, stating that, "there is still in the South a level of devotion and commitment to local communities unparalleled elsewhere” and recalling about how in his, “Tennessee hometown, we used to brag about how high on the list of nuclear targets we were. This adoration for one’s region is one that transfers to one’s university.

These universities became sources of identification and pride, and the university’s football team became the character and strength of the university personified. Another matter that needs understanding is, why college football? It is well known that high school football is also extremely popular in the south; however it pales in comparison to the uproar college football brings.Michael Oriard attempts comprehend this by explaining that the local high school team has the charm of local boys but they bring little attention passed the local towns and county. College football on the other hand, brings the same charm of local boys, but they compete and create attention across the entire nation.

College football is also generally more popular than professional football in the south. One reason fans may choose college over professional is because professional franchises consist of players from across the country, even the world, hereas most college players compete for their local schools. Another reason the college level is more prevalent is most of particular areas which house the most prominent programs are areas that also lack successful professional franchises, or simply lack a professional franchise at all. For example, Football fans from Florida may have a hard time rooting for the often losing Miami Dolphins or Jacksonville Jaguars, thus turning to the Florida State Seminoles or the Florida Gators. Professional players are also often too focused on money than their team.One does not need to look further than the numerous contract holdouts and trade demands to comprehend the headaches one professional athlete can cause to a fan base.

On the other hand, since college athletes cannot play for money they are almost solely focused on playing for the pride of their school. One of the reasons that make the dominating presence of football in the south interesting is that the game of football originated in the northeast. The first game of pigskin occurred in 1869 (although it only vaguely resembled what it is today) between Princeton and Rutgers.By the turn of the century, football was dominated by Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton— all northern schools. During this time, southern schools were only just beginning to play. Around the 1920’s and 1930’s, the shift in power of football began to switch from the north to the south.

Eric Bain-Selbo believes this is due to the reason the south was playing: pride. Entering the century, the South was dealing with frustrations from the Civil War and Reconstruction, as well as higher rates of poverty, infant mortality, low life expectancy, and illiteracy, causing the rest of the nation to view the region as inferior.Due to this, Bain-Selbo writes, football became a way to channel frustrations towards the north by beating them on the gridiron. Southern players began playing for the pride of their local community and region. Even one of the bitterest rivalries in sports, Alabama-Auburn; put their differences aside for the pride of the south. Before the 1926 Rose Bowl game between the University of Washington and Alabama, the president of Auburn sent Alabama a telegram telling them, “You are defending the honor of the South, and God's not gonna let you lose this game.

" Alabama won the game espite being heavy underdogs (Bragg). The growing popularity of college football was also aided by the media. The media manipulated match ups featuring northern and southern teams, hyping them as rematches of the civil war. Reporters would write about how the south would play for “Old Dixie” and their southern way of life, even going as far to compare the teams to “DeForest's raiders or Pickett's cavalry at Gettysburg” (Oriard). While southern collegiate teams certainly had plenty of reasons to play for at the start of the century, they gained more around the 1960’s.As the Civil Rights movement came into fruition, more turmoil fell before the south.

In fact many believed the “federal intervention to end segregation was another Yankee invasion” (Bain-Selbo). In addition, the southern lifestyle was threatened by the increasing industrialization and commercialization of America. These factors resulted into a similar situation as in 1926, as southerners rallied together to root for Alabama as they took on Notre Dame in the 1970 national championship game. This period around the 1960’s is also significant because it introduced for the first time integrated football teams in the south.During the early 60’s, integrated teams began appearing in “border” states such as Kentucky and Maryland; however, much of the south still opposed the idea.

One of the most successful coaches of all time, Alabama coach Bear Bryant, is considered by many to be the catalyst in integrating southern teams. In 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace famously uttered the words “Segregation now, segregation forever” and clearly spoke for the majority of the Alabama, and southern, population. However, just seven years later Coach Bryant invited an integrated USC team to play Alabama in the fall of 1970.The game was a blowout as USC handily won 42-21.

During the game, Alabama fans were mesmerized by USC’s talented African-American fullback Sam Cunningham, causing Alabama fans to reconsider their disdain towards the notion of an integrated football team (Hinckley). Charles H. Martin explains southern fans change of heart on the subject of segregation, stating, "the triumph of pragmatism and self interest that integrated bowl games embodied reflected a strong desire by most white southerners to participate fully in the national sporting culture, rather than maintain an extreme regional dentity and risk further marginalization and isolation”. There is a theory that Coach Bryant lost the game against USC on purpose in order to push integration, but whether he meant to win or lose, the game resulted in southern fans’ desire for a winning football team to outweigh their resistance to African-American players. The integration of college football in the south runs deeper than most people realize.

The reach of the game extends far beyond the gridiron and its influence has been incorporated with many traditions aside from the game.Patrick B. Miller describes the experience of a football game, stating, “The sights and sounds of boisterous athletics went beyond competitive exchange on the diamond or gridiron; those who watched became immersed in something like a sacrament against which a book, a lecture, or a laboratory experiment—among other academic offerings—often seemed to pale in comparison”. With all the traditions that take place during game day, the experience of a football game has become much more than simply a game, but a sacred experience.One grand tradition separate from the game is the marching band. As seen at every home game for Tennessee and Ole Miss, among others, the songs these bands perform speak more of the pride southerners have for their region.

The song “Rocky Top”, which is played every home game for Tennessee, declares the love for the country lifestyle. The lyrics read as, “Wish that I was on ol' Rocky Top/down in the Tennessee hills/Ain't no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top/Ain't no telephone bills/...

I've had years of cramped-up city life/Trapped like a duck in a pen/All I know is it's a pity life/Can't be simple again. ” The lyrics clearly communicate the preference and pride of living a simple life in the country rather than a life in the city. This same love for one’s region is also seen at every home game for Ole Miss. At Ole Miss games, the famous southern song “Dixie” is played numerous times. The lyrics of “Dixie” read as, “O, I wish I was in the land of cotton/Old times there are not forgotten/Look away!Look away! /Look away! Dixie Land. ” Occasionally the students join in with the band to chant “The South will rise again! ” Almost aggressively, this song boasts the love southerners have for their way of life (Bain-Selbo).

Another great tradition that takes place every Saturday during the fall is tailgating. Writer Loran Smith recalls how fans used to arrive before games at the University of Georgia with picnic baskets. He notes how this practice was similar to the tradition of “dining n the green”, which were large communal feasts that occurred after church on Sundays. It is not too peculiar to believe that this religious tradition manifested into the complex scene of tailgating that takes place today (Bain-Selbo). The devotion to college football in the south stemmed from different events and occurrences, but overall, the love for pigskin can be credited to the pride southerners contain. As southerners were forced to change their way of life, one they were so proud of, they instilled aspects of that life into the game of football.

This is evident in the pride they play for and the traditions that take place every Saturday during football season. The result of this passion has resulted in an unprecedented reign over the rest of college football. Over recent years, the top college recruits have come almost exclusively from south states such as Florida and Alabama. Also, the SEC (Southeastern conference) has won the last six national championships.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier even joked that it is “harder to win an SEC championship than a national one”. It may be difficult for outsiders to fathom the intensity and passion southern fans bring to their team, but down here there is no other way. John Shelton Reed sums up the presence of the college pigskin in a southerner’s life perfectly, suggesting, "Newcomers might want to pick a team and follow it. It doesn't greatly matter which one—it's like religion that way".