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Penn State football among most popular things in the world | FanSided250 rankings

By Matt Lombardo

Nov 7, 2020; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin leads his team to the field prior to the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 7, 2020; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin leads his team to the field prior to the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /
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Penn State Football among the most popular College Football Programs, and “hottest” fandoms in the 2020 FanSided250 rankings

It might be a down year on the field for Penn State Football, but the Nittany Lions are surging in the 2020 FanSided 250 rankings, making the cut as one of the most popular things the world of sports, pop culture and entertainment.

James Franklin’s Penn State Football program made the cut in this year’s FanSided 250 rankings at No. 81 overall and No. 8 in college sports. Of note, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys are just one spot ahead of the Nittany Lions.

Here are the only college programs that outranked the Nittany Lions:

No. 7 (No. 76 overall): Auburn Tigers

No. 6 (No. 46 overall): Oklahoma Sooners

No. 5 (No. 45 overall): Ohio State Buckeyes

No. 4 (No. 40 overall): Georgia Bulldogs

No. 3 (No. 19 overall): Alabama Crimson Tide

No. 2 (No. 17 overall): LSU Tigers

No. 1 (No. 14 overall): Clemson Tigers

It’s note worthy that Penn State outranked the likes of Duke basketball, the Texas Longhorns, and Notre Dame, among others.

Here is the criteria for the FanSided250 rankings:

"How do you evaluate fandom? You can try to quantify it. On each fandom’s FanSided 250 card, you’ll see three key statistics: the Fan Vote, Search Score, and Social Follows.But numbers alone can’t measure fandom, and so our editorial team dove deep into the presence and identity of each of the nominated fandoms. Each year, we continue to make tweaks to the methodology to make our system more accurate.This year, we’ve adjusted our values as well, placing a greater emphasis on buzz — how hot a fandom was in 2020 — than ever before. Our team took into account our longstanding values of magnitude (a fanbase’s size and scope), legacy (longevity and loyalty of the fanbase) and passion, but buzz was most important. If the fans of a player, team or entertainer have buzz, we see them all over social media, they are inescapable, they dominate every physical and virtual water cooler conversation.After much deliberation and healthy debate, 250 fanbases were ranked and ordered to be the list you see on the FanSided 250 today."

Penn State has clearly been on the minds of fans around the nation, with a 43.5 search score, and have a Fan Vote of 61.1.

The Nittany Lions can count celebrities as Keegan Michael-Key, Joe Jonas, and Sophie Turner among their most well known and biggest fans.

Should Penn State rebound on the field in 2021, there’s no telling how much higher the Nittany Lions can climb up these rankings.

Next. Penn State Football position grades after 2 straight wins. dark

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