Atmosphere at your alma mater's football stadium

[thebluefood]

Since enrolling in college here at East Carolina, I've grown quite fond of college football. Sure, I've always enjoyed it; but I grew up watching Maryland, and that resulted in little more than exasperated sighs and the motto "well, at least it's almost basketball season."

Greenville, North Carolina, though, is a football town; bar none. This place is crazy about the Pirates and I'll admit I've gotten swept up in, too; and home games at Dowdy-Ficklen stadium are a sight to see...that is, unless you're a member of the opposing team or part of their fan base.

The thing I've told people about Dowdy-Ficklen stadium is this: if you want to come and support your team, for God's sake, sit in the visitor's section and avoid the alumni and student sections at ALL costs or your afternoon is going to be a living hell, win or lose. It's called "Rowdy Dowdy" for a reason. Don't believe me? Ask the brave NC State or Virginia Tech fans who actually made the trip out there.

One of our posters (who, I believe, is a V Tech fan) has often mentioned to me how much he didn't like his experience at Dowdy-Ficklen, and I don't blame him. I certainly don't condone the things he's brought up, but when people mention the "friendly confines of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium," they aren't talking to you unless you're a Pirate fan. It's hostile, it's cramped, and for a place that only seats a little over 50,000 it is LOUD and we have one hell of a home field advantage.

But, I've only seen live games at Dowdy-Ficklen. I've always wondered "are we the norm or are we an anomaly?" What are Saturday's like at your alma mater or your preferred college team?

[fullnelson9999]

I went to a division 2 school, so it wasn't that great. I called the games on TV though, so I was at every game.

[PokerPacker]

what football stadium?

[thebluefood]

what football stadium?

Lemme guess

[Mr. S]

JMU was meh when I was there. When they finish Phase 1 of their expansion, they will have over 25,000 seats and that may change things a little. Tennessee on the other hand, always a great experience. I always felt it was a much better experience than the Redskins games I attended. One of the few things I miss about grad school was being able to go to games for cheap and being in Neyland Stadium!

[Twofoot]

Ross-Ade rocked when Breesus was at Purdue, heck Orton as well. Now it's usually 1/3 empty. Not that I blame the current students....

[Hubbs]

Unfortunately, mine (Boston College) varies greatly depending on the opponent and our own place in the standings. When we play Clemson in a battle for first place. Everyone's rocking, the students are coming up with chant after chant, the band is busting out Dropkick Murphys songs... it's great. (Our unofficial fight song is Shipping Up To Boston.) When we play Kent State, on the other hand...

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

I went to the University of Hawaii and Aloha Stadium's atmosphere wasn't that great.

Unfortunately, I missed the Colt Brennan era.

[Dukes and Skins]

JMU was meh when I was there. When they finish Phase 1 of their expansion, they will have over 25,000 seats and that may change things a little. Tennessee on the other hand, always a great experience. I always felt it was a much better experience than the Redskins games I attended. One of the few things I miss about grad school was being able to go to games for cheap and being in Neyland Stadium!

The atmosphere at JMU is better now especially this year after the Tech win , it seems like the student section is filled for every game. Hopefully once they finish out the new stadium renovations to make it 25,000 it'll help out even more. Now if only our football team would win the games it should win and be in the playoffs.....

[SuperSkinette]

I go to an Ivy League school, and people couldn't care less about football. Seriously, my NoVA high school's football field was only a little smaller than my school's "stadium." It's quite depressing.

[PokerPacker]

Lemme guess

[Spartacus87]

I'll set the scene for you:

Night game at Doak Campbell Stadium against Miami or UF, packed to capacity with about 82,000 fans on their feet:



As Chief Osceola rides out on Renegade and plants the burning spear at mid-field:



And the FSU band starts playing the Warchant:

[YOUTUBE]L_vpfblTqng[/YOUTUBE]

It's too loud for me to really be able to think, let alone hear anything except the crowd noise and band.

Clemson gets loud as hell in their Death Valley, especially since their field is sunken and their stadium's seating rises upward at a ridiculously steep angle.

VT obviously gets rowdy when Enter Sandman starts up.

LSU is famous for setting off the Richter Scale.

Stadium atmosphere is one of the key selling points of college football, especially when it's a rivalry game.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

You're right about Clemson.

Death Valley is no joke.

[Predicto]

My undergrad was Division III, and had no atmosphere other than the overwhelming nerd disdain for sports.

For grad school, I was at Michigan, and Ann Arbor had a great atmosphere on game days. The stadium had a larger capacity than the entire town. Unfortunately, the Big House itself is just too damn big and open. The sound goes straight up into the air. I remember being at one game, and they were doing a simple chant where one end of the stadium would yell "Go" and the other end would yell "Blue." The "Go" being yelled by 55,000 people would come rolling in like thunder from a long distance away, and the "Blue" would roll back the same way. 'GOOOoooooooooo....... [five second pause] BLUUUUuuuuuu.........." It was surreal.

[MassSkinsFan]

I go to an Ivy League school, and people couldn't care less about football. Seriously, my NoVA high school's football field was only a little smaller than my school's "stadium." It's quite depressing.

Yep. I went to Cornell and Schoellkopf Field was pretty lame. It provided a good place to drink surreptitiously during the games.

The most impressive Ivy "stadium" I've seen was UPenn.