A co-worker who happens to be a Stanford alum/big fan sent me a link to a really good ESPN.com article by Pat Forde that, although ostensibly about the fact that the SEC is the best football conference in the US (I hadn't realized there was even a debate...I mean, really now), was mostly a look at the entirely different football cultures of the South and the West.
As a very happy Northern California resident of 11 years now, I can state wholeheartedly that his observations are true. There are many great things about where I live, but it's hard not to miss the intensity of fall Saturdays in the South.