EA Sports’ old NCAA Football series had an unusual mechanism that was a nod to the large home–field advantages that big time programs had, even over rivals or higher ranked teams. That returns with College Football 25 on July 19, as does the ranking of the toughest buildings to play on the road. Tuesday, EA Sports released its initial ranking of the 25 baddest facilities in the nation.
This will change during a player’s long–term mode playthroughs, like Dynasty or Road to Glory. Just because Oregon State isn’t on this list, if you pick the Beavers for your coach or stud quarterback and start racking up the wins, the crowds will turn out, and Reser Stadium will become a chamber of horrors for opposing teams, as much as rival Oregon’s Autzen Stadium is in real life. One of my pals turned Air Force’s Falcon Stadium, of all places, into the nation’s most fearsome venue. It’s part of the fun of College Football 25.
How does this homefield advantage manifest in–game? At a preview event at EA Sports’ Orlando studio in May, designer Scott O’Gallagher said the feature was an homage to NCAA Football 06, when it was first introduced and visiting players noticed their pre–snap play art was a bunch of squiggly lines, and hot–routing receivers was all but impossible.
But in College Football 25, a tough home field advantage will manifest in other ways. “You may see more drops [of passes], tackling becomes harder, or you’re breaking more tackles, things of that nature,” O’Gallagher said. “But what a freshman is, in [Clemson’s] Death Valley, and how he reacts is not the same as, maybe, a seasoned senior.”
Moreover, just because a team isn’t on this top 25 of tough places doesn’t mean they have no homefield advantage. Reser Stadium, for example, can be tough sledding even if the Beavers aren’t a top 10 team, O’Gallagher said.
“But it’s not the same as playing the Horseshoe (Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium) or Death Valley, right?” he said. “So we’ve taken our toughest places to play, this meter scales, the impacts get greater. You might not be able to hot route as much as you’d like. Audibles become tough. We’re really trying to replicate how hard it is to communicate in these venues.” Players might even see trouble with just snapping the ball, especially on long snaps, the more hostile the territory.
What are the 25 Toughest Places to Play in College Football 25?
Here are the top 25 toughest places to play out of the box in College Football 25, with some notes where appropriate:
- Kyle Field – Texas A&M. This is the home of the Aggies’ fabled 12th Man, and the wall of sound coming from A&M’s Corps of Cadets and students standing for the entire game.
- Bryant–Denny Stadium – Alabama
- Tiger Stadium – LSU. The university’s geosciences department is about 1,000 feet from Tiger Stadium, and in 1988 seismologists noted a significant tremor after quarterback Tommy Hodson tossed a fourth-down touchdown pass to Eddie Fuller to upset Auburn 7-6.
- Ohio Stadium – Ohio State
- Sanford Stadium – Georgia
- Beaver Stadium – Penn State
- Camp Randall Stadium – Wisconsin
- Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium – Oklahoma
- Doak S. Campbell Stadium – Florida State
- Ben Hill Griffin Stadium – Florida
- Autzen Stadium – Oregon. Oregon constructed Autzen around an artificial crater to prevent the need to build multilevel ramps to its upper seats. This resulted in the tight bowl formation where the screaming abuse of 60,000 Duck alumni and fans can sound like 120,000 on critical third downs.
- Memorial Stadium – Clemson
- Neyland Stadium – Tennessee
- Jordan–Hare Stadium – Auburn
- Williams–Brice Stadium – South Carolina. I saw U2 and Public Enemy play a show here in 1992. Greatest concert I’ve ever seen. Still have the ticket.
- Michigan Stadium – Michigan
- Lane Stadium – Virginia Tech
- Rice–Eccles Stadium – Utah
- Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium – Texas. This is actually Joe Jamail Field at Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium (and there is no period after the middle initial, Royal’s middle name is literally one letter, like Harry S. Truman). Jamail is one of America’s great junkyard dog lawyers, who made a fortune suing Texaco in the 1980s.
- Kinnick Stadium – Iowa. Home of one of the great traditions in college football. The University of Iowa’s Children’s Hospital overlooks the east stands at Kinnick, and after the first period ends, everyone turns and waves to the kids watching the game from their windows.
- Notre Dame Stadium – Notre Dame
- Spartan Stadium – Michigan State
- Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium – Arkansas
- Albertsons Stadium – Boise State. The Smurf Turf. ‘Nuff said.
- Davis Wade Stadium – Mississippi State
Featured images via EA Sports
