5 toughest college football atmospheres to play in according to Joel Klatt ft. LSU
Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt did a discussion on his show about the top five college football atmospheres. As a longtime commentator and analyst, as well as former Colorado quarterback, Klatt knows plenty about college football.
Here are his picks and whether the underlying data backs up his thoughts:
Five toughest college football atmospheres to play in according to Joel Klatt
#5 Clemson
Klatt starts with the Tigers, whose Death Valley experience is certainly imposing. Memorial Stadium seats "just" 82,000 (in comparison with some other massive venues), but attendance has stretched to 86,000 for some games. Clemson sports a 76% winning percentage at Memorial Stadium all time.
However, it was in Clemson's recent run that Memorial became super imposing. The Tigers had a 40-game home winning streak that was snapped in 2022. Sure, some of it was a watered-down ACC, but Clemson welcomed foes to Memorial Stadium for one purpose - to win - usually easily.
#4 Oregon
This one seems surprising. Autzen Stadium seats only about 60,000 fans, but Oregon's partisans get loud.
How loud? In 2007, the fans were clocked at 127 decibles in the game against USC. Many top broadcasters, including Lee Corso and Keith Jackson have noted the high volume of the stadium.
Oregon doesn't have insane winning streaks at Autzen, although a 24-game and a 21-game run are impressive. Speaking of impressive, it's worth noting that Autzen Stadium is featured in the movie "National Lampoon's Animal House."
If the implied approval of Bluto Blutarsky doesn't get Oregon some credit, what will?
#3 Alabama
The Tide can shoehorn just over 100,000 fans into Bryant-Denny Stadium, making it the fourth largest stadium in the SEC (but still in the top-10 in the world). With the nearby museum to the legendary Bear Bryant, plenty of houndstooth and shakers, Alabama feels like an homage to college football glory.
Granted, it helped to have literally the best coach in the sport. After all, Nick Saban was 108-9 at the Bryant-Denny Stadium. That's the kind of record that makes it difficult to deny the impact of the atmosphere on Alabama football.
Will it continue under Kalen DeBoer? After all, Bryant-Denny wasn't so tough with Bill Curry or Mike Shula on the sideline.
#2 Penn State
Beaver Stadium is a massive edifice, with a listed seating capacity of 106,572. PSU fit 110,889 fans there in 2018 in a loss to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions don't lose many games there. PSU's longest winning streak in Beaver Stadium is 21 games, set between 1970 and 1974.
The "white out" tradition can be almost blinding for opposing teams. Sports Illustrated has dubbed it "the greatest show on earth." Penn State's student section has drawn praise even from opposing fans.
PSU is still looking to rebound to its Paterno-era heights, but the atmosphere will certainly help that attempt.
#1 LSU
Klatt was careful to qualify that he ranked LSU "at night" as the toughest atmosphere. Since 1960, the Tigers' night winning percentage at home tops the day winning percentage by nearly 30%. In the 2000s, LSU is 128-23 at home.
Slightly over 100,000 rowdy fans fit inside Tiger Stadium. Opposing players and coaches share horror stories of the live tiger mascot and some wild fans who had to be seen to be believed.
LSU remains the spot of perhaps the best Saturday-night party in college football as long as you're not the visiting team.
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