I'm not going to steal their thunder, so I'll let an Aggie expound on them -but it is hard to beat Texas A & M in terms of tradition! It's the only college football game I've attended that I really, really enjoyed.
eta - okay, the Aggies are taking too long - here you go -
12TH MAN
In
Dallas on
January 2,
1922, at the
Dixie Classic (the forerunner of the Cotton Bowl) A&M played defending national champion
Centre College in the first post-season game in the southwest. A&M had so many injuries in the first half of the game that
Coach D. X. Bible feared he wouldn’t have enough men to finish the game. He called into the
Aggie section of the stands for
E. King Gill, a reserve who had left football after the regular season to play basketball. Gill volunteered and donned the uniform of injured player Heine Weir. Although he did not actually play, his readiness symbolized the willingness of all Aggies to support their team to the point of actually entering the game. A&M won 22-14, but E. King Gill was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies. The 12th Man has evolved into an Aggie tradition. The student body, known as the "12th Man", stands throughout the entire game, "ready to help the team".
Another part of the 12th man tradition is when the head coach before each game chooses a
walk-on player to represent the student body. This player wears the No. 12 jersey, participates in kick-off returns, and is called "The 12th Man".
Yells
See also: Yell Leaders and Midnight Yell Practice The 12th Man uses a variety of school yells, rather than cheers, to support Aggie teams. Each year the student body elects five students to serve as the Yell Leaders. At
midnight before each home
football game at
Kyle Field or at a predesignated location at away games, the fans gather together to practice the yells for the next day's game. Led by the Yell Leaders, and the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band, the Twelfth Man files into the stadium to practice yells, sing the
War Hymn, and joke about their opponents. One tradition at the games is when the Aggies score, Aggies kiss their dates. Close to the end of midnight yell, the lights turn off and Aggies practice this tradition.