College football is just around the corner and RotoWire wanted to know which states are most excited about the upcoming season.
In order to determine this, we utilized Google Trends search interest data for "football" at the state and city level from February 3 through August 3 of this year. We then ranked all 50 states plus Washington D.C. based on how they scored on Google's normalized 0-100 scale - with 100 equaling peak search interest in the dataset and indicating more excitement for the season ahead.
For states with only one major program, the score is attributed directly to that program, while states with multiple power conference programs were matched to the program closest to the highest scoring city in the state.
Here is what we discovered. And in the countdown to Week 0, make time for more RotoWire research pieces around CFB, including: the 20 most hated coaches in college football for 2026.
SEC Dominance in College Football Fan Excitement
Interestingly, nine of the top 15 states searching for the all-encompassing term "football" do not have an NFL team, likely indicating their scores are driven largely by college football interest. The three highest scoring states all lack NFL franchises and the regionality that has long defined college football comes across clearly in a top 15 dominated by Southern and Midwestern states.
Six of the top seven states lie in the SEC footprint, with every state that is home to an SEC school appearing in the top 15 except Kentucky, Missouri and Florida. Alabama and Mississippi lead the way as the only states with multiple SEC schools and no NFL teams, further cementing the importance of college football in the Deep South.
These search scores also line up well with TV ratings data that continue to show the South (and Alabama in particular) as the heart of college football country. Per FootballScoop.com, 57 of the 100 highest rated games of the 2025 season involved at least one SEC team, with 34 more SEC teams appearing in those games than the next closest conference (the Big Ten).
Alabama Leads College Football Search Interest in 2026
The 
University of Alabama alone appeared in 13 of the 100 highest rated games, three more than any other program and only one less than the entire Big 12 Conference combined. The only two Alabama games outside the top 75 were buy game blowouts versus Louisiana-Monroe and Eastern Illinois that were their only two games not shown on either ABC or ESPN.
The average Alabama regular season game drew an NCAA high 8.49 million viewers, almost a million more per game than runner up Texas. Unsurprisingly, the Birmingham media market (which includes Tuscaloosa) landed as Nielsen's top market for college football viewership based on household rating last season.
The Crimson Tide head into 2026 ranked 11th in the preseason Coaches Poll but feature maybe the most intriguing position battle in the sport as redshirt junior Austin Mack competes with redshirt freshman and last year's composite number two overall recruit Keelon Russell to replace Ty Simpson at quarterback. Whoever wins the job will be tasked with leading the Tide back to the College Football Playoff while attempting to improve upon back-to-back 4 loss seasons, something that had not happened since Nick Saban's first year.
Theo GremmingerSee Theo's personal rankings, tiers, and draft targets.View RankingsRotoWire Analyst
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Mario PuigSee Mario's personal rankings, tiers, and draft targets.View RankingsSix other SEC teams joined Alabama in the top 13 of the preseason Coaches Poll, though only four of the six programs led their state in search score. Placement in the preseason rankings had little correlation to state search score as Ole Miss and Alabama were fifth and sixth among SEC teams in the poll respectively while Texas was the second ranked SEC team in the poll and did not lead the state in search score, nor did Texas A&M despite ranking ahead of Longhorn State search leader Texas Tech.
Ole Miss Ready For Post-Lane Kiffin Era
Ole Miss went through a drama filled offseason after head coach Lane Kiffin bolted for rival LSU before the Playoff and went on a spending spree to secure the nation's top transfer class in Baton Rouge. Still, the Rebels held steady making it to the national semifinals after promoting Pete Golding and assembling the country's number two transfer class themselves.
This has helped keep interest in the Ole Miss program high after a school record 13-win season and the Rebels faithful undoubtedly smiled seeing them come in three spots ahead of LSU in the Coaches Poll. To add another layer to the saga, while only four players followed Kiffin to LSU, Ole Miss filed breach of contract lawsuits against two of them two weeks ago.
Nebraska Cracks Top 3 For Search Interest
The only Midwestern state to earn above a 70 in search score, 
Nebraska rates as both the most enthusiastic one program state and the state most excited about a team not ranked in the preseason Top 25.
However, the Cornhuskers traditionally receive strong support as evidenced by the team's 400 plus game consecutive sellout streak at Memorial Stadium. This offseason saw Nebraska lose heralded quarterback Dylan Raiola to the transfer portal, but the Cornhuskers are hoping they still have enough pieces to reach a third consecutive bowl game for the first time since 2016.
Big Ten and Big 12 College Football Search Trends
Three other states in Big Ten territory made the top 15 for search score, though several of the conference's biggest brands were not represented unlike in SEC country where the biggest surprise was Oklahoma State beating out Oklahoma based on city score. Of the eight Big Ten teams ranked in the preseason poll, Ohio State and Iowa were the only two to make our list.
While Ohio State enters the year at preseason number one, search data in Ohio does not match TV ratings data as well as it does in the South. Columbus and Dayton ranked as the second and third top markets for college football last season, making Ohio one of only two states with multiple top 10 markets for college football viewership, but the interest has not carried over to online searches.
However, the biggest shock when looking at search data across the Big Ten footprint comes in Indiana where Purdue wins out on city score over reigning national champions Indiana as well as the massive Notre Dame brand. The Boilermakers finished last in the Big Ten last year and their prospects for this season do not look much better, but this was more than just a case of leading in a population center as the state's biggest metro areas are closer to Indiana and Notre Dame's campuses.
Although Big Ten states scored slightly higher than Big 12 states as a whole, the Big 12 matched the Big Ten's four programs on the list and saw an additional state in its footprint make it too. Reigning conference champion Texas Tech's ascension continues to garner major attention, outpacing the six other power 4 programs in the state based on city score despite SEC stalwarts Texas and Texas A&M earning preseason top 10 nods.
The 12th ranked Red Raiders are once again favored to win the Big 12 at -105 per DraftKings Sportsbook and own the same -200 odds to make the College Football Playoff as Texas because of conference strength differences even though the Longhorns rank eight spots ahead of them in the poll. Texas Tech's recruiting prowess compared to the rest of the Big 12 helps keep them relevant in the offseason as they pulled in the conference's top recruiting/transfer class for 2026 by 11 spots and their 2027 recruiting class currently ranks 8th according to the 247Sports Composite while no other Big 12 team has a top 25 class for 2027.
The projected two biggest threats to Texas Tech in the Big 12 both reside in Utah. Although BYU ranks ahead of Utah by six spots in the Coaches Poll, the Utes came out ahead on city score. This marks another case where TV ratings and search data diverge as BYU games significantly outdrew Utah ones. However, an offseason coaching change at Utah may help explain the added interest given the nature of Kyle Whittingham's departure after two decades of success with the Utes.
No ACC team appeared in the top 15 and the only states in the conference's footprint to make the list are shared with the SEC.
