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College football's most grammar-gifted fan bases
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A power ranking put together by Grammarly shows which Associated Press top-25 college football teams' fans use the best grammar online. - photo by Payton Davis
Regardless of the outcomes of clashes between college football powerhouses during the second-ever College Football Playoff hunt, Auburn fans reign supreme on the gridiron of grammar, according to a study by Grammarly.

The proofreading company Grammarly gathered 100 comments of no less than 50 words posted on the SB Nation blogs of each Associated Press top-25 college football team. Andrew Breaton of The Wall Street Journal reported Grammarly's algorithm then reviewed the comments, tracking down comma splices, misspelled words and other grammatical mistakes.

Dividing the total word count of comments by the number of mistakes, Grammarly calculated the average number of mistakes per 100 words.

Breaton noted that Iron Bowl participants Auburn and Alabama match up well in their annual late-November clash but not so much in Grammarly's power rankings.

According to the study, Auburn's fans got the most out of English 1010 and sit at No. 1 with 0.9 mistakes per 100 words. Of teams in the top 25, Alabama finished last, its fans making seven times more mistakes than in-state rival Auburn's followers, Yuriy Timen, Grammarlys director of marketing, told the Journal.

Besides just seeing what universities both fair well on the field and exhibit intelligence in online discussion forums, the study gives rival schools more to talk smack about, Kyle Newport wrote for Bleacher Report.

"Not only does the grammar mistake make the team's fan base look bad, but it also reflects poorly on the school," he wrote. "That double whammy gives rival fans plenty to laugh at."
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