Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
The map below, courtesy of BetOnline.ag, is based on geotagged X data in the last week (since New Years Day) tracking tweets, hashtags, and direct keyword phrases about who fans are rooting for to win the CFP National Championship, especially now that we are in the semifinals, and only four teams are left.
For example, “I’m rooting for Indiana,” “I’m rooting for Oregon,” “rooting for Ole Miss,” “rooting for Miami” etc. as well as hashtags like #Hoosiers, #GoCanes, #GoDucks, and #HottyToddy. Over 180,000 tweets were tracked.
As you can see from the map, the vast majority of the US is rooting for Indiana. Despite being the favorites to win the CFP and the only undefeated team remaining in college football, the Hoosiers are the ultimate underdog.
Indiana had the most losses of any FBS program in college history when Curt Cignetti took over in Bloomington. Northwestern has since surpassed them.
Cignetti didn’t get an FBS head coaching job to the ripe old age of 60 when James Madison went from an FCS team to an FBS team.
Here’s how impressive the coaching jobs he has done have been.
- James Madison
- The Dukes were an FCS team until Curt Cignetti took over.
- In the three FCS seasons he coached at JMU, they were 33-5.
- In the two seasons he coached at JMU in the FBS, they were 19-4 including 13-3 in conference.
- The team improved from 8-3 to 11-1.
- Indiana
- They were a combined 7-17 including 3-15 in the Big Ten in the two years before Cignetti arrived.
- In the two seasons he has coached Indiana, they are 25-2 including 18-1 in conference and one Big Ten title.
- The team improved from 11-2 to a current 14-0.
Outside of that, Oregon got some regional interest, and Miami only has the state of Florida. It seems that the Hurricanes still haven’t shaken off the “villain” role from the 90s and early 2000s, despite not winning a championship in over 20 years.
The one other notable point on the map is Alabama rooting for Ole Miss… it seems the primary sentiment there is that they want to see the Rebels win due to the Lane Kiffin LSU drama and possibly rooting for the SEC. Additionally, they don’t want to root for IU because the Hoosiers gave them one of their worst beatings ever in a bowl game.
Here’s the state breakdown:
Indiana: 42 states (all other states)
Oregon: 5 states (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah)
Ole Miss: 2 states (Alabama, Mississippi)
Miami: 1 state (Florida)
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