SEC powerhouse given title of Most Depressed Fan Base after 2025 season

South Carolina fans wave white towels to the song Sandstorm | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Co Inc SC / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Postseason aside, the 2025 SEC football season is in the books. We had six coaching swaps, Lane Kiffin generating more drama than last winter's star of The Bachelor, plus a whole lot of winners and losers on the field. However, one reputable website in Alabama decided to compile a list of which fan bases are most depressed vs. least worried following their team's performances this fall.

Matt Scalici and the fine folks over at AL.com put together the rankings. Of course, they featured the conference's happy-go-lucky partiers in Nashville with Vandy as the obvious No. 1 on the heels of their historic season, whether they do or don't make the CFP, which looks unlikely from the bird's eye view. Meanwhile, other CFP contenders and hopefuls rounded out the top.

As we spiraled down the staircase into the basement of the league, less enthused fan bases like Mississippi State and Arkansas started popping up. Florida's fan base was rated second most depressed following a Billy Napier firing that was a year or two too late, plus a swing and miss on Lane Kiffin and a milquetoast hire of Jon Sumrall.

The Most Depressed SEC Fan Base in 2025? Well, that honor went to the South Carolina Gamecocks. See, the Gamecocks were a 9-3 powerhouse team a year ago that was on the brink of a Playoff appearance. A year later, they finished 4-8, below .500 for the second time in three seasons, and retained a coach that few folks have much confidence in or affection for.

Here was AL.com's full ranking of the Most Depressed Fan Bases in the SEC, from 1-16.

1. South Carolina
2. Florida
3. Arkansas
4. Mississippi State
5. Tennessee
6. Kentucky
7. Texas
8. Missouri
9. Texas A&M
10. LSU
11. Ole Miss
12. Alabama
13. Oklahoma
14. Georgia
15. Auburn
16. Vanderbilt

Why South Carolina ranked first

South Carolina Head Coach Shane Beamer | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Co Inc SC / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"What hurts the most about watching South Carolina football from afar isn’t the losing," Matt Scalici wrote. "It’s not the heartbreaking blown leads, it’s not the horrible injury luck, the brutal schedule, or the missed opportunities year after year. It’s watching those passionate South Carolina fans fill that stadium year after year convinced that this time is going to be different."

South Carolina has a famously grandiose game atmosphere, punctuated best by an evening kick-off, setting the mood just right as 77,000 strong shake their towels to Darude's 'Sandstorm' as the team storms out of the tunnel. Yeah, that deserves more than four wins, or the five wins from 2023. But just enough years like 2024 keep those fans totally pumped up.

"One would think they’d develop a shell of cynicism to protect themselves," Scalici cracked. "Instead, they just keep going back out there, baring their souls, and getting hurt all over again." Once more into the breach, dear friends, forever and over, right? That's the spirit of Carolina fans.