The Origin Stories Behind College Football’s 9 Coolest Gameday Traditions

There are a ton of different factors that make college football as beloved as it is, which includes the magical atmosphere you’re typically treated to if you get the chance to attend a game in person.

College football obviously isn’t the only sport that has a ton of hallowed traditions fans take part in when gameday rolls around, but it does boast a ton of particularly notable rituals that set it apart from the rest of the pack.

There’s no shortage of gameday traditions to pick from when it comes to college football, but there are a number of schools that stand out in that particular category.

There’s a good chance you’re familiar with all of the entries on this list, but if you’ve ever found yourself wondering why they’re A Thing in the first place, you’ve come to the right place.

Play Like A Champion Today—Notre Dame

Oklahoma’s locker room has been home to a sign that reads “Play Like A Champion Today” since the 1940s, but you’d be hard-pressed to find many college football fans who don’t associate that slogan with Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish can thank Lou Holtz for that tradition, as the head coach was browsing through a book that contained a photo of a bygone sign on the Notre Dame campus and commissioned an artist to create a new one that was hung up in the tunnel heading out to the field in 1986.

Ever since then, players have tapped the sign while making their way onto the gridiron, and it remains one of the most iconic traditions in college football.

Howard's Rock—Clemson

In the 1960s, a Clemson alum named Samuel Jones presented head coach Frank Howard with a rock—specifically quartzite—that he picked up while driving through Death Valley in California as a nod to the nickname the skipper gave Memorial Stadium during his tenure.

The keepsake was initially used as a doorstop, and in 1966, Howard was cleaning out his office when he decided he wanted it out of his sight before a booster decided to place it on a pedestal on the hill leading down to the endzone.

In 1967, Clemson players started rubbing the rock as a good luck charm while heading down to the field, and the tradition is still going strong close to six decades later.

The Hawkeye Wave—Iowa

This is the newest tradition on this list, and I’d argue it’s also the coolest.

In 2017, the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital opened a new building across the street from Kinnick Stadium that offered a bird’s-eye view of the venue.

Prior to the start of the season, a Hawkeyes fan who had seen a picture of a patient looking down at the field floated the idea of a new tradition in a Facebook post where they suggested fans should turn to the hospital and wave at some point during the game.

Thousands of people did exactly that when Iowa hosted Wyoming to kick off its campaign, and ever since then, the “Hawkeye Wave” has taken place after the first quarter wraps up.

War Eagle—Auburn

It’s fair to wonder why the Auburn Tigers are associated with a “War Eagle” chant and a gameday tradition that features America’s avian mascot circling the stadium, and there are a number of unconfirmed origin stories to explain why that’s the case.

The most popular one revolves around an Auburn graduate and Civil War veteran who attended a game with an eagle he’d found on the battlefield and kept as a pet. Legend claims the eagle took off above the field during a game-winning touchdown to shouts of “War Eagle” before perishing after the score, which led to the adoption of a new rallying cry.

An alternate (and more feasible) theory suggests it stemmed from a pep rally in 1913 where a student dressed in military duds raised a metal eagle that fell off his hat while jumping around and yelled the same phrase, but that isn’t nearly as fun.

Rolling Toomer's Corner—Auburn

Auburn is the only school on this list to be represented twice, but they definitely earned that status thanks to Toomer’s Corner.

The corner in question is located across the street from Toomer’s Drugs, a pharmacy that opened on the border of the university’s campus in 1896. At the time, games weren’t broadcasted on the radio, so the store alerted locals to wins on the road by draping the ticker tape from telegrams on power lines outside.

That eventually inspired a different celebration that involved fans tossing rolls of toilet paper into the branches of the nearby oak trees to celebrate a victory (a tradition that’s believed to have started at some point in the 1960s).

The oak trees were infamously poisoned by an Alabama fan after the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl in 2010. They were cut down and replaced before a second replanting was necessitated after a rowdy fan lit them on fire in 2016, but “rolling” Toomer’s Corner is a tradition that is still very much alive.

Dotting The I—Ohio State

Ohio State is widely viewed as the gold standard when it comes to college marching bands, and that crew of musicians is probably best known for the storied tradition of “Dotting The I.”

In 1936, Ohio State marching band director Eugene Weigel introduced a new formation known as “Script Ohio” that involved the crew under his watch spelling out the name of the state the university calls home in cursive lettering.

The arrangement culminates with a member of the band—almost exclusively reserved for fourth or fifth-year sousaphone players—joining the drum major before high-stepping to the top of the letter “i” to serve as the dot (a.k.a. “tittle”).

There have been a handful of situations where dignitaries have been given the chance to Dot The I, including noted alum native Jack Nicklaus, astronaut (and Ohio native) John Glenn, and former Buckeyes coaches Woody Hayes and Earle Bruce.

Chief Osceola—Florida State

Chief Osceola was a noted leader of the Seminole people in Florida in the early 1800s while playing a commanding role in the tribe’s attempt to resist the United States government as it attempted to remove them from their land.

A Florida State alumnus named Bill Durham eventually decided to figure out a way to pay tribute to Chief Osceola in conjunction with the Seminole tribe, which gave its seal of approval to the outfit that was unveiled when a student armed with a flaming spear rode the horse dubbed “Renegade” onto the field ahead of a game on September 16, 1978 before planting the weapon into the turf to usher in a tradition that’s still going strong.

"Enter Sandman"—Virginia Tech

“Enter Sandman” technically debuted when Virginia Tech unveiled its new video board inside Lane Stadium in 2000, but it didn’t instantly become the iconic entrance we know and love today.

The person responsible for that shift was a member of the band who started jumping up and down to stay warm while awaiting the start of a game on a chilly night in Blacksburg. A few other members joined them, which resulted in a domino effect that led to people across the stadium doing the same as Metallica blared through the speakers to spark a new tradition.

"Jump Around"—Wisconsin

Virginia Tech isn’t the only school known for a song that literally gets its stadium jumping, and Wisconsin actually beat the Hokies to the punch with “Jump Around.”

On October 10, 1998, the Badgers hosted Purdue for their homecoming game, and Ryan Sondrup—a tight end who was unable to play due to an injury—took it upon himself to whip up a playlist to get the crowd going during the contest.

The list of tracks included “Jump Around” by House of Pain, which started blasting through Camp Randall Stadium as Drew Brees and the Boilermakers were making their way toward the end zone. The song made the crowd to go wild and caused a shift in momentum that was credited with helping stop the drive before Wisconsin secured the win.

That marked the start of a tradition that was abandoned a single time in 2003 when the stadium was undergoing renovations over concerns it wouldn’t be able to withstand the force of tens of thousands of people jumping around. However, fans staged a miniature rebellion after it wasn’t played during the season opener, and it’s been a staple of Wisconsin home games ever since.