Life Is But A Game: The Top Sports Schools (PHOTOS)

Some schools are known for how their students work in the classroom -- others for how they play on the field. As part of their 10 for '10 college rankings, Unigo surveyed 30,000 college students and found the schools where sports triumph, both for those on the team and otherwise. Below are the top ten campuses where time stops for Saturday's (or Monday's or Tuesday's) game. One thing to note as you're clicking through: the schools are listed in alphabetical order.

Is your school on this list? Should it be? Let us know below.

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University of Alabama

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The University of Alabama is all about football. “If you absolutely abhor football, you might want to hide between the months of September and December … when Tuscaloosa becomes overrun with tailgaters, and high-pitched shouts of ‘roll tide’ constantly fill the air. School spirit, meet overdrive … it is hard to resist joining in with the other 92,000 people singing the fight song whenever our team scores a touchdown,” one student says. Another tells it like it is: “There is so much school pride here around sports, even an out-of-state kid like myself (who had no UA affiliation before college) becomes a raving lunatic when football season rolls around. Students can literally walk up to a random person's tent on the quad and sit with them and watch the game. I met one of my best friends randomly at a home football game because we got so excited towards the end of the game that we were jumping up and down and hugging each other. Being a die-hard Crimson Tide fan is honestly one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had in my life.”

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The University of Alabama is all about football. “If you absolutely abhor football, you might want to hide between the months of September and December … when Tuscaloosa becomes overrun with tailgaters, and high-pitched shouts of ‘roll tide’ constantly fill the air. School spirit, meet overdrive … it is hard to resist joining in with the other 92,000 people singing the fight song whenever our team scores a touchdown,” one student says. Another tells it like it is: “There is so much school pride here around sports, even an out-of-state kid like myself (who had no UA affiliation before college) becomes a raving lunatic when football season rolls around. Students can literally walk up to a random person's tent on the quad and sit with them and watch the game. I met one of my best friends randomly at a home football game because we got so excited towards the end of the game that we were jumping up and down and hugging each other. Being a die-hard Crimson Tide fan is honestly one of the most exhilarating experiences I've ever had in my life.”

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Comments

[alysonbaxter]

03:53 PM on 09/13/2010

BAFFLED at Tennessee being left off this list! This isn't an AP Poll about who wins more games. This is a list based on, according to the Author, the Top 10 schools where "time stops" during sporting events. Neyland Stadium seats 102,000+ every Saturday, win or lose. In fact, when the VOLS faced Oregon last Saturday, there was a "Lightning Delay" and evacuation, yet almost EVERYONE returned to their seats an hour later, to cheer UT on in until midnight in the pouring rain. There was only 1 game I couldn't attend in College & Knoxville was literally a Ghost Town after kick-off. Attending a game at Neyland every Saturday in the fall feels like a religious experience. Clearly, the writer of this article has never set foot there. In addition, and certainly NOT to be left out, Thompson-Boling Arena is filled to the rim throughout Basketball season! And not just for the Men's Team, who made it to the Elite 8 last year, but the for the most prominent Women's Basketball Team in the Country as well. Does the name Pat Head Summitt ring a bell?!

Just in case I've left any doubt in my argument, you should ask Lane Kiffin how well the Tennessee VOLS take to anyone who dares to wrong one of our Athletic Programs. While not our finest day in terms of class, I'm fairly sure the reaction of the Volunteer faithful says it all...

[Spencer Shubert]

11:33 AM on 09/13/2010

It says, "Below are the top ten campuses where time stops for Saturday's (or Monday's or Tuesday's) game." That means that, wins and losses aside, it is measuring which schools' students and greater communities support their teams the most. When you take a look at Wisconsin's attendance numbers, they are truly unparalleled. 80,000+ packed into Camp Randall 7 Saturdays a year. 17,000+ for basketball and 15,000+ for hockey at the Kohl Center. None of the schools on this list can say they put up numbers like that for 3 different sports. Wisconsin is literally called The Badger State. The only automatic qualifiers on this list are Ohio State, Texas, and Florida. LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame - Solid, they'd be on my list.

But I'll tell you, I'm from California and can say that UCLA definitely does not deserve to be on this list. USC and Stanford could replace UCLA in a heartbeat. Aside from basketball, I don't see UCLA having much of a case. 1/2 filled Rose Bowl on Saturdays (so far from campus that many students just don't care enough to make the trip) doesn't cut it in my book.

[wendelswerk]

05:59 PM on 09/12/2010

UCLA has won over 100 NCAA Championships. More than any other College/University. It was the first to achieve this mark in 2007. It nearly won another in Baseball in 2011.

So no matter what anyone says on this comment section UCLA is the premier school for athletics and its one of the top academic schools in the country.

GO BRUINS!

[hypnotoad72]

06:00 PM on 09/11/2010

Life is what we make of it.

[Angelus2007]

02:15 PM on 09/11/2010

I would have to say Florida. 2006 & 2008 NCAA football champions and 2006 & 2007 NCAA basketball champions (only team in nearly 20 years to win back to back basketball championships; Duke was the last in 1991-92).

[nmla]

12:38 PM on 09/11/2010

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY !!!!!!!!

[jennycorbett]

10:37 AM on 09/11/2010

University of Wisconsin- leaders in football, basketball and hockey, rated one of the best tailgates in the country, jump around, camp randall... I could go on forever. How could you leave off the Badgers???

[ptrgamb]

10:17 AM on 09/11/2010

So essentially, it's just a football list, with maybe a little basketball thrown in?

[K-Hoff45]

01:36 AM on 09/12/2010

seriously, poor showing

[SangZe]

08:31 AM on 09/11/2010

Instead of pouring our hard-earned tax money into universities and the like, we should let them pay their own way through their professional sports programs. The money saved could be used on more weapons and wars, boosting the economy in the process.

[bryzon]

05:37 AM on 09/11/2010

Your list seems to only focus on football schools, and not overall sports schools like the title would suggest. My list would be Texas, Florida, TN, KY, UCLA, Stanford, Georgia, Oklahoma, Michigan. I guess you could include North Carolina too. Notre Dame should not be on this list at all. Even in football, for the past 15 years, they're always over rated and end up finishing unrated. They're popular for people who don't know sports because they watched Rudy or something.

[Black Guy at Cornell]

03:09 AM on 09/11/2010

Uh, Texas is the best sports school. Period. Not even close. Perennial National Championship contender in football and baseball, perennial March Madness team in Mens and Womens basketball, juggernaut womens soccer team...it's really not even fair. UT head and shoulders above the rest.

[benchy]

04:36 AM on 09/11/2010

Hook'em

[wendelswerk]

06:00 PM on 09/12/2010

UT is not the best sports school. You have won a few national championships in Football and thats about it. UCLA has won more than any other University.

[quoveritas]

03:04 AM on 09/11/2010

USC FIGHT ON! Screw the ncaa!

[MaeBayB]

06:54 AM on 09/11/2010

X2,,,FIGHT ON SC!!!!

[lodger16x]

02:53 AM on 09/11/2010

As far as rankings, some years ago, Sporting News ranked Colorado #1 preseason football team in the nation.  They didn't even make it to a bowl game, or finish in the top 25. By coincidence, the Sporting News new editor happened to be a COLO grad!

[lodger16x]

02:50 AM on 09/11/2010

I meant for SEC sports, TN trails only FL.

[lodger16x]

02:49 AM on 09/11/2010

By any measure,  Tennessee trails only Florida in overall success for all sports.