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‘Fight On, State’ Among Most Cliché Fight Songs

A recent study by sports data juggernaut FiveThirtyEight found that Penn State’s “Fight On, State” is among the most cliché fight songs in college sports.

FiveThirtyEight analyzed the fight song of every Power Five school (as well as Notre Dame) in terms of what clichés each song features. Those clichés include mentions of “fight,” “victory,” “win,” “rah,” nonsense syllables, school colors, “men”/”boys”/”sons,” and name of an opponent, in addition to spelling something out.

For those counting at home, Penn State’s own “Fight On, State” includes five of these clichés — the third most on the list. Can you guess which five it has? The answers are below.

Rutgers, adding to its resume of meaningless accomplishments (like winning the first college football game), has the most with eight of nine clichés. A handful of other schools are tied for second place with six clichés.

Penn State is tied with Baylor, Cal, Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Virginia Tech, and Washington State for third place.

“Fight On, State” is also pretty average, according to the study. The site analyzed each song in terms of how long it is and how many beats per minute it has. “Fight On, State” was found to be only slightly longer and faster than the average.

FiveThirtyEight analyzed only one song for each school and picked it based on which “seemed best-known and best-loved.” However, if you were going to assess Penn State’s other fight song, “The Nittany Lion” that one would also come in with five clichés. Again, can you guess which five? See below for the answer.

Five clichés in “Fight On, State”: “fight,” “victory,” “win,” school colors, spelling something out

Five clichés in “The Nittany Lion”: “fight,” “victory,” school colors, “men/boys/sons,” opponent

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About the Author

Anthony Colucci

Anthony Colucci was once Onward State’s managing editor and preferred walk-on honors student who majored in psychology and public relations. Despite being from the make-believe land of Central Jersey, he was never a Rutgers fan. If you ever want to know how good Saquon Barkley's ball security is, ask Anthony what happened when he tried to force a fumble at the Mifflin Streak. If you want to hear the story or are bored and want to share prequel memes, follow @_anthonycolucci on Twitter or email him at [email protected]. All other requests and complaints should be directed to Onward State media contact emeritus Steve Connelly.

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