Why Penn State Football’s social media team better hope Auburn does not win

The Auburn Tigers’ Twitter presence could wreak havoc on Penn State Football if the Nittany Lions are unable to prevail on the road this fall 

Penn State football’s trip to Auburn is a little less than eight months away, but the Nittany Lions social media team better begin preparations in case things go south down South in September.

Since Penn State beat Auburn 28-20 last September in Happy Valley, life has certainly changed for the Auburn faithful. Like Penn State, Auburn’s football season did not end nearly as well as it started. While the football season was a disappointment, the basketball season has not been for the Tigers.

With an 18-1 record, Bruce Pearl’s team holds the No. 1 ranking in the college basketball AP Poll. While the Tigers have dominated the court, their fans have dominated Twitter. The Auburn fanbase has rubbed salt in the wounds of the teams they beat by ‘ratioing’ them with memes and other replies.

Poor Murray State couldn’t handle the heat to the point in which they deleted the final score tweet their school’s account posted. Deleting the tweet only seemed to make things worse as the Auburn meme army continued to tweet at Murray State until they finally gave in and reposted the final score. Now, the Murray State fanbase is in on the fun.

https://twitter.com/MSURacers/status/1482059001546350599?s=20

No team suffered as bad as Auburn’s archrival Alabama though. On Jan. 11, The Tigers defeated the Tide 81-77 and the meme army was there to let the Tide know who controls the state. The final score tweet sent out by Alabama Men’s Basketball’s official account received over five thousand replies and nearly another 400 reqoutes. Now that’s a ratio.

The twitter movement is not only used for destroying the hopes and dreams of other teams, but also for helping each other out. Last week, Auburn students camped out the night before a huge battle with the Kentucky Wildcats. Fans not present in Auburn pitched in by sending money to the students through Venmo and other means so they could buy handwarmers (apparently 40 degrees in January is cold down there) and snacks, now that’s a unified community.

So, the question becomes, will this onslaught carry over to the 2022 football season? One of the leading forces behind the Auburn Twitter movement tells me it’s very possible. The user @PabloEscoburner said:

"Hell, hath no fury like an Auburn Twitter scorned. That’s the plan. Football has a bigger following than basketball, so we’ll try to keep it rolling."

A bigger following? If football has a bigger following than basketball and the basketball fans are capable of over five thousand replies, then what are the capabilities of the Auburn football meme army?

Considering the Tigers and their fans are looking to exact some revenge on the Nittany Lions, the ratio may not be pretty for Penn State’s official accounts if the team falls short in September.

In the event that Auburn is victorious, Penn State’s social media team should not turn off replies or delete any posts, it will likely only make the situation linger like it did for Murray State. Of course, every Penn Stater wants a win in Auburn, but probably no one more than the men and women behind the official team social media accounts.