Football was a big deal at my first high school — everyone went to the games, and the players were like celebrities. But even though I wore dresses and heels to school occasionally, Clueless-style, I don’t think I ever wore something like that to a football game. Football-watching attire is jeans and a sweatshirt, right?

Well, not at the University of Georgia. I was pretty surprised when I went to my first football game and found myself surrounded by girls in dresses and men in ties. And yes, usually the people dressing the fanciest for the football games were the ones rolling into class in wrinkled, grubby T-shirts and workout shorts and asking me why I was so “dressed up” because I was wearing jeans and flip flops that coordinated with my shirt. It was kind of weird.

But I eventually embraced the idea of wearing cute clothes for game day. I mean, why woudn’t I? If you care about your clothes during the week, doesn’t it make sense to wear something nice on Saturday?

There are limits, of course. For example, don’t be like my sorority big sis and wear a red satin dress and uncomfortably high heels when it’s 100 degrees and humid outside, unless you really want to dye your bra pink and end up walking around barefoot on hot pavement. But there’s no reason you can’t wear a fun sundress or throw on a nice, team-color sweater with your dark jeans instead of going the oversized T-shirt route.

And you don’t have to go to an SEC school, or even a school in the South, to rock the SEC-approved football look. I may have been the only one wearing a gold dress with a Navy anchor cardigan and anchor jewelry to Navy games, but at least I didn’t dress like a Gators fan in jorts.

For men, it’s easy: Just throw on a team-color polo with some khakis or nice jeans, or go straight frat-boy and wear a school-themed tie with a white button-down and khakis. For women, it’s a little less straightforward, but I do have a few guidelines to help you get ready for game day:

1. Focus on team colors and symbols: Don’t be that person wearing the opposite team’s colors or some totally random mix of colors. You can just wear one of the colors, pair it with a neutral (black, white, gray, leopard print), or wear all of the colors together. If your team is the tigers, consider wearing tiger-print or paw prints. If you root for Navy, find some anchors. And if your team’s main color is orange… well, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to wear at least a little orange.

2. Consider comfort: I am way too wimpy to wear high heels if I’m going to be standing all day, so I usually wear UGA flip flops or neutral flat shoes or boots for games. Likewise, make sure you bundle up (in team colors, if possible) if it’s going to be cold, and show some skin (and slather on the sunscreen) if it’s going to be hot. Shivering, limping and sweating profusely are not good looks.

3. Add some accessories: Even if all your clothes are neutral, adding some team color jewelry (which can be really inexpensive), a scarf, a team color manicure (try one color on most of the nails with a darker color or colored glitter on your ring finger nails), a team-themed bag or even a lanyard-as-headband can make you game-ready.

4. Don’t toss the oversized T-shirt yet: You can still wear your favorite team sweatshirt or T-shirt, but instead of pairing it with shorts, try adding a statement necklace and a skirt or some nice pants. And, if you’re a UGA fan (or you root for any team with red as one of its colors), break out the red lipstick.

There are several online boutiques that offer clothes specifically designed for gameday, at a variety of prices: L. Mae Boutique, Shop Dandy, Sideline Sweetie, Twelve Saturdays, and Victoria’s Secret are just a few examples. But you can always wear your regular clothes (maybe put together in a different way), shop at your normal stores (my anchor clothes are from J.Crew and my anchor jewelry is Betsey Johnson), or look at places that tend to have a wide range of colors available, like Francesca’s or Charming Charlie.

So, how do you dress for game day?