Which College Football Teams Gained the Most Followers in Past Week?

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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Social Media Power Rankings

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Which CFB Teams Gained the Most Ground Online?

A historic win over the defending CFP champs was enough to propel Curt Cignetti's Indiana Hoosiers team to the No. 1 spot online this week, with the Big Ten title game champs gaining 3.285% more followers on social media after beating Ohio State in Indianapolis, 13-10.  

Thanks to the Hoosiers' first win over the Buckeyes since 1988 (snapping Ohio State's 30-game winning streak over IU in the process), Cignetti's bunch ranked atop the national social media leaderboards in Week 15, ahead of teams like Vanderbilt (+2.797%), Syracuse (+1.916%), Virginia (+0.970%) and Ole Miss (+0.932%).  

Of that latter quartet, UVA was the lone team to play in a conference title game over the weekend, with the Cavaliers coming up short against Duke, 27-20, in the ACC title game in Charlotte on Saturday night.  

Vanderbilt missed out on the school's first ever CFP berth after going 10-2 during the regular season, with the Commodores facing off against 23rd ranked Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa on New Year's Eve instead.  

Ole Miss will join IU in the 12-team CFP this year, with the program once coached by Lane Kiffin facing off against 11th seeded Tulane on Dec. 20 after going 11-1 during the regular season, including a 45-10 victory over the Green Wave in Oxford on Sept. 22.  

The Orange's inclusion on the list is a bit of a head-scratcher, as Fran Brown's bunch went 3-9 in ACC play, finishing dead-last (alongside Boston College) in the league table.  

Who Else Made the Cut? 

The other movers during conference championship week online were the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who gained 0.784% more followers after capturing the school's first Big 12 title over BYU (34-7) on Saturday.  

Throw in BYU at No. 7 (+0.761%), followed by USC and Northwestern at No. 8 (+0.600% each), followed by California (+0.558%) and you have this week's top 10 covered, with none of final three teams playing over the weekend.  

The same can be said of four of the five teams in spots 11-15 this week, as the Duke Blue Devils (No. 12, at +0.468%) were the lone participants in conference championship week, while 11th ranked Auburn (+0.543%) was joined by teams like the Wildcats of Kentucky (+0.445%) and Arizona (+0.443%), while Houston rounded out the top 15 online, at +0.422%.  

Check out college football odds at RotoWire.com heading into the CFP.

Q&A

Q: Which college football team dominated social media growth this week?

A: Indiana Hoosiers jumped 6 spots to reach the No. 1 ranking this week. 

Q: Were there any surprising teams in the Top 5?

A: Yes, Syracuse Orange jumped 21 spots to No. 3, and Virginia Cavaliers increased 18 sports to No. 4.

Q: What do these rankings reveal about the connection between the field and social media?

A: 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.