North Carolina: What Is Our Favorite College Football Team?

Unsurprisingly, the southern region of the country has ruled college football for the past decade. Here, we will look at the question of what is the favorite college football team in North Carolina this season? There are two different ways to approach this question. One of them identifies the program that North Carolina residents gravitate towards in-state. The other looks at the entire landscape of college football, and here, a different school was named the most popular college football team in North Carolina right now. In fact, that team is not even based in the state.

To kick things off, let's look at the top four college football programs right now that could be in contention. First, you have the North Carolina. Led by one of the best quarterbacks in college football, Drake Maye. The Tar Heels are off to a nice start, beating South Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Classic last weekend. UNC is currently ranked #17. They will play Appalachian State in Chapel Hill on Saturday. Next, NC State is also 1-0 after winning their opening game vs. UConn. The Wolfpack have arguably their biggest game of the year this weekend, taking on #10 Notre Dame at home.

Wake Forest and Duke are two other major college football programs. Both teams are also 1-0. Duke possibly had the biggest win of all in week one, defeating Clemson easily.

CBS did a study identifying the favorite college football team in every state. In North Carolina, the Tar Heels were the winner. CBS was to quick to mention how tough of a choice it was but explained the differentiator was, "the Tar Heels' ability to annually contend under coach Mack Brown and recruit/develop quarterbacks earns them the nod."

This is where things get really interesting. USA Today's recent feature examines the ten most searched-for college football teams to identify the most popular in each state. They analyzed Google trends since 2017. In North Carolina, they determined that Clemson was the most popular.

On Saturday, November 25, UNC will play at NC State. One week prior to that, they travel south to take on Clemson (that's a tough and defining two-week stretch). NC State hosts Clemson on October 28. It is worth noting the two North Carolina college football teams who are ranked the highest right now, will also play each other. #21 Duke will play at #17 UNC on November 11.

This past weekend, I spent many hours with youth football players that range from age 10 - 12 years old. My son is a youth player, and  I noticed at least six different NFL jerseys being worn by him and his teammates. This led me to wonder, who are kids' favorite NFL quarterbacks today?

I was reminiscing about which athletes kids looked up to when I was 10 years-old. It was simple. Your favorite player was typically one of the stars on your favorite (usually hometown) team. Occasionally, a universal big name like Joe Montana would jump into the mix. However, many of the big Montana fans I knew growing up in New Jersey were then San Francisco 49ers fans. This was usually due to their admiration of Montana. I don't see that to frequently be the case today.

It is not uncommon for kids to gravitate more towards specific players now as opposed to an overall team. There are two main reasons why I find this to be the modern way of fandom for youth today.

First is fantasy football. In fantasy football, you cheer for individual players. The team winning or losing doesn't matter, the player on your team putting up big numbers does. It's great for the NFL to have kids intently invested with so many games per week.

Second, players are digitally accessible. Meaning, you can engage differently with a player much more in our social media universe. Players share a glimpse into their lives and who they are off the field. The NFL as a league leaned into this a partnered with TikTok back in 2019 to give fans even more content.

It's a question with many answers. 30 years ago I would have said, "I love Phil Simms because he is the New York Giants' fearless leader." I asked 30 local youth athletes this as a follow-up question upon them naming their favorite NFL quarterback. Often the answer was related to the Quarterback's persona. Their style of play, their personality, and even their jersey number was mentioned.

So tallying up the 30 youth football players I asked, here are the kids' favorite NFL quarterbacks that are active today.

Hurts received 10% of the votes. A year ago, I don't believe his name would have been mentioned. However, Hurts skyrocketed last year and brought the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl. He showcased a fast style of play where he could run just as well as he throws. Kids love someone who takes the media world by storm. Furthermore, Hurts wears #1, and this has become an increasingly popular jersey number.

Being on the cover of Madden certainly helps. Allen's quaterback style is similar to Hurts' in that he too can use his legs. Seven kids named Allen (who is not a huge force on social media) their favorite because of his character. He plays ever game like it's his last. My neighbor said, "It feels like every game the is the Super Bowl when Allen is leading the Bills offense on a drive down the field." It's a fair point. Allen dives and scraps for every single yard, and the kids are seeing it and reacting to that.

"Joe Cool" is not his nickname, but it should be. Here's a great example of TikTok and shorts influencing youth player today. My son still watches the clip of Burrow throwing a spinning 50-yard, no-look pass perfectly down the sideline, from warmup last season. Burrow has an edge. He has confidence. Furthermore, he's as good as they come. Burrow is the modern quarterback who has the skill set of a historical, prototypical QB. His black, orange, and white jersey is also pretty Joe "cool." He received eight votes.

#15 got the most votes with 12, and is the clear #1 among the group of kids that I spoke to. Mahomes is a brand unto himself. He has his own style of play. He is innovative and his coach Andy Reid allows him to implement plays that people have never seen run before. "Mahomes is just in another league," my son said. "And he wins." His two Super Bowl rings also sit beside his two MVP awards. "We see that what Mahomes does, actually works," another youth player said. He has a valid point.