With a new season here, we look at some of the wild, wacky, wonderful reasons we love college football.
There’s nothing quite like the energy, emotion, pageantry and good ol’ fashioned fun that takes place every fall weekend at college football games.
There are time-honored traditions that date back many decades. There are century-old marching bands and pulsating techno hits. There are rampaging animals, covered wagons, antique cars and even storied rocks. There are quaint customs and there are controversies — it wouldn’t be college football without controversy, right?
With another season upon us, we’ve gathered a collection of our college football reporters’ favorite game-day traditions. We were looking for moments fans could count on and look forward to experiencing every time they go to the stadium, so we didn’t include celebrations of a win or rivalry moments that may happen only once every other year or so.
And by no means are we ranking these traditions or labeling these « better » than some that we surely left out. Every school has its own quirks and unique features that are near and dear to that team and its fans. But here’s a sampling of the wild, wacky, wonderful ways that college football strikes a special chord in the sports landscape.
Osceola and Renegade planting the spear, Florida State: Since September 1978, Osceola has led his horse, Renegade, onto the field before kickoff of every Florida State home game and planted a spear at midfield in what has become one of the best-known college football entrances. Bill Durham, an FSU graduate, came up with the idea and got approval from the Seminole Tribe of Florida for the practice to begin. The Durham family continues to provide the Appaloosa horse that is used, and Osceola wears regalia that is authentic to the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Watching Osceola rear Renegade up on his hind legs to plant the flaming spear with 80,000 fans chanting is truly a sight to see. — Andrea Adelson
« Enter Sandman », Virginia Tech: After installing the first videoboard at Lane Stadium in 2000, Virginia Tech decided it needed a new walkout song too. « Enter Sandman » by Metallica won out over « Welcome to the Jungle » and « Sirius. » A few years later, the tradition truly took off after a marching band member started jumping up and down during the song as a way to warm up. Now, the entire stadium jumps as the opening bars begin to play, bursting into raucous approval when the team runs out of the tunnel and onto the field. Multiple times over the years, a seismograph detected notable activity during « Enter Sandman. » And in a full circle moment, Metallica was in concert at Lane Stadium in the spring of 2025 and played its iconic song. To no one’s surprise, seismic activity again was detected. — Adelson
The Smoke, Miami: Believe it or not, the Hurricanes have come out of their tunnel onto the field for all their home games through « the smoke » since the 1950s, when the program was struggling to both win games and draw fan support. According to the university, school transportation director Bob Nalette proposed using fire extinguishers to produce smoke for players to run through as a way to drum up fan interest. In his spare time, Nalette welded a pipe together to billow said fire extinguisher smoke. The entrance took on iconic status in the 1980s as the program rose to prominence. — Adelson
Touch the Banner, Michigan: The Wolverines pride themselves on being the winningest program in college football history, but their famous pregame tradition began with the team off to a 1-5 start in 1962. The M Club, run by former letterwinners from all of Michigan’s athletic teams, asked coach Bump Elliott if letterwinners could welcome the football team before home games. They soon displayed a giant banner that reads « GO BLUE M CLUB SUPPORTS YOU », which Michigan players and coaches leap to touch as they run out of the tunnel while « The Victors » plays. — Adam Rittenberg
Rubbing Howard’s Rock and running down The Hill; Gathering at the Paw, Clemson: Clemson has two of the most well-known pregame and postgame traditions in college football: Rubbing Howard’s Rock before running down The Hill to enter the stadium, and allowing fans onto the field postgame, win or lose, to meet at the midfield paw. Howard’s Rock, originally from Death Valley, California, was placed at the top of The Hill on the east side of the stadium in 1966. But after former coach Frank Howard told the team before a game against Wake Forest in 1967 they could rub the rock if they gave « 110-percent effort », the tradition of rubbing the rock, then running down the hill, before every game began. Gathering at the Paw also began under Howard in 1942 when Memorial Stadium opened, as a way for fans and players to gather together. — Adelson
Hawkeye Wave, Iowa: Not every cherished college football tradition goes back decades and decades. In 2017, those inside Kinnick Stadium — fans, players, coaches and officials — began « The Wave », acknowledging the child patients inside University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, which is just across the street. After the first quarter, everyone turns toward the hospital, where the patients and their families wave from the 12th floor windows. The tradition began after Krista Young suggested the idea on a Hawkeye fan Facebook page. A social media surge followed and The Wave began for the start of the 2017 season — Rittenberg
Spirit of Chucky Mullins, Ole Miss: Nearly 36 years after his death, Chucky Mullins remains an endearing figure at Ole Miss. He was paralyzed in a 1989 game against Vanderbilt while making a hit near the goal line on Commodores fullback Brad Gaines and died less than two years later after suffering a pulmonary embolism. As the Ole Miss team takes the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium before games, each player touches a bust of Mullins that sits midway between the tunnel and the field. On the platform where the bust sits is Mullins’ mantra: « Never quit. » — Chris Low
Mr. Two Bits; « Won’t Back Down », Florida: The Gators have two traditions that are immediately recognizable. Since 1949, every home game has started with the « Two Bits » cheer, started and popularized by George Edmondson. He would wear a yellow shirt, blue-and-orange striped tie and whistle, and exhort the crowd to chant. « Two Bits. Four Bits. Six Bits. A Dollar. All for the Gators, stand up and holler! » Beginning in 2013, with Edmondson in his 90s, a celebrity « Mr. Two Bits » began to lead the pregame cheers. Then in 2017, a new tradition started after Gainesville native Tom Petty died. At the end of the third quarter, the crowd sings Petty’s « I Won’t Back Down » in addition to the longstanding « We are the Boys. » — Adelson
« Jump Around », Wisconsin: No team has developed a wilder midgame tradition than Wisconsin’s « Jump Around », the House of Pain song of the same name, played between the third and fourth quarters at Camp Randall Stadium. The song made its Badgers debut at the 1998 homecoming game against Purdue. Ryan Sondrup, an injured tight end for the Badgers who entered the athletics marketing department, was tasked with finding songs that could spark the crowd during games. He came back with « Jump Around », which has sent Camp Randall shaking ever since. — Rittenberg
JUMP AROUND‼️ pic.twitter.com/7TqyN3OXyY
The Bounce House, UCF. After UCF scored its first touchdown at its new on-campus stadium on Sept. 17, 2007 — against Texas, no less — rollicking club hit « Kernkraft 400 » by Zombie Nation blared from the speakers. Spontaneously, the crowd started jumping wildly, causing the stadium to vibrate and « bounce. » Thus, the birth of not only a tradition but a stadium nickname. Now the song is played multiple times during games and serves as a way to get everyone fired up, with the crowd chanting along and cheering « U-C-F! » — Adelson
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« Sweet Caroline », Pitt. Back in 2008, former Pitt football player Justin Acierno was working at the school and tasked with improving the student fan experience during games. What would keep them interested? With the help of student organizations and athletic department employees, they came up with a plan: Play Neil Diamond’s 1969 classic « Sweet Caroline » at the end of the third quarter of football games. The plan worked.
