Nov. 17, 2004

For the third time in the last four years, the University of Maryland football team has been determined to be one of the most popular in the nation among fans based on Harris Interactive's recent poll. The Terps rank tied for ninth on this year's list.

Notre Dame ranks atop the list as it has every year since the poll's inception in 1997. It is followed by Ohio State, which for the first time unseats Florida State for the #2 spot, while Florida State (which has been #2 for the past seven years) drops precipitously out of the top 10.

On-field performance typically plays a role in a team's showing in the "favorites" rankings, but this year the two are only loosely correlated. Only a handful of teams in the top ten are currently ranked in the top 25 in the AP Poll, the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll or the BCS standings.

Perhaps due to allegiance to alumni or a given state, college football appears to have a more stable fan base than professional football, despite the changing fortunes of a given team. While Notre Dame and Penn State continue to struggle to regain national prominence on the field, their fan support remains firm.

Oklahoma -- who has performed as well as any other top college football program over the past few years -- actually falls out of the top 10 this year, lending credence to the gap between popularity and performance.

By contrast, this year, the state of Florida has its worst showing ever -- for the first time, no Floridian college football team (University of Florida, Florida State, or Miami) holds even one spot in the top 10.

These are some of the results of an online survey conducted by Harris Interactive between October 20 and 25, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 2,114 U.S. adults of whom 789 say they follow college football.

While interest in college football was on the rise in the late 1990s, this year it holds steady as 35 percent of U.S. adults report following college football -- virtually the same as the last two years. Its popularity is highest among men and southerners.

TABLE
MOST POPULAR COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAMS
"What is your favorite college football team?"
"What is your second favorite college team?"
(First and second choices combined)
Base: Adults who follow college football

2004	        Rank
Rank	        1997	1998	1999	2002	2003	2004
1   Notre Dame	1	1	1	1	1	1
2   Ohio State	7	6	5	3	4	2
3   Michigan	5	4	3	8	6	3
4   Texas		*	*	10	6	8	4
5   Penn State	3	3	4	4	3	5
6   LSU		*	*	*	*	9	6
7   USC		6	2	2	2	*	7
7   Wisconsin	*	*	*	7	*	7
9   Maryland	*	7	9	10	*	9
     Tennessee	*	*	*	*	*	9
* = Not in Top 10