College Football Meme Madness, Final Four: Vote for the sport’s best viral images of all time

Just like the NCAA Tournament, the Meme Madness bracket has reached its final stages. The Final Four kicks off with two remaining memes from both the Fan Region and the Players & Coaches Region with a spot in the championship matchup on the line. 

The Elite Eight was a story of two regions producing vastly different results. The Fan Region was blowout city with No. 1 seed Michigan Surrender Cobra capturing 81.3% of the vote and No. 3 seed Annoyed LSU Girl reaching 64.2% in victories. The same cannot be said for the Players & Coaches Region, as Urban Meyer’s golf cart pizza — the No. 1 seed — bowed out of the tournament by fewer than five percentage points to Hugh Freeze’s hospital bed. Now, the ultimate underdog has its shot. 

Every year, dozens of images quickly become cultural touchstones in the sport by going viral on social media and in countless group chats. However, there are a select few that survive longer and permanently enter the college football universe.

Now, we want you to help pick the best. 

In order to narrow it down, our staff curated 16 memorable memes from the Twitter era and separated them into two regions: Fans, and Coaches & Players. The bracket includes everything from Heisman Trophy winners and disgruntled fans to unforgettable coaching reactions. But more than anything, it includes the moments that makes college football so unique.

See the updated bracket and vote in the Final Four round of Meme Madness below. 

Meme Madness bracket

Voting for every round round is being held via tweets from our Cover 3 Podcast account as embedded below. After two rounds of intense voting, the Final Four memes from the Fan Region and Players & Coaches Region are … 

(1) Michigan surrender cobra vs. (3) Annoyed LSU girl

(1) Michigan surrender cobra: The devastated reaction fit the insane moment: Michigan State recovered a fumbled punt snap and returned it for a shocking game-winning touchdown at the Big House in 2015. Standing the test of time is perhaps the greatest surrender cobra in college football history (not to mention Sean McDonough’s iconic call). The image beat out Eminem’s strange trip into the booth during the 2013 Notre Dame-Michigan game and then crushed Creepy Tennessee Starer with more than 81% of the vote to reach the Final Four. 

(3) Annoyed LSU girl: The Tigers’ matchup against Alabama in 2018 didn’t quite go to plan in a 29-0 loss. During the blowout, the CBS broadcast caught an annoyed fan staring cooly at the camera in a moment immediately went viral. The GIF featuring the camera zoom creates an impact. One year later, the same fan posted a GIF of her smiling as her Tigers beat the Crimson Tide en route to a national title. Annoyed LSU girl beat out the slumped Virginia tube man in a tight 3-6 battle, but then cruised to an upset over Shirtless NC State dude with more than 64% of the vote.  

(5) Freeze’s hospital bed approval vs. (2) Beamer’s 0-0 celebration

(5) Hugh Freeze’s hospital bed approval: The upset of Meme Madness arrived as Freeze’s hospital bed edged out No. 1 seed Urban Meyers golf cart pizza by just 3.6% to move onto the Final Four. Most people would consider a herniated disk and life-threatening staph infection a good excuse to take a few days off from work. Not Freeze. The Liberty coach arrived in a wheelchair and laid out in a hospital bed to coach a 24-0 loss to Syracuse. The most iconic image came from the postgame “handshake” when Freeze waved to Dino Babers from his perch above the stadium. 

(2) Frank Beamer’s 0-0 celebration: Former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer was known for his physical defenses and comfort playing in unorthodox games. When the cameras captured him celebrating the end of a scoreless regulation against Wake Forest, it was a peak Beamer (and ACC football) moment. Beamer beat out the famous image of Derrick Henry towering over Mark Ingram to move on, and then edged out Bobby Petrino’s Neck Brace in a tight battle.