lol buddy, college football is arguably bigger than the nfl in many parts of the states .. it’s not just the students but the whole city/ state who are obsessed …
I’m well aware buddy, I’ve probably spent more time in the states than you have.
It’s bigger than the NFL in regions where the NFL doesn’t have teams or only recently started franchises. You’re being reductive if you think I mean only the current student body. Students become alumni who raise families that grow into the fandom.
Alabama has a massive amount of fans because it has 40k student body and is the only game in town in the state besides their rival school Auburn. Their alumni are everywhere in the state and the South to the point that “The Machine” which was a political organization originally meant for rigging Greek Life elections became a factor in actual elections.
All the non-alumni t shirt fans become Alabama fans largely because they don’t have a pro team to support in the area and the universities employ a massive amount of locals. So it’s likely you either know an alumnus, a student, an employee, or have some kind of business relationship with the university.
There’s also the factor of the big schools consistently having winning records. People love a winner and there’s no parity inducing mechanism in cfb like there is in the NFL with the draft or salary cap.