I personally don't consider Virginia or North Carolina the "south" and Atlanta also doesn't encompass a lot of southern aspects either. I suppose I could be stereotyping places like SC, non ATL Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Arkansas but it is of my experience that people from those states are most likely to perpetuate the notion that football isn't manly or American enough.
It also is telling that one off the most successful conferences in the country (SEC) doesn't offer men's football and happens to be located in the south.