Football
Just under three months separate the beginning of June from the opening weekend of the 2026 college football season.
The summer months ahead of each college football season create a period of anticipation for college football fans and media alike.
Some of the most popular anticipation exercises include making general lists, ranking the top 25 teams in the country and predicting the 12 teams in the upcoming College Football Playoff bracket.
Message Board Geniuses released rankings of the 10 most spoiled fan bases in college football on Monday. Most of these fan bases have seen their team win a national championship since the introduction of the BCS, but others are reaping the rewards of a college sports system with NIL.
10. Texas Tech
No university possesses the funds to financially spoil its fan base in the NIL era like Texas Tech. Billionaire booster Cody Campbell is throwing historic payments to athletes across all sports as a part of what some are calling the “Texas Tech Tax.”
Now that the Red Raiders can assemble the best team money can buy, their fans will expect Big 12 championships at a minimum in most seasons. While that expectation is reasonable, it creates immense pressure for the university’s coaches across all sports.
9. Clemson
The Tigers’ College Football Playoff national championship runs under Dabo Swinney in 2016 and 2018 brought about a golden age for Clemson football. However, gradual regression over the last seven seasons has created a stale marriage between Swinney and the Clemson faithful.
Whenever Swinney departs from Clemson, he will leave the most decorated coach in program history. Aside from Swinney’s runs and the years surrounding the Tigers’ national championship in 1981, much of Clemson’s football history is filled with very average seasons.
8. Miami
The Hurricanes spoiled their fans between the early 1980s and early 2000s, winning five national championships and pumping out copious amounts of NFL draft picks. All of that success made the next 20 seasons hard to watch; 2017 marked Miami’s lone 10-win season between 2004-23.
With their run to the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship game and the ability to pluck players from other schools for better pay, the spoilage has returned.
7. Michigan
The fans of the winningest college football program comprise the No. 7 most entitled fan base on Message Board Geniuses’ list.
Fielding Yost, Fritz Crisler, Bo Schembechler, Lloyd Carr and Jim Harbaugh are among those who have guided Michigan through prosperous tenures that lasted nearly a decade or longer. When disappointing coaches like Rich Rodriguez, Brady Hoke or Sherrone Moore take the reins after those stretches, Wolverine fans are easily irritated.
6. Georgia
Like Clemson fans, Georgia fans have been spoiled by a pair of national championship victories by their current head coach. Under Kirby Smart’s leadership, the Bulldogs have reached eight SEC championships and lack constant competition from an established power following Nick Saban’s retirement from Alabama.
Constantly winning 10 or more games should protect Smart for a while, but Georgia fans will likely demand more hardware to stay happy. They had no issue showing Mark Richt the door in the midst of a 10-win season in 2015.
5. LSU
The number of high-end recruits in Louisiana makes it a challenge to struggle as a football coach at LSU. Coaches like Les Miles and Ed Orgeron, who had disastrous tenures at other schools, both won a national championship during their tenures as the Tigers’ head coach.
With that in mind, LSU fans set high expectations for every single football season. The fans (and governor) gave their stamp of approval on Lane Kiffin’s hiring, but will they still approve of him if he fails to break through and win a national championship?
4. Oregon
The Ducks are another college football program with a booster who can assemble one of the best teams money can buy. Nike co-founder and Oregon alumnus Phil Knight is the man behind the Ducks’ unorthodox and trendy uniform designs, something that has attracted recruits to Eugene for over a decade.
In the wake of NIL’s introduction to college sports, transfers and high-end recruits are flocking to Oregon for strong financial packages. However, similar to Texas Tech, the constant acquisition of top talent places a burden on every coach on campus.
3. Texas
Texas fans’ impatience to win another national championship is a talking point across college football every single season. Like LSU, the direct access to high-end recruits makes it a challenge for Texas football coaches to struggle.
This impatience was perfectly encapsulated in its coaching change from Tom Herman to Steve Sarkisian. The move worked out as planned, but the Longhorns moved on from Herman after he posted four consecutive winning seasons and a Big 12 Championship appearance, something his predecessor failed to do.
2. Alabama
Unsurprisingly, Alabama ranked as the most entitled SEC fan base on the list. No program has experienced greater highs in the modern era of college football than the Crimson Tide, with its six national championship victories under Nick Saban.
This entitlement may take away from some of Bryant-Denny Stadium’s potential as a hostile environment. Opposing fan bases acknowledge it as a challenging place to win, but mainly because of the team that plays there, not the crowd. Places like Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and Tiger Stadium have earned stronger reputations as challenging venues in the SEC than Bryant-Denny Stadium.
1. Ohio State
The Buckeyes ranked as the most spoiled fan base on Message Board Geniuses’ list. Ohio State is the second-winningest program of all time behind archrival Michigan, and the fans consistently set the highest of expectations for the program.
The 2024 season is one of the best examples of Buckeye fans’ spoilage. Several Ohio State fans wanted to fire Ryan Day after the 2024 loss to Michigan. Despite the disappointing end to the regular season, that same Ryan Day won them a College Football Playoff national championship two months later.
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