To celebrate 100 days until the start of the college football season, HERO Sports is counting down the Top 100 College Football Towns in America. Each day, starting May 17 and ending Aug. 24, a new city will be revealed. We will analyze the city, the program, the good and bad of the city as well as the bottom line.
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MORE: Top 100 Teams In College Football
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There are 129 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools. With only 100 ranked, not all will make the cut. This is completely arbitrary and at the will of yours truly. You can comment below or @ me on Twitter. Bring it.
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100. Columbia, MO – University of Missouri
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The Program
Missouri is in the SEC, which already gives it a leg up over a lot of schools and cities. When the days get shorter, the weather gets crisper and the trees begin to whither, the best come to town.
The Tigers were the toast of the conference, winning the East division two out of its first three years. Since then, however, the team is 16-21. Attendance continues to drop at an alarming rate. Last year marked the second straight year of a significant drop in attendance. 2016 and '17 are the lowest attendance numbers since 2002. That is despite a 7-6 record and a bowl berth in '17. The Tigers best finish was 2007, when, at one point, they were the best team in the nation and finished fourth in the AP rankings. 2018 has some positive outlook. Drew Lock is an NFL-caliber quarterback.
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The City
CoMo (as the locals affectionately say) is often referred to as the “Athens of the West” (Not Athens, Georgia, but rather the Greek city) because of its classic beauty and architecture. In 2012, Parade named CoMo the "Hardest Working Town in America." The city is also consistently named one of the top college towns in America.
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The Good
Uncle Tupelo wrote a song called Whiskey Bottle referencing Columbia. There is a legitimate music scene, tons of natural beauty and a delicious culinary environment. Missouri's fight song urges people to "tramp, tramp, tramp," which is nice.
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The Bad
Google "University of Missouri" and the first 10 images are of protests. In 2015, students complaining of official inaction in the face of racial bigotry forced the university system president and the campus chancellor to resign. Freshman enrollment has fallen by more than 35 percent in the two years since.
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Bottom Line
With Missouri's football team mired in mediocrity, waning support from its base, and concerns of racism and bigotry still prevalent on campus, Columbia's vibrant city has been overshadowed, sending it to tumbling to No. 100.
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NEXT: 100 Days Of College Football Trivia
