NCAA BasketballNCAA FootballVideoWAG Spotting

Top 5 Dead Or Alive: Best College Cheerleaders

by Evan Sporer | 1:22 pm, August 17th, 2012

Welcome to our 10th installment of Top 5 Dead Or Alive. In case you missed our piece last Friday on Olympic athletes, we want you to know that this feature is designed specifically to make life hell for our employees. Each week, we’ll ask one of our writers to come up with a definitive list of the five best people, places or things in a particularly subjective category — then, we’ll ask you to tell him who or what is missing from the list. Feel free to be a total dick.

Today, we’ve asked Evan to name the five best college cheerleading teams in the country. There’s bound to be something to argue here, so tell him what he missed in the comments, email him, or tweet at him.

I’m going to sum up how much the average male actually knows about cheerleading: Nothing. And so the average male’s knowledge of cheerleading consists of a completely aesthetic evaluation. If we like we what see, the grade is high. If we don’t – well, you get the picture.

As a student who attends a Division III college, I don’t see too many cheerleaders at games (even covering a lot of games for my school paper.) It’s just not as common a thing. So, when I first learned I was writing this piece, I had to enlist the help of a cheerleader. Specifically, one of my friends from school, who actually is the captain of our cheer squad, and has basically fought to build the team, get them funding, and create the program. Let’s just call her K. So I Facebook chatted K, because that’s what college kids do. We FB chat, yo.

Me: K
K: hey
Me: i have the weirdest question for you
you will probably be asked
this entire year
K: haha what is it
Me: so my boss wants me to do an article on
the top cheerleaders in college sports
K: ok
Me: so if you were ranking like, the top cheerleaders, what would your criteria be?
and i guess also are there any schools that automatically come to mind
K: tumbling tricks, stunting ability, flexibility, dance skills, and depending on what type of cheer (all star, competitive, games)–the cheering ability (voice, tightness)
are you looking just in MA
or across the country
Me: across the country
K: well down south it is a much bigger thing, university of maryland’s team is sick, i have a friend at university of louisville who is ridiculously good (and shes like the worst person on the team), i know kentucky u is really good too
Me: awesome, thanks

These answers would definitely be helpful in some cases, but unfortunately, not for this story. This Top 5 DOA needed to definitely be one thing: wagtastic.

So I finished my bacon egg and cheese, put my mind back in the gutter, and busted out my own checklist of items. Uniforms, peppiness, ability to entertain, and the big elephant in the room: attractiveness. My mind quickly turned to the larger college sports programs in the country. Schools that would get national television exposure – a.k.a. national cheerleader exposure.

And the most shocking X-factor item that I didn’t think of until I jumped into this list: Climate.

Want to know who can’t wear mini-skirts during college football season? The team that plays in frigid temperatures and gets snowed on. Sure basketball levels the playing field, but outdoor sports give warm-weather cheerleaders a decisive advantage. I think this list is going to seem sort of West-coast-slanted, but that’s just the way it is.

Enable JavaScript to check out our fancy slideshow.

1.5. Oklahoma

The Sooners, a Big 12 school with a huge football program, kick off our list. I never had a football team at any of the schools I attended, but when you get to certain parts of the country, including the heartland, football turns into a religion. High school and college football are both bigger than life in Oklahoma, so having good cheerleading is probably crucial.

Playing in the Big 12, Oklahoma is getting plenty of exposure. The football team is perennially competitive, and Oklahoma basketball is also a very strong program. So, lots of national exposure for the Sooners, and plenty of air time for their cheer squad.

2.4. Maryland

I took my dear friend's advice, and looked up the Maryland cheerleaders. While, again, I don't know enough about cheerleading to tell you whether they can do cool tricks, have tight voices, or win any competitions, I can say this: they belong.

The more I thought about Maryland cheerleading, I also conjured up memories of ACC basketball from the Comcast Center. That place gets absolutely nuts, but I definitely remember being able to hear their little cheer section above all the octaves of crowd noise.

One of my roommates, who went to Maryland for a year, confirmed my television observations, and said the cheerleaders were quite loud. He was also at the game in 2010 when Maryland beat Duke, so he knows a little about the craziness of the ACC.

3.3. Arizona State

Arizona State consistently is ranked number one in the country for the most attractive females, so the Sun Devils were an obvious place to look. Arizona State may be having a bit of a rough go at it so far in the Pac 12, but that hasn't stopped them from continuing their rich tradition of excellent cheerleading.

I've also seen images of Arizona State cheerleaders, Arizona State dance team members, and regular ol' ASU enthusiasts (all scantily clad, mind you). I believe the saying goes, if you've got it, flaunt it.

There was also the whole, Internet-cheerleader-underwear scandal that rocked ASU back in 2008. Any Internet scandal involving cheerleaders and underwear can't hurt their case.

4.2. USC

There's something very unique and very appealing about the "Song Girls" of Southern California. Their uniforms, for starters, are very "collegiate," a word that you generally wouldn't attach to sex appeal. Yet still, there's no denying the girls on the USC sidelines are an impressive bunch, and, easy to spot.

The song girls are legendary. When I entered their website (of course they have their own website), I found this quote that's plastered atop the homepage. "It’s unfair that the USC Song Girls only appear at USC games. They are a national treasure. They should visit other teams across the country." -Beano Cook (ESPN.com) That's respect!

If you check out the site, you can learn a lot more about this group's history. It started in 1967 as a seven-girl squad, and now consists of 12 members each year. (They seem pretty selective.) Now this is where things get really interesting. The Song Girls don't actually cheer. This revelation almost called for immediate list expulsion, but then I realized just how epic this is. USC has a separate team of "Spirit Leaders" that do all the cheering and pep work. Meanwhile, you have these Song Girls, world renowned, who just get their Song Girl on and go about their business, and are a huge deal on the Southern Cal campus. It's like being a cheerleader, but seemingly doing less work.

5.1. Oregon

While the SportsGrid staff admittedly was not cheerleading experts when we ventured into this piece, one thing was universal: Everyone came up with Oregon right away.

The Ducks cheerleaders do something to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack. Maybe it's the short-skirt, belly shirt combo. Maybe it's Orgeon's crazy uniforms that just keep the whole Duck package in your memory.

The squad is certainly getting a ton of exposure. With Oregon football in a bowl game every year, and the Oregon basketball team making a strong run last season, there was plenty of airtime for the Ducks cheerleaders. According the the Oregon cheer site, the squad's main source of fundraising is through selling a yearly poster they put out. Hey, the 18-year-old male college freshman has got to decorate his dorm walls somehow, right?

I also found this video on the Oregon cheer site, for your viewing pleasure. Warning: exposure to dubstep, Katy Perry, and scantily clad college-aged girls is imminent.

Follow Evan Sporer

Nick

FYI, for Maryland, you took a picture of their dance team, not the cheerleaders. Don’t worry, my girlfriend (who was on the dance team in that picture) was quite pleased.
Travis

holy shit all of the oklahoma and maryland girls were terrible..worst top five list ive seen in awhile. you must think girls from michigan or ohio look classy. completely halfass
Mark

Maryland and oklahoma has some ugly girls
Mark

Maryland and oklahoma has some ugly girls

Top 5 Dead Or Alive: Best College Cheerleaders

Biggest Hits

RotoExperts

SportsGrid Store

Hey America

WAG Spotting

MLB's 50 Hottest

Paulina Gretzky

Follow SportsGrid

Now Tweeting

The Best of Twitter