Photo courtesy of Oklahoma State University Foundation
Welcome back for the third of 13 installments where we rank all 130 FBS fight songs!
BACKGROUND
Fight songs are one of, if not, the best parts of college athletics. Everyone knows their favorite university’s fight song.
Each week, 10 teams will be covered, starting with No. 130, and ending with the No. 1 fight song. This is designed to carry fans past the midway point of the darkness that is the FBS offseason.
This is perhaps the most subjective ranking list you’ll read all offseason. Any and all feedback can be directed to @CJOlson2000 on Twitter — whether it be positive or negative. But also remember that this is one man’s opinions on fight songs.
Also, even the worst fight songs are still enjoyable; they just are worse than their contemporaries.
This took close to eight hours to complete, and that’s before turning it into 13 weekly articles. If someone is upset and feels so inclined, they’re welcome to listen and then grade all 130 FBS fight songs. It could be made into a weekly activity that’s updated as articles are published.
Lastly, there’s a possibility that the wrong song was used. Sorry, if the wrong song was considered for a team and it negatively impacted their ranking.
CRITERIA CONSIDERED
There were three factors considered for each team’s fight song.
1. FLOW
Did the song flow from beginning to end in a smooth way? This was given a weight of 25%.
The average flow score was 6.7016.
2. CROWD FACTOR
Is the crowd getting into it? Fight songs are designed to engage the crowd and get the crowd going, because this is the purpose of a fight song; this was given a 50% weight.
The average crowd factor score was 6.7137.
3. NOSTALGIA/FEEL-GOOD FACTOR
How much does this trigger the nostalgia of someone who put thousands of hours into NCAA football video games back when they had fight songs in the main menu?
Some teams newer to FBS do have a little bit of a disadvantage here. To make up for that, there is also a ‘feel-good factor’ incorporated. Fight songs should give listeners a great feeling, hence the reason for this category.
It’s fairly self-explanatory, but also the most subjective of the categories. This was given a 25% weight.
The average nostalgia/feel-good score was 6.8189.
The average overall score was 6.7370.
As a disclaimer, this final category was where biases shone through the most. For the first two categories, an attempt to be as unbiased as possible was made.
To avoid ties as best as possible, each factor’s score is given to four decimal places. Even with that, there was coincidentally two ties.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Lyrics and vocals were not considered unless it dominates the song and is what is predominantly coming across for a brief section. To remain uniform across the board, vocals and lyrics were only considered for these brief sections instead of for the full song.
PREVIOUS ARTICLES
If you’re interested in reading the rankings revealed so far without going through individual articles, that can found here.
Let’s get back to the rankings!
110. Arkansas State
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.0107 | 6.3133 | 4.2132 | 5.4626 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 114 (8/10) | 79 (4/10) | 123 (9/10) | 110 (9/10) |
This is one of the more bland entries at the FBS level. Despite the blandness, it does seem like the type of song alumni and current students might get attached to. Therefore, a decent score in crowd factor. As for the rest, it’s painfully basic.
109. Boise State
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.3551 | 5.8091 | 5.5151 | 5.6221 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 108 (12/12) | 105 (12/12) | 103 (12/12) | 109 (12/12) |
Boise State, as a program, is a personal favorite as someone who grew up at the peak of Boise State. Because it was a personal favorite, there were some lofty expectations that just did not deliver in listening to its fight song. Maybe it’s because of those expectations, and it would be rated higher if not for those expectations. Either way, it’s not as good as the other offerings ahead of it.
108. South Alabama
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 4.8715 | 6.3307 | 5.0441 | 5.6443 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 117 (9/10) | 78 (3/10) | 109 (8/10) | 108 (8/10) |
Here’s another one with a solid crowd factor score, but subpar scores elsewhere. This one definitely plays with the crowd, but the ending doesn’t feel like it sticks the landing in terms of flow.
107. Massachusetts
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.7113 | 5.9934 | 4.8831 | 5.6453 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 104 (5/7) | 95 (4/7) | 117 (7/7) | 107 (5/7) |
UMass overdid the chanting. It does not ruin it, and it’s not a bad song. It makes sense as a song, which cannot be said about some of the songs ranked worse than UMass. Overall, there’s not a whole lot of complexity to it, and it feels a little too safe.
106. New Mexico State
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 4.2091 | 5.7191 | 7.0033 | 5.6627 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 125 (7/7) | 106 (5/7) | 61 (2/7) | 106 (4/7) |
By far the strongest nostalgia/feel good that’s been encountered on these lists to date. The song is very disjointed, hence the reasoning for the low flow rating. But the nostalgia is definitely there from the old NCAA games.
105. UAB
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.9831 | 5.7183 | 5.5301 | 5.7375 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 94 (8/14) | 107 (9/14) | 101 (10/14) | 105 (10/14) |
This one sounds a little cookie cutter-y in terms of not sounding all that unique. It’s fine in that it doesn’t stray too far off of the path, but it’s also fine in that it doesn’t do much more than the baseline.
104. Oklahoma State
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.0036 | 5.9735 | 6.1132 | 5.776 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 115 (10/10) | 96 (9/10) | 87 (9/10) | 104 (10/10) |
The first of the Big 12’s entries! This is a popular song; however, it really sounds more like three songs which is a mark against it. The first 30 seconds are not like the next 30, and the final 40 are completely different.
The middle 30 are by far the best part, and the part that everyone knows and loves. If it were just that part, this would be rated in the top 20, but it’s impossible to overlook the fact that 70% of the song has nothing to do with the good part.
103. Florida Atlantic
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.5781 | 6.0138 | 5.5438 | 5.7874 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 115 (10/14) | 96 (8/14) | 87 (9/14) | 104 (9/14) |
Ends to the first and second verses are solid, but the beginning and the bridge leave something to be desired. Another one that falls in the ‘nearly average’ category. The better areas are good, but the worse areas are bad. So it averages out to be around middle of the road.
102. Kansas State
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 5.7884 | 5.9981 | 5.3675 | 5.7880 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 101 (9/10) | 93 (8/10) | 106 (10/10) | 102 (9/10) |
This one starts a little slow for the first 15 seconds or so. Once we get past that, it picks up some steam. We’re firmly in the “not bad” territory by now. No glaring problems for this one other than the slow start.
101. Arizona
| Flow | Crowd Factor | Nostalgia/Feel Good | Overall | |
| Rating | 7.2138 | 5.0931 | 5.8153 | 5.8038 |
| Rank (Conf.) | 47 (4/12) | 115 (11/12) | 98 (10/12) | 101 (10/12) |
The flow is very good. It scores low on crowd factor because it was a little too generic to pep up a crowd at a Power 5 program like Arizona. If the Wildcats let a couple of higher-noted woodwinds come through more, that might’ve been the difference between No. 101 and cracking the top 100.
Still to come: The top 100!
Come back every Wednesday morning to figure out who are the next 10 to be unveiled.
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