What makes College Football fun, weird, and different from the NFL? Ridiculous traditions that fans don’t even know why they exist, half the time. Here are the 10 best traditions to get you excited for the 2026 season.
1 – Iowa – The Hawkeye Wave
Iowa’s football stadium is located across the street from the University’s children’s hospital. After the 1st quarter ends, players and fans alike turn and wave to the kids watching from windows of the upper floors. This has to be the most wholesome tradition in all of sports.
2 – Auburn – Rolling Toomer’s Corner
What is the correct way to celebrate a victory in football? There are many right answers, but I think Auburn fans have a pretty good one. Toomer’s Corner is a location on campus, and after every victory, the trees on the corner get “rolled.” I guess that’s what they call TP-ing down south.
3 – Wisconsin – Jump Around
Plenty of traditions involve the fans singing a song together, but how many actually get 80,000 to do vigorous exercise for 2 minutes? Badger fans may not know all the lyrics to Jump Around, but they do be jumping. Sometimes, so much that it can be picked up on a seismograph.
4 – Penn State – The White Out
This is color coordination on an unprecedented scale. Over 100,000 fans in as much white gear as they can physically fit on their person. The white out game is also a major Penn State recruiting event, and their biggest home game of the year (usually). In 2019, Beaver Stadium was so loud that Michigan had to call a timeout on the 1st play of the game because the center couldn’t hear the QB.
5 – Texas A&M – Midnight Yell Practice + The 12th Man
Texas A&M is extraordinarily proud of its crowd’s impact on the outcomes of football games. That is why they have been referring to the crowd as the “12th Man” since 1922. There are a variety of chants, songs, and yells that the crowd does throughout the course of the game, some would say way too many. So, the night before all home games, student ticket holders go to the outside of the stadium for “midnight yell practice.” They practice the yells and songs with the cheer squad to get ready for the game the next day (and then probably go out partying).
6 – Ohio State – Dotting the i
Personally, I’ve always thought the spelling out of “Ohio” by the marching band before football games was a bit overhyped. Cool, you can spell. BUT, I do think what they’ve done with “dotting the I” to end the spelling out of Ohio can be pretty special. They have used the “dot” as a way to honor people in and around the band and football team on gameday in front of over 100,000 Buckeye faithful. Only 14 times have non-band members dotted the eye, including former coach Woody Hayes, astronaut John Glenn, and pro golfer Jack Nicklaus.
7 – Tennessee – Checker Neyland
Checker Neyland is Tennessee’s version of the whiteout. Most teams do a stripe-out game every year, and even that is difficult to get fans to coordinate. Checker Neyland goes a step further by checkerboard patterning the crowd by having upper sections be the opposite color of the section below them (white and orange). Having seen many disappointing stripe-outs, I’m always impressed by the execution of checker Neyland.
8 – Mississippi State – Cowbell
Normally, noisemakers and metal objects are discouraged at large public gatherings. Miss State don’t care. There is never enough cowbell in Davis-Wade Stadium. Fans even buy Bulldog themed cowbells from the team store to be a part of the mayhem. This tradition likely contributes to Miss State being one of the loudest crowds in college football; just make sure to bring some earplugs if you head down to Starkville, MS for a game.
T-9 – Virginia Tech – Enter Sandman
T-9 – South Carolina – Sandstorm
It’s impossible to separate these two when the concept and execution of the traditions are so similar. These two schools have turned 2 very popular songs into their personal hype songs for every home game. Complete with light shows, fireworks, and crazy fans, there’s some over the top wrestling intro energy with these football kickoff anthems. Virginia Tech opening with Enter Sandman was a defining feature of the Michael Vick era in the late 90s. And South Carolina blasting Darude’s Sandstorm has prefaced their takedown of some mighty SEC dynasties.
Bonus – Wisconsin – Build Me Up Buttercup
This list of the best college football traditions has intentionally left out the popular sing-alongs that occur at every college football game. Every school thinks their sing-along is the best, and sing-alongs are fairly simple to get fans on board with. Some famous sing-alongs include: Michigan – Mr. Brightside, Alabama – Sweet Home Alabama, West Virginia – Country Roads, Tennessee – Rocky Top, Notre Dame – Shipping Up to Boston.
I’ve been to a handful of B1G stadiums for football games, and no fanbase has ever come close to the volume and energy of Badger fans singing Build Me Up Buttercup in the 2nd half of a home football game. After the music cuts out and play has resumed, the crowd will carry the tune for the entire 2nd verse and another chorus. It’s probably the most underrated tradition of Badger football.
Want more Walk On Fan?
Follow us on X (formerly known as Twitter) here!
Follow us on Bluesky here!
This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene