Ranking The Best Entrances in the SEC
It’s 99 days to go until the college football season starts, and we’re pretty excited. So excited, in fact, that we’re ranking all of the entrances/pregame traditions in the SEC. And we’re not talking about tailgating!
1. Running Through The ‘T’ – Tennessee
Neyland Stadium. Night. The crowd has already drunken itself to a stupor. The Pride Of The Southland Band forms a T. The team runs through it.
2. ‘War…..Eagle’ – Auburn
Not EXACTLY the entrance, but letting Spirit The Eagle out as the crowd screams “War Eagle” is one of the best traditions in sports. Spirit The Eagle then hitting a luxury box in 2011 might just be one of college football’s greatest highlights, though. The 2013 entrance was pretty cool, though.
3. 2001 – South Carolina
One of the best-known scores in film music becomes one of the best-known scores in college football in Columbia, SC on a Saturday night.
4. Chomp, chomp, chomp – Florida
What gives us the Chills about this one at The Swamp is probably not the entrance itself. It’s the 90,000-strong, drunk crowd chomping along beforehand. The obligatory alligator video. A voiceover about ‘The Swamp’. Gives you the notion that they don’t like you, and that’s OK.
5. Les Miles and his team – LSU
We actually love LSU’s entrance….mainly because of its simplicity. Les Miles crouching in front of his team. The team hopping through the LSU band as fireworks go off. Death Valley going nuts. It would be soooooo Les is he was run over one of these times
6. ‘March of Honor‘ – Texas A&M
Pumped-Up Yell Leader walks out, screaming and looking like he could go toe-to-toe with Ali, Liston and Tyson…all at the same time. Then come the flag bearers. Then Aggie drummers. Then bouncing around Yell Leaders. Then swaying. Then mist. Then the team, led by a Yell Leader with Reveille The Dog. With some cannon. It’s pretty cool scene in Kyle Field.
7. Pig Sooiee – Arkansas
The crowd calls the Hogs. Repeatedly. Team enters Ever think that Cam from ‘Modern Family’ could call a Hog before a Razorbacks game?
8. ‘This is Alabama Football’ – Alabama‘
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Alabama Football’, the announcer tells the Tuscaloosa crowd, who are already full of cocktails and hate. Crowd runs through, facing an end-zone with everyone shaking their shaker as hard as humanely possible. There are also some words from Bear Bryant, too, IS the voice of God at Bryant-Denny. No excuses.
9. Running Through The Doors – Vanderbilt
Again, underrated but pretty awesome. The team stands behind closed doors as the crowd, fired up, bay on their Commodores. Doors open, team runs out through the smoke. Understated, but nice.
10. Mist ‘N’ Cowbell – Mississippi State
You’re already deaf from some guy ringing a cowbell in your ear for the best part of an hour. Then you look up, and you see maroon and white warriors run through the mist. Chills. If you can see. For whom the cowbell tolls indeed.
11. Tiiigers – Missouri Entrance
The guy doing the voiceover in the stands is auditioning for a job on Saturday Night Fights. “Tiiiiiiiigers!”, he says. The crowd goes crazy. Oh, and there’s some mist, too.
12. Various – Georgia
The walking through the mist is pretty cool (taken from Miami). The swaying is pretty cool. Running through the G is pretty cool. It’s not going to win prizes, but then again, Sanford Stadium is fired up enough already without needed a big, fat show. And Sanford’s already got its frickin’ hedges.
13. ‘Til The Battle is Won’ – Kentucky
Ironic, since Kentucky hasn’t won a SEC game in a while, but the Kentucky team walks out to a cheering crowd and below a massive banner saying: “‘Til The Battle Is Won‘. Special points for warming up the crowd with ‘Zombie Nation’.
14. Simple – Ole Miss
Ole Miss doesn’t do a lot to get a crowd hyped up at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium before a game. They enter. The crowd cheer. In fact, they enter pretty much at the same time as their opposition (see Auburn game). We think it’s because the biggest thing about Ole Miss has actually been the party on The Grove. We like this ad though.