Seen 'em all – 136 FBS teams in action! In 2025, we finished with the CFP Championship game, Indiana 27 Miami 21. Now, we're up to 740 games since 1979. Capture our unique, fun, life-long adventure in my book on Amazon.com: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly. Our journey continues into the 2026 season! Click on our 2026 Schedule below to follow us to exciting, competitive clashes we'll attend this season!
Lebanon, TN – As we approach our 2026 season that starts one month from today, before we delve into aspects all fans can agree on or disagree with, we present our 2026 Cheerleader Edition I. We can all agree that it’s something that fans attending games in-person all enjoy as an essential part of the game. Cheerleaders carry on the traditions of college football. They also remind us that the college game exists for the young at heart!
Fans watching from home can change channels to watch other games. Or, they watch the same insurance commercials they wanted to avoid on the previous network break. They can run to the Fridge or hit the head. Though we tolerate way too many breaks-in-the-action as ticket-buying fans, we absolutely enjoy observing sideline entertainment to fill the voids instead. As the late, great ABC broadcaster Chris Schenkle espoused back in the 60s and 70s: “College football! What better way to enjoy a Saturday afternoon?”
Talk, talk, talk…we want action!
In the next few weeks, we will offer preseason insight for games we will attend, teams we will see, and key players and coaches we look forward to keeping an eye on. The intricacies of preseason predictions and expectations of the upcoming season, not only ours but those of others, derive from opinions, guesses and hopes. Over-hyped media marketing departments who offer too much airtime can and will be challenged by many. They certainly stir the interest to follow this great sport, but in reality, what do they all really know? So, before we get into some of our preseason analysis over the next few weeks that can be criticized, considered or ignored, let’s focus on something college football fans can all agree on that we can enjoy together. Let’s admire the spirit of the lovely ladies cheering their teams on through thick and thin along the sidelines.
Our 2026 Cheerleader Edition I prepares us for a Fun Fall of College Football
We have photographed plenty of action over many past seasons in 43 states. We look forward to seeing more spirited activities along the sidelines everywhere to be recorded for our future game reviews and for future Collegefootballfan.com College Cheerleader editions! We will capture more sideline highlights among 30 games we plan to attend. Since we’ve seen 136 FBS schools and many among the FCS as well, we finally figured the best order to present our Collegefootballfan.com 2026 Cheerleader Edition I. It makes sense to present alphabetically by school.
We’ve chosen the best of the best pictures we’ve photographed for most of the schools seen the past 47 years. Some schools we’ve seen play many times. Some we witnessed only one or two times. We reminisce about our many game memories and throw in some thoughts for future plans in our captions. Most likely, you’ll just enjoy perusing our historic sideline, pictorial, collection of many fantastic Cheerleaders entertaining for their fans’ enjoyment! Let the games begin!
Teams one through five: Into the Wild Blue Yonder and Over Hill and Over Dale
TheAir Force Academy Dance Team performed in the parking lot prior their exciting win, 35-28, over Utah State in 2015. We visited Colorado Springs for our first and only time.Also, against Utah State but in 2022, we watched Alabama destroy the Aggies in Tuscaloosa, 55-0, our first and only time there also. It made The Crimson Tide Cheerleaders very happy!Appalachian State battled Troy in the 2023 Sun Belt Championship game. They fell, 49-23. Trojan HC Jon Sumrall takes over in Florida in 2026. The Gators hired a great new head coach!Arkansas cheerleaders had lots to be happy about after the 2022, three-overtime, Liberty Bowl win over Kansas, 55-53. They still looked pretty even in sweats!Army West Point’s cheer squad gathers before traditional Air Force game in our 2026 Cheerleader Edition I back in 2016. Fired up before this one, but they fell against their second biggest rival, 31-12, at home in Michie Stadium.
Teams six through eleven: From the Music City to Shuffling off to Buffalo
You think the Auburn Tiger mascot, Aubie, attracted the wrath of this Auburn Cheerleader? You should have seen what AU did to Purdue in the meantime. They destroyed the Boilermakers in the 2018 Music City Bowl in Nashville, 63-14! We left at the half and enjoyed better action on Broadway with Auburn friends.Austin Peay enters 2026 Cheerleader Edition I here as our first FCS school. The Governors’ cheer squad performs during their team’s 31-20 win over Eastern Kentucky at home in Clarksville, Tennessee.These Baylor Bear Cheerleaders performed at the Happiest Place on Earth during the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando. Their team beat North Carolina, 49-38. Running backs played in place of injured QBs the entire game and won without throwing a pass.Boston College joins our 2026 Cheerleader Edition I in 2019 at The Birthplace of College Football, New Brunswick, NJ. They whooped it up with their Eagles defeating the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers, 30-16.Brigham Young women perform during a big, 66-49 win for their 19th-ranked Cougars over Virginia in 2021. We plan to return to Lavelle Edwards Stadium in Provo in the future to capture more picturesque scenery surrounding the stadium as well as who’s within.In 2016, Buffalo Bulls Cheerleaders flipped over their 23-20 OT upset over Army at home in Broadview Stadium in Amherst, NY.
Our 2026 Cheerleader Editon I continues: Cincinnati to The First State
Cincinnati Bearcat cheerleaders strut their stuff during their team’s 35-20 win over Houston in the American Athletic Conference championship of 2021. The Bearcats went on to play in the CFP semi-final where they lost to Alabama, 27-6. They finished 13-1.This one very astute Clemson Cheerleader made our day making eye contact with our camera as her Tigers defeated Louisville, 31-16, at Memorial Stadium in 2022. Fellow Juniata alumni Dave Bender, Roger Arnold and I attended compliments of Dave’s brother Dick, who retired this past year as a long-time, assistant basketball coach of the Tigers.The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers didn’t let us down in our first and only game at Brooks Stadium in Conway, SC. The Chants belted the Georgia Southern Eagles, 28-17, at home in 2017. They posed a warm welcome to add to our 2026 Cheerleader Edition I! Would also love to get back to attend a game near Myrtle Beach eventually when the weather and water are still warm.Before last season when Delaware joined the FBS, they competed as a top FCS program in the Colonial Athletic Conference. In Newark, Delaware in 2018, their ladies cheered them on as they defeated Elon in a key FCS game, 28-16. In 2026, we’ll watch the Fighting Blue Hens play Vanderbilt in Nashville on September 12.In 2016, the Delaware State Dance Team performs in the inaugural First State Game against sister school University of Delaware. DSU joins our 2026 Cheerleader Edition I as our first Historically Black College/University (HBCU). The Fighting Blue Hens trounced the Hornets, 56-14. DSU never defeated UD since and probably never will. UD moved up to the FBS.
Wrapping up 2026 Cheerleader Edition I, but Edition II on the way
These girls enjoyed a great 2024 for the Duke football program. This opening evening in August they defeated FCS Elon, 26-3. In October, we watched them beat Middle Tennessee on the road, 45-17. In October in Durham, they defeated Florida State under our watch, 23-16, for the first time in 22 years! Under HC Manny Diaz, they finished 9-4. You Go, Girls!To finish a disappointing 4-8 season, in 2025 we watched the Gators put away archrival FSU (5-8), 40-21, in the season finale for both teams. The Gator cheering squad didn’t let up that night! We believe they have a lot to look forward to in 2026 with new HC Jon Sumrall at the helm.The Florida State Seminole Dance Team started their 2024 season opener with high kicks following a 13-1 season. It ended with too many transfers and a 63-3 drubbing by Georgia in the Orange Bowl. This evening got 2024 off to a horrendous start with a 28-13 loss against BC at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. They finished the season with a record of 2-10. HC Mike Norvell sits on a hot seat this season. We’ll see the Noles open at home on August 29 hosting New Mexico State. It may get hotter in Tallahassee than we initially expected.In 2017, we followed Georgia Tech to Virginia’s Scott Stadium in Charlottesville for our first and only time. Despite Tech’s 40-36 loss in the rain, unlike the drenched GT cheering squad, my son Eric and I sat in the very last row of Scott. Only the last few rows in the stadium were covered by an aluminum awning. Sometimes it pays to buy tickets in the cheap seats. It did here!The Houston Cougars defeated Tulsa, 41-26, this Thursday night in 2018 at TDECU Stadium while on a business trip in Texas. They won four of their first five games and then their next four. However, they lost their last four of five games. They suffered a 70-14 beat down by 11-2 Army in the Armed Forces Bowl at Fort Worth. The Cougarettes made the evening very entertaining. Fun game atmosphere at TDECU!Go when you can.
More pictures on the way!
Note we’ve only gotten up to “H” in our 2026 Cheerleader Edition I! We’ve displayed lot of pulchritude (look it up) here already. We have a lot more to offer. Would you rather see more or read about stats and season predictions that will be somewhat intelligently thought out? But most likely wrong. As my grandmother used to say, “That’s the way the ball bounces!” And in football, that’s not just a cliche’. We’ll have some more to say about the upcoming season, but we enjoy sharing some of the fun at football games enjoyed for decades. 2026 Cheerleader Editon II arrives in a few more days. A few more editions will follow that!
Enjoy our captions? Read more fun history of many games attended our first 42 Seasons!
If you haven’t already, please click on the title about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Uglyon Amazon.com. Among 740 college games attended to date now, we’ve seen all 136 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams play in person at least once. By the way, in case you aren’t aware, North Dakota State and Sacramento State join the FBS this season. “Fifty Years” tells our story of how we got to attend our first 652 games!
Read the reviews on the book page and get your copy today. If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023. Hopefully, you’ll understand how much we love this sport and what we propose for it to survive successfully. In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote this book.
Please buy your copy today, enjoy it, and read about the many great memories captured. Maybe these will bring back some of the same memories you encountered when we did!
