Many people will "root" for college teams despite never attending that college (and in many cases, these rabid fans have never attended college at all.)
For example, down in Alabama, you have large numbers of "Crimson Tide" fans who never got past 8th grade, yet they worship Bear Bryant and get very emotionally involved in their games, to the point that they sometimes shoot people dead if Alabama does not pull out the win.
Most rabid fans formed their allegiances as youngsters.