Bruce Feldman's Top 10 scariest places to play

[MS72]

ESPN - Feldman: Top 10 scariest places to play - College Football

1. Death Valley (LSU)
2. Lane Stadium (Virginia Tech)
3. The Swamp (Florida)
4. The Coliseum (USC)
5. Beaver Stadium (Penn State)
6. Death Valley (Clemson)
7. Orange Bowl (Miami FL)
8. Memorial Stadium (Oklahoma)
9. The Shoe (Ohio State)
10. Strawberry Canyon (Cal)

There are a few bad ones on this list IMHO. USC isn't the 4th scariest place to play at all, The shoe is way too low, the Orange Bowl is the same as USC's, and The Zoo (Auten Stadium, Oregon) isn't even on there. Some good, and alot of bad IMO.

[Blaze_1UP]

USC should be know where near that list the only thing they sell out are Laker games

[Rocky Top]

The Cal fans at Knoxville last year said we were a whole lot louder and such than the Rose Bowl or the Colliseum. Been to Lane Stadium twice, dont see that. Columbia (SC) is awesome.

[Daddy Duck]

I have to laugh my ass off.....Strawberry Canyon is a joke. I used to live in Berkley...that stadium is weak. Up until about 5 years ago Oregon, USC, Washington and UCLA always had more fans there than Cal. Any list that leaves Autzen out is silly. SI had it right, this is a joke.

[Daddy Duck]

Great qoutes on Autzen.....


"Sitting in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Oregon's Autzen Stadium is one of college football's hidden jewels. Before kickoff, Autzen is as peaceful as the Willamette River, which runs through Eugene just a few minutes from the stadium. After kickoff, the fans - even the alumni - forget who they are, where they come from and what their degree is in. The audience adopts a new collective identity for the next three-and-a-half hours: the 12th, 13th and 14th man. Autzen's 59,000 strong make the Big House collectively sound like a pathetic whimper. It's louder than any place I've ever been, and that includes "The Swamp" at Florida, "The Shoe" in Columbus and "Death Valley" at Louisiana State. Autzen Stadium is where great teams go to die." - J. Brady McCollough, The Michigan Daily.

Top 10 Stadium Lists

"I'm back to list the overall top 10 most intimidating stadiums in the nation. … For the overall top 10, it's back to the basics -- the 10 most intimidating stadiums for one game and one game only.

1. Autzen Stadium, Oregon
2. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Florida
3. Kyle Field, Texas A&M
4. Tiger Stadium, LSU
5. Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida State
6. Ohio Stadium, Ohio State
7. Lane Stadium, Virginia Tech
8. Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
9. Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame
10. Memorial Stadium, Nebraska

Trust me on Autzen. Just go to the place and soak it all in. Before they throw dirt on you, take a trip to Eugene one fall Saturday. … Autzen Stadium is a zoo; there's no other way to say it. Get inside your own 20 in a tight game, and you can forget about A.) hearing; B.) avoiding false starts and C.) success." - Matt Hayes, SportingNews.

"Top 10 College Football Stadiums. … 10. Autzen Stadium. … You can have your cookie cutter Midwest stadiums and the beauty and pageantry of Southern traditions. We’ll take the most hostile atmosphere this side of Gainesville any day, anyway." - MSNBC.

"Top Five most-underrated College football atmospheres: … 5. Autzen Stadium. It's not so much the atmosphere as the noise. Wow. Just 54,000-plus fans, but the noise rattles all over the place. Night games are similar to LSU's Tiger Stadium." - Houston Chronicle.

The Noise

"The Autzen Bounce causes deafness in laboratory rats." - Dennis Dodd, CBSSportsline.

"Q: What would you say the loudest stadiums are? Corso: I think Autzen Stadium. Per person, the Oregon stadium is the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in. The fact that it’s so low to the ground doesn’t allow the sound to escape." Lee Corso, ESPN GameDay.

"If you’ve never been to a game at Autzen Stadium do yourself a favor and get there soon. One word for the experience. Loud. Hurt your ears loud. Make them bleed loud. The Big Ten has nothing as loud as Autzen." - BigTenTailgate.com

"Per capita, Autzen is the loudest venue in all of college football." J. Brady McCollough, The Michigan Daily.

"It’s very tough. The crowd there is unbelievably educated on when to be loud and when to calm down when they have the ball. It’s just a very tough environment with the noise and just trying to communicate." - Jeff Tedford, Cal HC

"They are very difficult to beat at home. The crowd is, from every report I get, from every coach I've spoken with, a real factor. You have to learn to communicate without talking, because talking doesn't do you any good." - Lloyd Carr, Michigan HC (before playing at Autzen).

"That's the loudest stadium I've ever been in." - Lloyd Carr, Michigan HC (after playing at Autzen).

"Crowd noise is almost an unfair advantage. You can't check plays, you seemingly have less time on the play clock and everything starts to feel really rushed." - Troy Taylor, Cal QB

"They're going to be loud from the first snap until the last snap. They are right on top of you and they're just relentless." - Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin HC.

"You can hear a pin drop when their offense is on the field, and when our offense is out there, it's like being in a thunderstorm." - Thomas DeCloud, Cal Safety

[Irish]

I agree on the Autzen thing. I'm not a big fan of Oregon although I respect their team, but the Zoo is just that, a zoo. Like DD said, you can't explain it any other way. 1. Most disruptive place to play easy

[cardsfan]

Neyland Stadium in Knoxville should be on that list, IMO.

[MS72]

The Sea of Red should be on there as well....

[Daddy Duck]

Camp Randell, Neyland, Nebraska's Memorial Stadium, Kyle Field All should be on here.

The Swamp is way, way overrated. That place was ridiculously quiet this weekend. I was channel surfing between the Auburn, UF game and the UW, USC game. Husky Stadium was much louder than the Swamp.

[MS72]

I agree. They're one of those stadiums with a mistique about them, not real scary.

[Daddy Duck]

Originally Posted by MS72

I agree. They're one of those stadiums with a mistique about them, not real scary.

Did you catch Al Borges qoute on his first visit to the Swamp? If not here it is.....

Quote from Auburn coach


"Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges’ first visit to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was a success as the Tigers scored a pair of early touchdowns and then was able to tack on the game-winning points in clutch time. He says it was about as expected, but he’s heard much louder stadiums.

“It was about like I thought,” he notes. “I had never coached in The Swamp, but this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been in louder places. It doesn’t have nothing on LSU and I’ll tell you something else--laugh if you want, but play at Oregon some time. You’ll find out what loud is. You can’t even hear yourself think. They don’t have but 65,000 fans, but for whatever reason... They’ve got the ‘No Audible Zone’ there"

[MS72]

Originally Posted by Daddy Duck

Did you catch Al Borges qoute on his first visit to the Swamp? If not here it is.....

Quote from Auburn coach


"Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges’ first visit to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was a success as the Tigers scored a pair of early touchdowns and then was able to tack on the game-winning points in clutch time. He says it was about as expected, but he’s heard much louder stadiums.

“It was about like I thought,” he notes. “I had never coached in The Swamp, but this isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve been in louder places. It doesn’t have nothing on LSU and I’ll tell you something else--laugh if you want, but play at Oregon some time. You’ll find out what loud is. You can’t even hear yourself think. They don’t have but 65,000 fans, but for whatever reason... They’ve got the ‘No Audible Zone’ there"

Like I said, IMO Autzen should be #2 behind Death Valley (Sorry DD.)

[Daddy Duck]

Originally Posted by MS72

Like I said, IMO Autzen should be #2 behind Death Valley (Sorry DD.)

I actually have death Valley, Lane and Neyland ahead of Autzen. I just think it's funny that, that Auburn Coach clowned the Swamp.

The Horseshoe and the Big House are both highly overrated imo.

[Eksynyt]

A lot of this is, yet again, a traditional team bias. The same old guys like to talk about the same teams and their stadiums year after year. Tradition is a good thing, but it can cloud judgment on more deserving candidates oftentimes.

[bamafan3]

1. Death Valley (LSU)
2. Lane Stadium (Virginia Tech)
3. The Swamp (Florida)
4. The Coliseum (USC)
5. Beaver Stadium (Penn State)
6. Death Valley (Clemson)
7. Orange Bowl (Miami FL)
8. Memorial Stadium (Oklahoma)
9. The Shoe (Ohio State)
10. Strawberry Canyon (Cal)

This is a joke. I'm not trying to take anything away from any of these schools(well maybe so) and granted other than TN and Auburn I am a big SEC fan but IMO Death Valley (LSU) and the Swamp is not what it use to be. Back in the day ( Spurrier and Saban) these were (key word) the toughest, without a question, places to go and play but they are not NOW. LSU is still a good football team, the best I dont know. Florida on the otherhand, no matter what happens in their game, is OVERATRED, along with Tebow, who I think needs to give Joiner another hug and kiss. VT is NOT the 2nd toughest place to play period, can NOT change MO. Clemson????? You've got to be kidding me. Clemson????? Cal ???? If you want to get a PAC 10 team involved you can do better than that. Oregon, UCLA not Cal. USC I've never really been impressed with. Penn State. Hahahahahahaha. How? We are talking about now right? Miami again NOW, ask them if they want to play Bama, unless the last couple times wasn't good enough they can get embarrassed again and we are not no where near what we used to be. I put Oklahoma and Ohio State in the same category as USC. This years toughest games at home for these 3 schools: USC an unranked UCLA, Oklahoma is Missouri, and Ohio State, look out, an underacheiving Wisconsin team, which I believe will lose to Illinois, or Illinois. THIS IS SUPPOSE TO BE THIS YEAR. I do NOT care what they did 5 to 10 years ago. If we are going by that Alabama deseveres a shot at being in the top 10. Which IMHO deseveres atleast a top 25. Byrant-Denny was tough even with Shula.