SEC road trip

Traditions both on and off campus run deep in College Station and neighboring town of Bryan.

Downtown has been the focus of an aggressive redevelopment campaign since 2000, and there has been a significant increase in the number of people visiting downtown in the last 10 years.

There are still traces of the old South here, but attitudes are shifting and memories are fading.

In April 2011, the most destructive tornado ever to hit Alabama swept through Tuscaloosa, killing 53 people. But the university's football program has given hope to residents that a normal life, even in the aftermath of a tragedy, is possible.

University of Kentucky's Big Blue Nation keeps Rupp Arena filled. The average attendance of men's basketball games is the highest in Division I.

Gainesville is a diverse city, both racially and culturally. It's a mix of Bible Belt, alternative rock, visual artists and fraternity row. Weaving its way through each of those circles — whether they like it or not — is Florida Gator football.

Residents of "The Loveliest Village on the Plains" are as supportive of the university as the students.

Athens residents describe it as a cultural oasis – a high concentration of artists, bands and diverse bars in the middle of rural Georgia. Sometimes its vibrant music scene and the SEC football culture live in harmony, sometimes not.

At Vanderbilt, it's hard for students to leave the "Vander Bubble" because everything they need is within walking distance.

Is Starkville, Miss., the hometown of Mississippi State, really the most boring SEC city? Only if you don't like shooting rifles out of car windows.

Baton Rouge is a city in a balancing act — caught between the business-driven state capital and the student culture of four universities, one of which happens to be the current SEC football champion.

A weekend in Oxford, Mississippi means a combination of football and William Faulkner.

Sliding into the SEC means adding all new opponents and trying to get a feel for these new teams and the towns they're from. Our staff's reports might help you with that task.

Fayetteville might be a southern town nestled in the Ozarks, but it’s surprisingly close to the great plains of the Southwest. And Razorbacks fandom permeates the entire state.