Iowa has more college football than California and Florida!

I came upon this on the internet Thursday, and found it interesting. So there.

Iowa has more college football teams than all but seven other states. It has more college football teams than California, Florida and Georgia. I would not have guessed that. Which is why I'm posting it, come to think of it.

Now, Iowa obviou8sly doesn't have nearly as many FBS and FCS programs as many states, with two of each in Iowa and Iowa State for the former, Drake and Northern Iowa for the latter. But with one NCAA Division II (Upper Iowa) team, 11 in NCAA Division III and 10 in NAIA, a state with our population is stuffed with college football.

Iowa has 8.29 teams per million residents, topped only by North Dakota and South Dakota.

I have a theory: Iowa has a lot of 4-year colleges and universities, and Iowa likes football. I defy you to argue with that.

Here is the list of all the states and their college teams. And ... here is the statistical breakdown, population-wise and by football division.

But for easy reading, here is the list of states and their college football programs:

1. Pennsylvania 53

2. Ohio 42

3. Texas 41

4. Illinois 34

5. North Carolina 33

6. New York 31

7. Massachusetts 30

8. Iowa 26

9. Minnesota 25

10. (tie) Michigan and Virginia, 24

Here's the rest:

California 21, Indiana 21, Missouri 21, Florida 19, Kansas 19, Georgia 18, Wisconsin 18, Kentucky 17, Alabama 16, Oklahoma 14, South Carolina 13, Arkansas 12, Louisiana 12, West Virginia 12, Oregon 11, Colorado 10, Maryland 10, Nebraska 10, Mississippi 10.

Connecticut 9, New Jersey 9, South Dakota 9, North Dakota 8, Washington 7, Montana 7, Maine 6, Utah 6, New Mexico 5, Arizona 4, Rhode Island 4, New Hampshire 4, Washington, D.C. 4, Idaho 4, Delaware 3, Vermont 3, Nevada 2, Wyoming 1, Hawaii 1, Alaska 0, Puerto Rico 0, Guam 0.

Simon Fraser University of Canada plays NCAA Division II football.