The South’s old politics live on in college football

Every Saturday, I actively commit the biggest sin known to Trojans: I root for a football team that isn’t called the USC Trojans. Where might my loyalties lie, you ask, if not with Lincoln Riley and what feels like a brand-new Trojan football team? It lies in between the hedges with the Georgia Bulldogs, of course. 

Whether it was Thanksgivings spent in Athens or just a random Saturday down in the South, the Bulldogs were like a barometer for how everything else in my life would go down. If the Bulldogs won, that meant good weather and better vibes. If the Bulldogs lost, my grades would dip, my parents would move one step closer to a divorce and I’d get physically sick. When I was watching the 2021 National Championship game between Georgia and Alabama, my stomach did flips and spin cycles. When the Bulldogs eventually rolled the tide out of Nick Saban and his Alabama team, I suddenly felt like I was the pinnacle of health.

I have to make it clear that not everyone that watches college football is as far-gone as I am, but you have got to understand that this sport does take on a whole different meaning and intensity in the South. As questionable as they may be, former college football legends turned politicians have quite a big microphone in those parts.

Outsiders looking into Georgia’s senate race might be confused as to why Herschel Walker, a man with various serious allegations against his character, is still getting votes despite the outrageous things he says on stage. Outsiders that peered into former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville’s successful campaign for an open Alabama senate seat might’ve wondered the same thing: how can a guy who can barely name all three branches of government ever get votes?

Think of it this way, if your favorite artist suddenly ran for office, and you believe their values align with yours — except they can’t remember how many Justices are on the Supreme Court, wouldn’t you look past that last, small discrepancy? They’re an artist, after all — an outsider even! They’re gonna bring in new ideas and new ways to get things done. Does it really impact you if they don’t remember everything about government? That’s pretty similar to how Tuberville, and now Walker voters, think of their chosen candidate. 

It all makes just a bit more sense when you factor in the idea that football, especially the college variant, has turned into a political proxy. That’s more or less thanks to its roots and history dating back to the Civil War. There’s a fascinating article from (of all places) The Bleacher Report that provides an expansive explanation for why college football has become the pride and joy of the South. But, what you really ought to remember from it is this quote by Tony Barnhart, who summarised the mindset of the South a few decades removed from the Civil War as being: “We may not be able to beat the North in the war or economically, but by God we can beat them on the football field.” 

Watching college football is an emotional ordeal, as you probably already know from my confessions earlier in this article. It lends all the more power to candidates, like Walker, running on the power of memory. I will forever remember what it felt like to see the Georgia Bulldogs win just a short year ago. I never, ever thought I would see that happen in my lifetime. 

For years, the Bulldogs were always the bridesmaid and never the bride; they always came close but never first. We were always the underdogs, counted out. When we won, I felt like it proved something. I felt like because Georgia triumphed, I did too. In many ways, I’m sure a lot of Walker voters are voting for a guy who will hopefully make them feel the same way about America, as Walker made them feel about the Georgia Bulldogs.

I’m not totally sure if parasocial is the right word to describe this kind of connection and potent power of memory that seems to grip a lot of Southern fans of college football. Regardless of word choices, just don’t knock the power of that kind of memory. It doesn’t hurt to invoke a sense of pride for a certain campaign or candidate from voters. Perhaps, unfortunately, for non-athlete political candidates, especially in areas where college football is held in near-religious regard, sometimes sports stardom and those “good old memories” beat out real policy and platforms.

Quynh Anh Nguyen is a junior writing about current Southern political events. Her column, “I Reckon,” runs every other Tuesday.