Tiger Stadium #3 on Toughest Places to Play for EA College Football 25

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1. Texas A&M - Kyle Field

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1. Texas A&M - Kyle Field

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Print the cups

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Didn’t Aggy just lose to App State at home?

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Their record at home against ranked opponents is atrocious, even though App State wasn’t ranked

FSU always seems loud as shite when I watch them at home and their fans do the annoying Seminole war chant all game, so I would imagine that being a tough place to play.

Bama has great teams, so it's naturally hard to win there. Their own fans think their atmosphere is lame, but they do have a nice stadium and I think it's a good atmosphere. I like some other atmospheres in the SEC better though.

Auburn has always seemed like one of the toughest places to play. Good teams and loud fans. Would definitely have them on the list.

Tennessee is big and gets loud too (and the non-stop Rockytop chants are probably annoying to play in front of).

Tiger Stadium is obviously one of the best environments, but for the lesser games, it's not anything special (though still fun).

a&m

Toughest place for A&M to play.

Clickbait to get the people talking on social media.

List must be including after halftime.

Good article on Athletic saying that the rankings aren't great:

LINK

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Which stadium is ranked too high?

Khan: I hate to say it, but Kyle Field at No. 1 seems a tad too high. Not because there’s anything wrong with the fans. It is arguably the best game day atmosphere in the sport, with more than 30,000 towel-waving students yelling from start to finish as part of a raucous crowd of 100,000-plus. But “toughest” implies it’s hard to win there, and for opponents, it hasn’t been as tough in the last decade. Appalachian State infamously upset the Aggies in 2022, a season in which they finished 4-3 at home. In the Kevin Sumlin era, A&M had a losing record at home against SEC foes and didn’t beat an SEC West team in Kyle Field for two consecutive years. That’s on the teams, not the stadium or fans, but it should be taken into account.

The only time this century that Texas A&M has had an undefeated home record in a season is 2020, the year full crowds were not allowed because of pandemic restrictions. The next most recent season that A&M went undefeated at home was 1999. If you’re the No. 1 toughest place to play in the country, going unbeaten at home should be a more frequent occurrence.

Olson: Georgia coach Kirby Smart has a 44-4 record in home games and has won 13 consecutive games against ranked opponents at Sanford Stadium. His teams are obviously extremely intimidating to play on any field, and Sanford’s game day experience has certainly been elevated in recent years, but I’m sure there are several fan bases — Penn State, Florida State and Florida especially — who’d argue they deserve the Bulldogs’ spot in the top five.

Vannini: I’m going to say Oklahoma at No. 8 but with a caveat. Because the annual Texas game is in Dallas, the Sooners don’t often get a good home schedule. That will change this year with Tennessee and Alabama coming to town as part of OU’s first SEC slate. I look forward to seeing whether Sooner fans can live up to the ranking.

GO DEEPER

I played two hours of College Football 25. Here's what I learned

Snyder: Spartan Stadium at No. 22. I realize the lens through which I’m viewing this — as a Penn State beat writer who often makes this trip during Thanksgiving weekend for the Land Grant Trophy game — is never the best representation of a crowd. I’m trying not to focus on that too much, but I’ve never gotten the feeling during all my trips there that it was truly one of the premier atmospheres in the sport. Maybe I’ve just had unusual trips there, which is certainly possible. However, when it comes to wacky Big Ten weather that can make life difficult for visitors, this place certainly delivers. Through snow, lightning delays and everything in between, you might find yourself playing in a hostile winter wonderland in East Lansing.

Sampson: I realize this video game is coming off an 11-year hiatus, but Lane Stadium? “Enter Sandman” may be an iconic entrance, but it doesn’t carry over to the actual game. The Hokies are 2-10 at home against Top 25 teams in the past decade. Once the game starts, Lane Stadium is just another college football venue.

What’s your pick for No. 1 Toughest Place To Play?

Khan: There’s no place quite like Tiger Stadium for an LSU home game. A Saturday night in Death Valley is as intimidating as it gets. Because LSU fans know how to tailgate, they come into Tiger Stadium properly lubricated and ready to scream for three-and-a-half hours. Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow put it best in a 2021 conversation with Paul Finebaum: “When you pull up the fans are pushing your bus. When you get out of the bus, they’re pouring beer on you. When you walk into the stadium, you have three generations, side-by-side, that are all saying stuff I can’t repeat to you. And then the game starts, and they’re loud.”

Olson: The two loudest stadium experiences I’ve ever had were at Texas A&M and Virginia Tech, so I cannot argue in good faith that A&M has no business being in the top spot on this list. I’ve attended a few epic night games in College Station — 2021 Alabama, 2018 Clemson, 2010 Nebraska — and came away extremely impressed. Still, I assumed LSU would be No. 1.

Vannini: It’s gotta be LSU’s Tiger Stadium. Who else can claim an “Earthquake Game,” as LSU did in 1988 against Auburn? There’s nothing like a night game there. Death Valley is “where opponents’ dreams come to die.”

Snyder: LSU. Saturday night in Death Valley — an event I’ve only ever experienced from afar but hope to one day see in person — always seems to cut through as one of the premier jaw-dropping atmospheres in the sport. It’s clear enough to me even on TV that it’s special. Like Beaver Stadium with the White Out, Ohio State’s dotting of the I, Rammer Jammer at Alabama and the Wave at Kinnick Stadium, the Death Valley experience is one of the many moments I hope the video game captures well for fans. Best of luck to those playing in Tiger Stadium at night with 102,000-plus losing their minds.

Sampson: From personal experience, nothing tops Sanford Stadium in Athens. Georgia got on the light show trend early and knows how to keep a party going all day and all night. And good luck snapping the ball. At Georgia, no one can hear you yell “hike.” It’s a perfect marriage of fan culture and five-star talent.

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Also that Aggies suck and shouldn't be there

I get that they’re trying to use objective measures to come up with these ratings but A&M coming up on top on this is legitimately hilarious with how wrong it is

TS is the best big game atmosphere in sports. However, for normal/non ranked games it’s become fairly pedestrian