• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, August 25, 2014

One of the most important things you can do in spectator sports, as in life, is to rank everything so everyone knows who is the best. Thus USA Today and Degree deodorant and antiperspirant are launching a new College Football Fan Index that combines social media activity and online voting to determine which football teams have the most committed followings (and which need to demonstrate a little more online spirit).

The College Football Fan Index presented by Degree aggregates social chatter and voting across fan-driven themes, with a fresh competition each week, in categories including “best uniforms,” “best fight songs,” “best tailgates,” “best colors,” “best stadiums,” and so on. Measurement is based on polls as well as social activity including sharing of photos and videos; fans can vote more than once so commitment can trump sheer numbers.

To facilitate the process, the Fan Index is aligned directly with more than 100 NCAA FBS schools and their social media networks, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+. The multi-week program is part of Degree’s larger DO:MORE campaign, highlighting the Unilever brand’s new “motion sense” feature, which activates when the user is physically active.

This is just the latest in a series of new initiatives from USA Today Sports Media Group revolving around NCAA teams. Back in March, USA Today struck a deal with NeuLion giving it access to content from NeuLion’s network of college sports publishers, including more than 170 NCAA team Web sites.

The partnership includes shared sales of digital advertising sponsorships, as well as joint production and syndication of content across both NeuLion’s online sports network and Gannett Co.’s own range of college sports platforms, including USA Today Sports, the Amway Coaches Poll for college football, and Gannett’s network of 81 local newspapers and 42 local broadcast TV stations.