RotoWire.com used follower counts from Instagram and X to create a social media hype power ranking system for college football teams' official accounts. We ranked teams based on percentage growth week-over-week on the platforms, following their previous game.
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Rank | Team | Social Media Growth |
1 |
| 7.17% |
2 |
| 1.78% |
3 |
| 1.38% |
4 |
| 1.21% |
5 |
| 1.19% |
6 |
| 1.11% |
7 |
| 1.04% |
8 |
| 0.93% |
9 |
| 0.70% |
10 |
| 0.69% |
11 |
| 0.66% |
12 |
| 0.65% |
13 |
| 0.64% |
14 |
| 0.57% |
15 |
| 0.56% |
Texas A&M Aggies (↑13) 
Vanderbilt Commodores (↑21) 
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (↑ 21) 
Mississippi State Bulldogs (↑ 30) 
Iowa State Cyclones (↑ 20) 
USC Trojans (↑ 21) 
Wake Forest Demon Deacons (↑ 50) 
Florida State Seminoles (↓4) 
Northwestern Wildcats (↑ 38) 
Nebraska Cornhuskers (↑ 18) 
Tennessee Volunteers (↑ 25) 
Penn State Nittany Lions (↑ 30) 
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (↑ 16) 
Minnesota Golden Gophers (↓3) 
Houston Cougars (↑ 34) It was a weekend to remember for players and fans of the Texas A&M Aggies, who scored a game-winning touchdown with 13 seconds on the clock to pull off a thrilling, 41-40 road upset of No. 8 Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday night.
The Aggies' one-point win propelled the SEC stalwart to the top spot nationally when it came to social media growth in Week 3, with a 7.17% increase, ranking well ahead of the next closest program, which was conference foe Vanderbilt, at +1.78%.
In the Commodores' case, quarterback Diego Pavia and company travelled to Columbia, S.C. and upset 11th ranked South Carolina, 31-7, moving to 3-0 for the first time since 2017 and growing the team's social accounts by 1.78% week-over-week.
Outside of those two, the CFB team that saw the largest spike in social media followers was Georgia Tech, which rode a 24-21 upset win of 12th ranked Clemson in Atlanta on Saturday to a +1.38% increase in Week 3.
While GT kicker Aidan Birr was the hero on Saturday afternoon, with a 55-yard game-winning kick as the game clock expired, the team's newfound followers were the ones who got the Yellow Jackets over the hump this week, with the 'Ramblin' Wreck' finishing with the third largest increase nationally.
Trailing Brent Key's squad this week were teams like Mississippi State (+1.21%), Iowa State (+1.19%) and USC (+1.11%), while the only other team that saw a social media follower bump of 1% or more was Wake Forest, at +1.04%.
This week, keep an eye on unranked Power Four teams like Nebraska (which hosts No. 21 Michigan on Saturday), as well as Purdue (which plays 24th ranked Notre Dame), South Carolina (which plays No. 23 Missouri), Florida (at No. 4 Miami) and Michigan State (at No. 25 USC) as being potential contenders to join the social media follower charts in Week 4 of the college football regular season, as each of them finds themselves unranked with a showdown against a ranked foe this weekend.
Q&A:
Q1: Which college football team dominated social media growth this week?
The Texas A&M Aggies dominated, sitting comfortably at Rank #1 with a massive 7.17% growth. That's far ahead of the rest of the field, where no other team even cracked 2%.
Q2: Were there any surprising teams in the Top 5?
The Texas A&M Aggies dominated, sitting comfortably at Rank #1 with a massive 7.17% growth. That's far ahead of the rest of the field, where no other team even cracked 2%.
Q3: What does this ranking reveal about the connection between the field and social media?
The numbers highlight how closely game-day results fuel online hype. Teams that score big wins or deliver poor performances often see a direct spike in engagement online. Social media is becoming a real-time scoreboard of fan enthusiasm—one where both traditional powerhouses and rising programs can grab the spotlight.
