The South’s Best Tailgates 2017

Hannah Hayes

We knew the category would be contentious. College football is one of those few topics that can make any reasonable Southerner abandon decorum, even civility, but we underestimated to just what degree your spirit would show in our poll for the South’s Best Tailgate.

After a year of upsets in the national press, the results of our contest proved similar, so much so that we couldn’t mathematically pick a winner (which was a difficult feat for an office with quite a few Alabama fans). Instead the Crimson Tide and the Ole Miss Rebels square off again, and while the pairing isn’t unfamiliar, the stakes are high in a way unprecedented in our publication’s history.

Yes, before we’ve held friendly little online contests complete with a recipe for a sheet cake iced to show off your favorite team. We’ve awarded Clemson the title for best tailgate a time or two. But this year’s competition has brought in more votes and more ire and passion in our 51-year history than any other tailgating tango we’ve initiated. While this might be a sore spot for Auburn (sorry y’all), a bitter pill for Tennessee (we’ve already had to counsel our Editor-in-Chief), and just downright bull for our Texas fans (sometimes you just can't grab life by the horns), we heard our readers loud and clear. 

Remember that fabled football phrase, there’s always next year!

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1. (Tie) Alabama

Greg DuPree

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

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1. (Tie) Ole Miss

Robbie Caponetto

Oxford, Mississippi

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3. University of Georgia

Charles Mitchell/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Athens, Georgia

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4. LSU

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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5. Clemson

Gary Clark

Clemson, South Carolina

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6. Auburn

Courtesy of Auburn-Opelika Tourism Bureau

Auburn, Alabama

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7. University of Tennessee

Michael Shroyer/Getty Images

Knoxville, Tennessee

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8. Texas A&M

Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images

College Station, Texas

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9. University of Florida

Rob Foldy/Getty Images

Gainesville, Florida

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10. Florida State University

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Tallahassee, Florida

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11. Virginia Tech

Michael Shroyer/Getty Images

Blacksburg, Virginia

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12. University of Arkansas

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Fayetteville, Arkansas

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13. Mississippi State University

Rick Dole/Getty Images

Starkville, Mississippi

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14. UNC Chapel Hill

Andy Mead/YCJ/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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