As part of its “The South’s best” series, Southern Living has named the top cities, small towns, breweries, bars and everything else essential to Southern life for 2017. With college football’s importance to the region, the publication rightfully ranks the 10 best tailgates.

It’s no surprise to see the SEC dominate the top 10, including a tie at No. 1. Here were the six schools who were runners up:

  • No. 9 Florida
  • No. 8 Texas A&M
  • No. 7 Tennessee
  • No. 6 Auburn
  • No. 4 LSU
  • No. 3 Georgia

Alabama and Ole Miss tied for No. 1, so Southern Living readers were asked to decide one more time to pick between The Quad and The Grove. The most recent victory on the football field belongs to the Crimson Tide, but readers chose the party in Oxford as the South’s best tailgate.

Initial voting produced the largest response in the publication’s history:

Yes, before we’ve held friendly little online contests complete with a recipe for a sheet cake iced to show off your favorite team. We’ve awarded Clemson the title for best tailgate a time or two. But this year’s competition has brought in more votes and more ire and passion in our 51-year history than any other tailgating tango we’ve initiated. While this might be a sore spot for Auburn (sorry y’all), a bitter pill for Tennessee (we’ve already had to counsel our Editor-in-Chief), and just downright bull for our Texas fans (sometimes you just can’t grab life by the horns), a winner must be declared.

More of Southern Living’s “The South’s Best” series can be found here.