As 2018 comes to an end, it’s important to note that Mississippi State is finishing the year with one of the most passionate fanbases in college athletics.
Mississippi State is ending the year with one of the most passionate rankings in all of college athletics. And it’s official, too. Each year, FanSided ranks 250 fandoms from 1 to 250. There’s a variety of categories involved from MLB to comics to TV shows to, well, almost anything you can think of.
And one of those categories happens to be colleges.
This year, FanSided ranked 25 colleges that they perceived to have the most passionate fanbases. Mississippi State cracked into the list after not making it in 2017. The Bulldogs come in at No. 23 amongst college fanbases and are 229th overall.
The full college rankings are as follows:
- Alabama
- Notre Dame
- Michigan
- Kentucky
- Duke
- Oklahoma
- North Carolina
- Texas
- Kansas
- USC
- Georgia
- Clemson
- Penn State
- Wisconsin
- LSU
- Nebraska
- Ohio State
- Florida
- Auburn
- Florida State
- Miami
- Iowa
- Mississippi State
- Arizona
- Villanova
And that’s actually a pretty good list.
Though, there is an argument to be made that Mississippi State being notably higher in those rankings. That argument hinges on looking at how the Bulldog faithful supports every single sport on campus, not just men’s basketball or football.
Mississippi State fans are incredibly passionate about college baseball. There’s nowhere else where fans are as faithful to their college baseball team than Starkville, Mississippi. MSU spared no expense in deciding to create the best college baseball stadium in the country.
And the New Dudy Noble Field certainly is the standard bearer for college baseball stadiums. It outshines most minor league baseball stadiums. The scoreboard is certainly right up there with most Major League stadiums.
Also, where else can you go and get a condo at a baseball stadium?
The Bulldogs also dedicate time and allocate resources to every other team present in Starkville. MSU has one of the nicest softball parks in the SEC in Nusz Park, the Shira complex that serves several teams as their training facilities, a beautiful set up for the track and field programs in the Mike Sanders Track Complex, the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre that was renovated nicely in 2016, and then there’s the Hump, which will be renovated soon.
That last renovation is incredibly important as fans of the women’s basketball team packed the stands, getting an average of 7439 fans to each game last season, good for 7th best nationally. The men’s team brought out an average of 7314 to the Hump for each game.
Those numbers should continue to grow as both programs continue to grow.
Oh, and MSU fans set an attendance record for a growing and improving soccer program this past season.
It’s great to see that Mississippi State ranked at 23rd amongst all college fanbases. The Bulldogs boast some of the most passionate fans in the country and Mississippi State, and its fans, should be proud of that. Hopefully in 2019 MSU’s faithful will continue to support their teams in record breaking ways and hopefully it’ll continue to get recognized nationally.