Bruce Feldman ranks the 10 most difficult stadiums to play in in college American football
EA Sports caused a lot of discussion when it announced its rankings of the toughest places to play for the upcoming video game College Football 25. I based my own thoughts on some 30 years of covering the sport in which I’ve attended games and been on the sidelines for many of the most charged stadium atmospheres of the country.
The loudest and craziest venue I’ve been to is the old Orange Bowl. When a big game happened there in Miami – usually a visit to Florida State – there was nothing like it. The closest I’ve seen is LSU’s Tiger Stadium. My colleagues from The Athletics had their own opinions on the EA Sports list, and now here is my ranking of the 10 toughest places to play in college football.
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1. LSU: Tiger Stadium
It’s pure chaos here and it starts long before kick-off. I’ve heard from so many coaches over the years how hostile the treatment of their teams is, from rattling the bus on arrival to plying the visitors with drink. Just seeing Mike the Tiger in person adds another layer of intimidation to this.
Mike Leach told me the story about the first time he went there, when he was offensive coordinator at Kentucky.
“There were these little old ladies with their grandchildren giving our bus the middle finger,” Leach said. “As we got closer, they started shaking our bus!”
Leach is also among those who were impressed by Mike the Tiger — and the entire experience.
I remember been there in 2007 when Florida and Tim Tebow entered Death Valley on Saturday night for a top-10 showdown. Les Miles went for it five times in fourth place, and his team—and their loyal following—backed him every step of the way to a come-from-behind 28-24 victory. It was a then-record crowd of 92,910. It sounded like twice that many people packed into a stadium that now holds more than 100,000.
There was also the legendary Earthquake Game in 1988. Technically, fewer than 80,000 fans were in attendance to see LSU defeat Auburn 7-6. But a seismograph registered an earthquake after Tommy Hodson hit a fourth-down TD pass with less than two minutes left on the clock.
I asked Derek Ponamsky, a former LSU employee and longtime Louisiana media contributor, where he’s heard the loudest game he’s ever heard. He said it was in 2019, when another team from Florida, ranked sixth, was visiting.
“That game was crazy from the moment we stepped off the bus,” he said. “Ja’Marr (Chase’s) TD and our stop on fourth down in the red zone was almost as good as the Earthquake Game or Rueben Randle’s catch and run in 2010 against Alabama. But that stadium was a jet engine for six hours. It was LOUD before they even got on the field. ‘College Gameday’ on campus It was electric.”
If you meet someone who has never experienced college football but wants the full experience, there’s only one place to go to experience it at full capacity: LSU’s Death Valley.
2. Alabama: Bryant-Denny Stadium
My favorite visit here was for the 2010 Iron Bowl – the Cam Newton game. There was a lot of drama surrounding Auburn and Newton that season based on the NCAA investigation into his recruitment.
In the aftermath of this match, a Alabama employee fired for their decision to blast the Steve Miller Band’s “Take the Money and Run” over the stadium sound system during warmups. It only added to the boisterous energy in the building that day. The Tide jumped on the Tigers early, taking a 24-0 lead, but Newton was Superman that season. He led Auburn to a 28-27 comeback victory, snapping a 20-game home winning streak for the Crimson Tide.
Bama also deserves a lot of credit for boosting the energy in the stadium with the lights, audio and video boards they’ve added over the years. It can feel like quite a mind-boggling experience when they’re rolling.
3. Penn State: Beaver Stadium
The Nittany Lions’ White Out games are deafening. Penn State usually saves it for the toughest game of the season, although sometimes it doesn’t turn out that way given Fox’s recent “Big Noon” strategy playing a role in Big Ten scheduling.
The Nittany Lions have won six of their last seven prime-time White Outs, six of them against ranked opponents — including a 2016 win over No. 2 Ohio State. Their lone loss came to No. 4 Ohio State by one point, 27-26, in 2018. Last year, Penn State shut out No. 24 Iowa, 31-0.
But I can say from experience that it’s not just the White Outs that make this place special. The atmosphere when No. 3 Michigan visited Happy Valley last November was the loudest afternoon game I can remember in the past decade — louder than any other “Big Noon” game I’ve been to — with nearly 111,000 in attendance. Michigan, which had the most experienced team in the country in 2023, did win that game, 24-15.
4. Ohio State: Ohio Stadium
The Buckeyes have long been the Big Ten’s most dominant program, so whoever shows up will usually face a strong team with a more talented roster. Still, the Horseshoe is a towering building that feels very different and intimidating than the Big House at archrival Michigan. The crowd comes in to break his opponent early and seems shocked to see anything other than a dominant Buckeyes showing.
5. Virginia Tech: Lane Stadium*
The asterisk is there because I’m thinking about what this place has been in the past, not necessarily what it’s been in recent years. I get it. Recent results show otherwise. As colleague Pete Sampson noted, the Hokies have gone 2-10 at home against top 25 teams over the past decade, but when the Hokies are playing well, this place is unique. I’ve been here for a few Hokies beatdowns of top 10 teams and the place rocks. It has some Tiger Stadium vibes, but there’s also something special about it.
It only takes two seconds for “Enter Sandman” to start playing and I get goosebumps. It happens every time, even more than a decade later. It takes me right back to Lane Stadium coming to life like no other venue, in a way that Camp Randall Stadium and “Jump Around” don’t. That’s frantic; this is more ominous.
It also suited their playing style perfectly. Based largely on their vaunted special teams, but also on their aggressive defense, the Hokies were college football’s preeminent sudden change, quick-attack team. It often felt like they were one giant step away from turning the game around or blowing it open.
There was more than a decade of Hokie magic from the late 1990s through the 2000s, in Frank Beamer’s heyday, when Lane was a chamber of horrors. In 1999, Virginia Tech faced three Top 25 teams – Syracuse, Miami and Boston College – and defeated them at home by a combined 143-24. In 2002, Tech defeated Nick Saban’s No. 14 LSU squad 26-8. The next year, a top-10 Hokies team hammered No. 2 Miami, 31-7. In 2004, the Hokies defeated No. 6 West Virginia. In 2005, they defeated No. 15 Georgia Tech and No. 13 Boston College by a combined score of 81-17. In 2009, Lane Stadium hosted back-to-back top-20 wins over Nebraska and Miami.
If Brent Pry can get the Hokies going again, Lane will become every opponent’s worst nightmare.
6. Florida: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
In my experience, The Swamp isn’t quite in the league with LSU and Bama, but it is on par with Tennessee and Georgia when it comes to a true SEC heavyweight experience. It was great to be there in the 90’s in the Steve Spurrier days to see the Gators play FSU and Bobby Bowden.
7. Tennessee: Neyland Stadium
On my first trip to Knoxville, I saw Tennessee play Georgia in the late 1990s. The Vols were really rolling back then, and I had to stand on the field in the end zone behind the Dawgs offense when they were in their own 10. I couldn’t even hear the guy next to me. It was a sea of orange, and it’s easy to see why so many Top 25 teams have taken a hit there over the years when UT was riding high. Georgia was ranked No. 13 that day and lost to the Vols 38-13.
Autzen Stadium exceeds all expectations when it comes to crowd noise. (Tom Hauck/Getty Images)
8. Oregon: Autzen Stadium
I remember a rival staffer telling me that they had to make noise during practice the week before they faced the Ducks. I don’t think a venue that size — 54,000 seats — could be that loud. It just didn’t make sense to him. But in a game of top-10 teams, the Ducks beat the visiting team by nearly three touchdowns.
Autzen Stadium is also a place where you can see almost every type of weather imaginable on the same day. Oregon has been great there for a long time and has defeated 31 of its last 32 opponents in Autzen.
9. Georgia: Sanford Stadium
I remember watching a good Boise State team come in 2005 in the 18th seed against 13th seed Georgia. The Broncos just came out and looked overwhelmed and lost 48-13. It was 38-0 before the Broncos could even break. Jared Zabransky, who was a very good QB for Boise State, had his first two passes intercepted and turned them over six times in the first half.
It doesn’t feel like it’s been any easier for the visitors now that the Dawgs are even more talented. UGA has won 13 straight games against the top 25 opponents at Sanford Stadium.
10. Texas A&M: Kyle Field
I was there when the press box shook. Kyle Field is a great building that gets really loud, and opponents complain that their sideline smells like horse manure. My first trip for a game was Johnny Manziel’s debut against Florida. He was dynamic. The building shook. A&M lost, though. That’s why Kyle Field isn’t higher on my list, even though it’s #1 on the EA Sports rankings.
If A&M was really good, the Aggies would still have a harder time at home than they should have. Manziel led them to a victory at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2012, but the next year, as wild as it felt to be in Kyle Field for the rematch, A&M lost.
(Top photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
