University of Illinois ranked as country's No. 1 party school

The Princeton Review's ranking of the nation's top 20 party schools is out, and the collegiate world has a new champion of getting it both on and also poppin'.

The University of Illinois. Yes, Illinois! After years of coming up just short of the top overall spot, Illinois gets the top ranking for the first time. Not everyone was happy, like university spokeswoman Robin Kaler: "They are serious, they are hard-working, and to try to present them as being somehow irresponsible is insulting."

No amount of harrumphing can take away this honor, so celebrate as you see fit, Illini fans. It's your hard work that got you here.

Iowa and Wisconsin round out a clean sweep of the party school medal podium for the Big Ten. The SEC only managed to get three into the rankings in Georgia, Ole Miss and Florida, proving definitively and for all time that the SEC is washed and the Big Ten is the nation's preeminent conference of universities.

The full 20:

1. Illinois
2. Iowa
3. Wisconsin
4. Bucknell
5. Syracuse
6. UC-Santa Barbara
7. West Virginia
8. Georgia
9. Tulane
10. Colgate
11. Lehigh
12. Ole Miss
13. Penn State
14. Florida
15. Florida State
16. Ohio
17. DePauw
18. Vermont
19. Miami (Ohio)
20. College of Charleston

Closer inspection shows a full 25 percent are in a tight cluster stretching across upstate New York and Pennsylvania. This area, which includes Syracuse, Colgate, Lehigh, Bucknell and Penn State, is known among the scientific community as the Fertile Crescent of Partying.

Sure, it gets cold in the winter, but that doesn't mean it's not lit.

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SB Nation archives: Know your limit when drinking at games (2014)