Which team emerged victorious in the big game? Clues lie in students’ clothing choices

Note: This is an updated version of a story first published Jan. 8, 2015

The victor of Monday’s college football national championship will be written all over the clothing of students at The Ohio State University on Tuesday, research suggests.

If you see students decked out in Ohio State sweatshirts, hats and other gear on Tuesday, you’ll know the Buckeyes prevailed over Notre Dame.

If Buckeye clothing is scarce, well … assume the worst.

But it is not just Buckeyes who choose their apparel based on the success of their favorite team.

Brian Turner, co-author of the study and professor of sport management at Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology, explained that people tend to BIRG – Basking in Reflected Glory – by wearing their team’s apparel after a win.

Losing changed how students dressed. Results showed that students were 55% less likely to wear their team’s apparel after a loss.

Jonathan Jensen, associate director of the Center for Sport Management Research and Education at Texas A&M University, collaborated with Turner on this research.

The study was conducted at seven universities during the 2013 football season, with students wearing school-affiliated apparel about 27% of the time on average.

Some students wore more than one piece of team apparel, and a win made the odds of wearing two items of apparel more than three times as likely according to the research.

Turner also mentioned a related study published in 2023 which found that the expectancies of fans played a role in how much BIRGing they did after a win, with fans of underdog teams being more reserved in their celebrations.

Even though Notre Dame is the underdog in the national championship game, Turner expects their fans will still engage in BIRGing if they win, as both Notre Dame and Ohio State have a history of winning.