We rooted for the schools our daddies attended, or that we hoped to attend ourselves. It is no blinding revelation to say that college sports aren't the same. Sentiment doesn't count for much. Fashion may explain why you don't see corsages in the stands. But commercialism explains why you're more likely to find a phone company logo than a school mascot wrapped around goal posts.
Fans are fickle.
Call me a weirdo, but I don't think all hope is lost. But give me the pleasures of Division III football, where colleges play strictly for fun and don't give scholarships. Skill is no prerequisite, I can testify. An undistinguished benchwarmer on a Louisiana high school powerhouse, I was instantly elevated to the playing charts of my Division III alma mater as a mere freshman because I weighed a hefty, for them, 236. I had all the mobility and speed of the Washington Monument, but I filled a fairly wide swath of field.