What is college football’s most difficult stadium to play in? Bruce Feldman ranks LSU No. 1

EA Sports then caused a lot of discussion 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 take on the EA Sports list, and now here is my ranking of the 10 hardest places to play in college football.

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 crashing the bus on arrival to plying visitors with booze. Just seeing Mike the Tiger in person adds an extra layer of intimidation.

Mike Leach told me the story of the first time he went in there when he was the offensive coordinator at Kentucky.

“There were little old ladies with their grandchildren getting off our bus,” Leach said. “As we got closer, they started rocking our bus!”

Count Leach among those impressed by Mike the Tiger – and the whole experience.

I remember been there in 2007 as Florida and Tim Tebow entered Death Valley for a top-10 showdown on Saturday night. Les Miles went for it five times in fourth place and his team – and their loyal followers – supported him every step of the way for a come-from-behind 28-24 victory. It was a record number of 92,910 at the time. It sounded like twice as many people crammed into a stadium that now seats more than 100,000 people.

There was also the legendary Earthquake Game in 1988. Technically, fewer than 80,000 fans were there to see LSU upset Auburn 7-6. But a seismograph registered an earthquake after Tommy Hodson connected on a fourth-down TD pass with less than two minutes to play.

I asked former LSU employee and longtime Louisiana media member Derek Ponamsky about the loudest he’s ever heard the venue before a game, and he said it was in 2019 when another team from Florida, ranked No. 6, visited came.

“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 were 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 took 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’s investigation into his recruitment.

In the aftermath of this game, a An Alabama staffer was fired for their decision to play the Steve Miller Band’s song “Take the Money and Run” over the stadium’s sound system during warm-ups. It only added to the raw energy in the building that day. The Tide jumped the Tigers early, going up 24-0, 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 Fox’s recent ‘Big Noon’ strategy takes Big Ten scheduling into account, sometimes it doesn’t end that way.

The Nittany Lions have won six of their past seven primetime White Outs, six of which came against ranked opponents – including the 2016 victory over No. 2 Ohio State. The only loss was to No. 4 Ohio State by one point, 27-26, in 2018. Last year, Penn State shutout No. 24 Iowa 31-0.

But I can speak from experience that it’s not just the White Outs that make this place special. The atmosphere last November, when No. 3 Michigan visited Happy Valley, was the loudest afternoon kickoff game I can remember in the last decade – louder than any other “Big Noon” game I’ve been to – with nearly 111,000 attendees. Michigan, which had the most experienced team in the country in 2023, won that game 24-15.

4. Ohio State: Ohio Stadium

The Buckeyes have long been the Big Ten’s most dominant program, so whoever emerges will usually face a stacked team with a more talented roster. Still, the Horseshoe is a towering building that feels very different and intimidating than archrival Michigan’s Big House. The crowd comes in ready to break its opponent early and seems shocked to see anything other than a dominant Buckeyes.

5. Virginia Tech: Lane Stadium*

The asterisk is here because I’m thinking about what this place has been in the past, not necessarily what it has been in recent years. I understand. Recent results have shown that this is different. As colleague Pete Sampson noted, the Hokies went 2-10 at home against top 25 teams over the past decade, but when the Hokies play well, this place is unique. I’ve been here for a few Hokies beatdowns of top-10 teams where the place rocks. It has some Tiger Stadium vibes, but there’s also something special about it.

It only takes the first two seconds of “Enter Sandman” to play and I get goosebumps. It happens every time, even more than ten years later. It immediately takes me back to how Lane Stadium comes to life like no other venue, in a different way than Camp Randall Stadium and “Jump Around.” That’s crazy; 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, fast-paced 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 rolling again, Lane will be any opponent’s worst nightmare.

6. Florida: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

In my experience, The Swamp doesn’t quite fall into the category of LSU and Bama, but it fits right in with Tennessee and Georgia when it comes to big, true SEC heavyweight experiences. It was a blast to be there in the ’90s, in the Steve Spurrier days, to see the Gators face 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 then, and I had to be on the field in the end zone behind the Dawgs offense when they were in their own 10. I couldn’t even hear the person next to me. It was a sea of ​​orange, and it’s easy to see why so many Top 25 teams took 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 punches above its weight in the crowd noise. (Tom Hauck/Getty Images)

8. Oregon: Autzen Stadium

I remember a rival staffer telling me that the week before they faced the Ducks, they had to make a lot of noise at practice. It doesn’t seem like a place that size – with 54,000 seats – could be that loud. It just wasn’t right for him. But in a matchup between top 10 teams, the Ducks defeated their visitors by nearly three touchdowns.

Autzen Stadium is also a place where you can see almost every weather situation 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 at 18th against No. 13 Georgia in 2005. The Broncos just came unstuck and looked overwhelmed, losing 48-13. It was 38-0 before the Broncos settled down. 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 things have been easier for the visitors now that the Dawgs are even more talented. UGA has won 13 straight games against 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 very loud, and opponents complain that their sidelines smell like horse manure. My first trip for a game was Johnny Manziel’s debut against Florida. He was dynamic. The building shook. However, A&M lost. That’s why Kyle Field isn’t higher on my list, even though it’s ranked #1 in EA Sports’ rankings.

If A&M was really good, the Aggies still struggled more than they should at home. Manziel led them to a win 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)