Massachusetts: What Is Our Favorite College Football Team?

While college football in the Northeast region of the country is certainly popular, it's been decades since a team has won a national championship (1986 - Penn State). Nonetheless, New England in particular, is filled with great programs. Here, we will look into who is is the favorite college football team in Massachusetts this season?

It's not who you think. In fact, there are two different ways to approach this subject matter. One of them identifies an in-state team the Bay Staters gravitate towards most. The other looks at the entire landscape of college football, and an SEC school was named the favorite college football team in Massachusetts right now.

First, CBS Sports took a look at the college football world of each state and selected the most powerful one. They examined key metrics such as their 2022 record and the school's projected future success. Furthermore, they weighed the importance of the new rules and regulations in NCAA college football today, saying, "now with the introduction of not just the transfer portal but the one-time transfer exemption and the proliferation of name, image and likeness rights."

The Holy Cross Crusaders came out on top here. They beat out the more obvious choices of Boston College or Harvard University. "The Crusaders went undefeated through the 2022 regular season and lost to eventual champions South Dakota State in the FCS quarterfinals," CBS Sports explains. It will be an interesting season for Holy Cross. They open up tomorrow at home vs. Merrimack. Then, they head to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College. They finish the month of September at home against Harvard.

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 and in the Northeast, each state is aligned with a big-name school from another region.

Massachusetts' selection using this methodology was the Alabama Crimson Tide. Their only connection to New England is that head coach Nick Saban is good friends with Bill Belichick. Alabama opens their season tomorrow as well against Middle Tennessee State.

It would appear the favorite college football team in Massachusetts has a lot to do with winning. In addition to Holy Cross' aforementioned recent great run, the Crimson Tide have won five national championships since 2011.

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.