18
- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Coaching Changes
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
My Ole Miss Review
Posted on 9/21/26 at 10:36 pm
Posted on 9/21/26 at 10:36 pm
I went to Oxford this weekend expecting to experience one of the best game-day atmospheres in college football. After seeing it firsthand, I came away pretty disappointed.
**The Grove:**
The Grove was extremely overcrowded. It was basically thousands of tents packed tightly together with very little room to move. Unlike an LSU tailgate, there was little cooking, music, or personal space. Getting to a tent meant navigating through crowds, chairs, tables, ice chests, TVs, and other tents.
The congestion was unbelievable. The bathroom lines were around an hour, and the Union was packed when we went inside for AC. It felt more like a hurricane evacuation center than a college campus.
**The Game:**
The stadium atmosphere felt more like a concert than a football game. There were light shows during almost every break, and piped-in music played constantly. I could see the Ole Miss band playing, but could barely hear them because the music drowned them out.
The stadium itself is relatively small, but I will give them credit: the bathrooms and concessions moved quickly. The food was also better than what I've had at Tiger Stadium. However, they ran out of ice and water in the fourth quarter.
**The Fans:**
The fans were not nearly as hostile as I expected. There were a few people talking trash, but nothing unusual. The fraternity groups around the Walk of Champions were unruly, although police had them barricaded and separated from everyone else.
**Overall:**
Ole Miss definitely has a unique game-day atmosphere, but I wasn't impressed. The Grove was far too congested, the stadium experience felt overproduced, and the crowd seemed too large for the infrastructure.
There were some positives, especially the food, efficient concessions, and relatively friendly fans. But overall, I felt Ole Miss did a poor job handling such a large crowd.
Coming from LSU, I expected a lot more from the famous Ole Miss game-day experience.
**The Grove:**
The Grove was extremely overcrowded. It was basically thousands of tents packed tightly together with very little room to move. Unlike an LSU tailgate, there was little cooking, music, or personal space. Getting to a tent meant navigating through crowds, chairs, tables, ice chests, TVs, and other tents.
The congestion was unbelievable. The bathroom lines were around an hour, and the Union was packed when we went inside for AC. It felt more like a hurricane evacuation center than a college campus.
**The Game:**
The stadium atmosphere felt more like a concert than a football game. There were light shows during almost every break, and piped-in music played constantly. I could see the Ole Miss band playing, but could barely hear them because the music drowned them out.
The stadium itself is relatively small, but I will give them credit: the bathrooms and concessions moved quickly. The food was also better than what I've had at Tiger Stadium. However, they ran out of ice and water in the fourth quarter.
**The Fans:**
The fans were not nearly as hostile as I expected. There were a few people talking trash, but nothing unusual. The fraternity groups around the Walk of Champions were unruly, although police had them barricaded and separated from everyone else.
**Overall:**
Ole Miss definitely has a unique game-day atmosphere, but I wasn't impressed. The Grove was far too congested, the stadium experience felt overproduced, and the crowd seemed too large for the infrastructure.
There were some positives, especially the food, efficient concessions, and relatively friendly fans. But overall, I felt Ole Miss did a poor job handling such a large crowd.
Coming from LSU, I expected a lot more from the famous Ole Miss game-day experience.
Posted on 9/21/26 at 10:42 pm to Kevin TheRant
It looked fun on TV
This was the first thing I noticed watching gameday. Do they not have any space to spread out a bit?
quote:
It was basically thousands of tents packed tightly together with very little room to move.
This was the first thing I noticed watching gameday. Do they not have any space to spread out a bit?
This post was edited on 9/21/26 at 10:46 pm
Posted on 9/21/26 at 10:49 pm to Yeti_Chaser
quote:
This was the first thing I noticed watching gameday. Do they not have any space to spread out a bit?
No, it is my understanding that all the tailgating must be done on that one area. Also, I don’t believe anyone can set up their own tailgate. A company manages everything and the fans must pay them to get a spot the company provides everything for the tailgate for a large fee. The people we tailgated with didn’t find out their spot until 9pm of Friday night.
This post was edited on 9/21/26 at 10:51 pm
Posted on 9/21/26 at 10:55 pm to Kevin TheRant
quote:That all sounds frighteningly familiar.
*The Game:**
The stadium atmosphere felt more like a concert than a football game. There were light shows during almost every break, and piped-in music played constantly. I could see the Ole Miss band playing, but could barely hear them because the music drowned them
Posted on 9/22/26 at 1:42 am to Kevin TheRant
You’re right about the Grove;it’s far too congested now than it was 20 years ago. No grilling allowed in the Grove but you can cook/grill in other tailgate spots. There are more places to tailgate other than the Grove. Campus is small and landlocked unlike MSU which is the 2nd largest land grant university in the country. Also, Oxford has outgrown It’s infrastructure and people are still moving there in droves. Traffic has been bad during the week and terrible on football weekends.
About half the enrollment is out of state now but enrollment is stagnant because of facilities. Great school for kids into Greek life. For MS kids wanting SEC school but not sure about Greek life, State would be a better option. Much more laid back and still can do Sorority/fraternity but don’t have to and won’t feel left out.
About half the enrollment is out of state now but enrollment is stagnant because of facilities. Great school for kids into Greek life. For MS kids wanting SEC school but not sure about Greek life, State would be a better option. Much more laid back and still can do Sorority/fraternity but don’t have to and won’t feel left out.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 6:30 am to montjrtiger
quote:
About half the enrollment is out of state now but enrollment is stagnant because of facilities. Great school for kids into Greek life. For MS kids wanting SEC school but not sure about Greek life, State would be a better option. Much more laid back and still can do Sorority/fraternity but don’t have to and won’t feel left
Speaking of Greek life. I did leave out that we drove through campus on Friday night and Fraternity row was pretty awesome. The frats all had huge party’s. One had The Chainsmoker and another had Ceelo Green. It was pretty cool to see how big the parties were. I can’t imagine the fees to throw those parties.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 6:37 am to Kevin TheRant
quote:
he Grove was extremely overcrowded.
The Grove is set up to handle about 150,000 people.
An extra 100,000 uninvited opposing fans show up without tickets.
Reaction: "The Grove was overcrowded."
You guys are keen on your observations
Posted on 9/22/26 at 6:59 am to No Colors
I
Where else are opposing fans supposed to go before a game? Thats why it’s a tailgate.
quote:
The Grove is set up to handle about 150,000 people. An extra 100,000 uninvited opposing fans show up without tickets. Reaction: "The Grove was overcrowded." You guys are keen on your observations
Where else are opposing fans supposed to go before a game? Thats why it’s a tailgate.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 7:02 am to No Colors
quote:
An extra 100,000 uninvited opposing fans show up without tickets.
Are you saying there were 100,000 LSU fans in Oxford in Saturday?
Posted on 9/22/26 at 7:03 am to Kevin TheRant
quote:
Where else are opposing fans supposed to go before a game? Thats why it’s a tailgate.
The Grove is simply not set up to handle 300,000 people. It's very comfortable and fun at 150,000. But we can't magically make it bigger. So when 150,000 extra people show up, they can't expect it to magically expand. They have to be able to do the math.
As for where the opposing fans should tailgate? There are hundreds of acres of parking lots and other open spaces to tailgate. Just go there where it's not crowded.
But it's insane to go to a crowded spot and complain about how crowded it is.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 7:05 am to Gnash
quote:
Are you saying there were 100,000 LSU fans in Oxford in Saturday?
I have no idea about the split. How many OM fans. How many LSU fans. How many gangsters from Memphis. How many unaffiliated rednecks from Tishomingo County.
But Oxford Police estimated 350,000 total people in Oxford. And about 150,000 can fit comfortably into the Grove. So that's just the math
Posted on 9/22/26 at 7:14 am to Kevin TheRant
The grove nor Oxford is made to withstand the amount of people who showed up Saturday. For every person in the stadium there were five more still out in the grove. You might enjoy the experience more if you were in town for a Troy type game. Kudos to you for going.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 7:18 am to No Colors
quote:
As for where the opposing fans should tailgate? There are hundreds of acres of parking lots and other open spaces to tailgate. Just go there where it's not crowded.
I’m calling BS on that. I walked the entire campus. The grove was the only place that tailgating was set up. Only place with bathroom access. Ole Miss sets it up that way. No parking lot on campus is open to park either. You can’t even drive on campus on game day without a pass.
You host a big game, you should be prepared. The student union has people sitting on the ground as soon as you walked in. 95% ole Miss fans. And the 3rd floor was closed.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 7:19 am to No Colors
quote:
The Grove is set up to handle about 150,000 people.
An extra 100,000 uninvited opposing fans show up without tickets.
Reaction: "The Grove was overcrowded."
You guys are keen on your observations
No offense, buddy, but when we have a giant pre-game crowd at LSU it is handled well and is not overcrowded. No amount of opposing fans has ever made it overcrowded.
The OP seemed very fair to Ole Miss, giving y’all credit for a great fraternity scene, better concessions than we have, and polite fans. He’s just pointing out, accurately based on your input, that the Grove sucks for big game crowds and the stadium experience has been degraded by the concert-like over production that is infecting all of us.
I’ll add that the color-coded stadium sections were well done and showed up great on TV. Congratulations on the big win, and I hope y’all have a great season. I was rooting for the Rebels in the CFP last year and I will this year if y’all make it and we don’t. Also, I hope y’all lose by 50 in Baton Rouge next year, and I bet it turns out kind of like that.
This post was edited on 9/22/26 at 7:22 am
Posted on 9/22/26 at 7:23 am to No Colors
quote:
The Grove is simply not set up to handle 300,000 people
So u telling me that there was 240,000 people there who didn't go to game? Yeah ok. Lol
This post was edited on 9/22/26 at 7:24 am
Posted on 9/22/26 at 8:21 am to No Colors
quote:
The Grove is set up to handle about 150,000 people.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 8:30 am to Kevin TheRant
In fairness, Ole Miss/Grove is not built for that many people. I wish there wasn't a street between the football stadium and baseball stadium and we could extend some grass area there to help the overflow of the Grove. It's unbearable the few games like this with crazy hype against a team in driving distance.
You can't walk around and bounce from tent to tent which is what makes the Grove so much fun. We also have the Circle which is just as full but you get less foot traffic like the Grove and it's only a few feet away.
The music pumped in was to eliminate the frick you, Kiffins. Best way to keep people from shouting it is to mute it. We do do a lot more lights/music but that started with Kiffin soooo :)
I can't express how cool it was to see the lack of hostility. I had an LSU fan with me and he got ragged a little bit but wasn't a problem outside of y'all scoring the 17th unanswered point and tying it up. Had to tell a few Ole Miss fans to frick off.
Sucks you were disappointed but you probably had unrealistic expectations going in for such a crazy game.
Definitely try to return for a more chill game and get the good Grove experience.
You can't walk around and bounce from tent to tent which is what makes the Grove so much fun. We also have the Circle which is just as full but you get less foot traffic like the Grove and it's only a few feet away.
The music pumped in was to eliminate the frick you, Kiffins. Best way to keep people from shouting it is to mute it. We do do a lot more lights/music but that started with Kiffin soooo :)
I can't express how cool it was to see the lack of hostility. I had an LSU fan with me and he got ragged a little bit but wasn't a problem outside of y'all scoring the 17th unanswered point and tying it up. Had to tell a few Ole Miss fans to frick off.
Sucks you were disappointed but you probably had unrealistic expectations going in for such a crazy game.
Definitely try to return for a more chill game and get the good Grove experience.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 8:33 am to Penrod
quote:
No offense, buddy, but when we have a giant pre-game crowd at LSU it is handled well and is not overcrowded. No amount of opposing fans has ever made it overcrowded.
True but how do you do that? The Grove is landlocked by buildings and our campus is considerably smaller than LSUs. Unfortunately, everyone wants to be in the Grove. It's like offering people tickets to Sunday at the Masters or a practice round on Tuesday. Everyone is going to want to take the Sunday tickets.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 8:47 am to Kevin TheRant
quote:
The stadium atmosphere felt more like a concert than a football game. There were light shows during almost every break, and piped-in music played constantly. I could see the Ole Miss band playing, but could barely hear them because the music drowned them out.
Sadly, this is the norm at most college football games these days. For those LSU fans who think we have too much loud music/light shows/pyrotechnics, what we do is tame compared to Ole Miss, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and UGA.
Posted on 9/22/26 at 9:21 am to Kevin TheRant
quote:
the stadium experience felt overproduced,
This is a great description. I didn’t enjoy it. It was very different than all of the other SEC games I’ve been to on the road. There was something unpleasant about being there and I usually enjoy SEC road games - win or lose. It made me more appreciative of what we have in Baton Rouge. Just gotta get rid of that new element. They had that too by the way which surprised me.
Page 1 of 3
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News