College Football Preview, part 3
Here is the highly anticipated third installment in my five-part college football season preview. Today, I will discuss my best college football road trip experiences, my worst road trip experiences, and the three venues I would love to watch a game at.
While I have seen a lot of college football games away from Michigan stadium, I would hardly consider myself a well-traveled college football fan. I have seen fifteen Division 1 college football gamed outside of Ann Arbor (over nine different stadiums). Here is a quick rundown of my favorite places to watch a game away from Ann Arbor:
Penn State – Great atmosphere, great fans, great times. I’ve been to Happy Valley twice (both Michigan wins). The stadium is incredibly loud and the fans were very kind to the Michigan band. The whole game day atmosphere reminds me a lot of Ann Arbor. I am excited to go back for a night game in 2006 (assuming I can find game tickets).
Iowa – Mpls Ju and I are walking around the morning of the game to get a good feel of the game day atmosphere. A random Iowa family sees us in Michigan sweatshirts and invites us to join them and have a beer. We spent thirty minutes drinking a beer on a very cold morning (holding a cold beer on a cold morning is not pleasant). Everyone we met at Iowa was really nice. The game was the highly advertised Hawkeye “Blackout” and it was quite impressive. While some of the students harassed us, I thought the Iowa fans were very well behaved (and their students were nowhere near as obnoxious as the average Michigan student at a game).
Notre Dame – Domer fans have a reputation for being very obnoxious across the country. However, that stereotype does not apply whatsoever to the fans/students that attend their home games. The worst gesture that we saw at the 2002 UM-ND games was a thumbs down gesture from some students. No middle fingers. No vulgarity. Even the usher in our section was awesome. He wished us a great day when he showed us our seats before the game and was very pleasant afterwards (in a non-taunting manner) when we left after the crushing Michigan loss. Too bad the Michigan students embarrassed my school that day with their vulgar antics. Definitely the nicest group of fans I have ever encountered.
Rose Bowl – Whether it is a game against the UCLA Bruins or the ‘Granddaddy of them All’, the Rose Bowl place is a beautiful place to watch a game. Throw in a tailgate on the huge golf course that surrounds the stadium, and it’s definitely a road trip that every college football game must make at some point.
Here are the worst two places to watch a game
Illinois – This might have been more a function of circumstance, but my trip to Illinois was a scary experience. The Illini were 3-0 and ranked around #10. The game was on national TV during primetime, and the fans were really drunk. It was the first sellout at their football stadium in years, and the crowd was crazy loud. When the Michigan band took the field for pregame, all I remember seeing was a sea of middle fingers from the student section (seated between the 40-yard lines). During the game, the Michigan band was pelted with all sorts of flying objects (radishes, lemons, loose change, you name it…it hit us). We had a band member that was physically assaulted as we were leaving the stadium after the game (drunk fan tried to rip the hat off a band member’s head…even though the hat was strapped around his neck). All Michigan fans say that Columbus, Ohio is the road trip from hell, but I went to both Illinois and Columbus in 2001 and the Illinois trip was much scarier for me.
Ohio State – Two lasting images from the 2001 trip to Ohio State. The first was a middle-aged man wearing an Andy Katzenmoyer jersey with a huge mullet giving our bus the “suck-it” gesture when he realized that we were the band. Another was the 60-year old granny and her grandson flipping off the band as we were marching to the stadium. That’s the type of white trash that we see at Ohio State. The band spends time at practice the week before the game marching in a tight parade formation since drunken OSU fans often attack us at Ohio State when marching through town. Michigan won the football game that day, but the band had to wait in the stadium for forty-five minutes after the game ended since it was not safe for us to leave. When we did leave, the riot police was protecting us from a bunch of fans that looked really pissed off. Our busses were hit with several eggs as we were leaving Columbus. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to Columbus again. They treat opposing fans like crap and the cops just sit back and laugh at the poor Michigan fans that are getting verbally and physically assaulted.
Three places I want to see a game someday:
Texas A&M – Preferably against Oklahoma or Texas.
Alabama – Obviously, against the Auburn Tigers.
Nebraska – I’ve heard nothing but good things about the football experience there.
I will add Minnesota and Syracuse (vs. Iowa) to the list of road trips this year. After 2006, I will have seen a game at every Big Ten School except Indiana and Purdue.
The last two parts of my season preview will consist of my preseason Top 25 poll and my game-by-game breakdown of the 2006 Michigan football schedule.
While I have seen a lot of college football games away from Michigan stadium, I would hardly consider myself a well-traveled college football fan. I have seen fifteen Division 1 college football gamed outside of Ann Arbor (over nine different stadiums). Here is a quick rundown of my favorite places to watch a game away from Ann Arbor:
Penn State – Great atmosphere, great fans, great times. I’ve been to Happy Valley twice (both Michigan wins). The stadium is incredibly loud and the fans were very kind to the Michigan band. The whole game day atmosphere reminds me a lot of Ann Arbor. I am excited to go back for a night game in 2006 (assuming I can find game tickets).
Iowa – Mpls Ju and I are walking around the morning of the game to get a good feel of the game day atmosphere. A random Iowa family sees us in Michigan sweatshirts and invites us to join them and have a beer. We spent thirty minutes drinking a beer on a very cold morning (holding a cold beer on a cold morning is not pleasant). Everyone we met at Iowa was really nice. The game was the highly advertised Hawkeye “Blackout” and it was quite impressive. While some of the students harassed us, I thought the Iowa fans were very well behaved (and their students were nowhere near as obnoxious as the average Michigan student at a game).
Notre Dame – Domer fans have a reputation for being very obnoxious across the country. However, that stereotype does not apply whatsoever to the fans/students that attend their home games. The worst gesture that we saw at the 2002 UM-ND games was a thumbs down gesture from some students. No middle fingers. No vulgarity. Even the usher in our section was awesome. He wished us a great day when he showed us our seats before the game and was very pleasant afterwards (in a non-taunting manner) when we left after the crushing Michigan loss. Too bad the Michigan students embarrassed my school that day with their vulgar antics. Definitely the nicest group of fans I have ever encountered.
Rose Bowl – Whether it is a game against the UCLA Bruins or the ‘Granddaddy of them All’, the Rose Bowl place is a beautiful place to watch a game. Throw in a tailgate on the huge golf course that surrounds the stadium, and it’s definitely a road trip that every college football game must make at some point.
Here are the worst two places to watch a game
Illinois – This might have been more a function of circumstance, but my trip to Illinois was a scary experience. The Illini were 3-0 and ranked around #10. The game was on national TV during primetime, and the fans were really drunk. It was the first sellout at their football stadium in years, and the crowd was crazy loud. When the Michigan band took the field for pregame, all I remember seeing was a sea of middle fingers from the student section (seated between the 40-yard lines). During the game, the Michigan band was pelted with all sorts of flying objects (radishes, lemons, loose change, you name it…it hit us). We had a band member that was physically assaulted as we were leaving the stadium after the game (drunk fan tried to rip the hat off a band member’s head…even though the hat was strapped around his neck). All Michigan fans say that Columbus, Ohio is the road trip from hell, but I went to both Illinois and Columbus in 2001 and the Illinois trip was much scarier for me.
Ohio State – Two lasting images from the 2001 trip to Ohio State. The first was a middle-aged man wearing an Andy Katzenmoyer jersey with a huge mullet giving our bus the “suck-it” gesture when he realized that we were the band. Another was the 60-year old granny and her grandson flipping off the band as we were marching to the stadium. That’s the type of white trash that we see at Ohio State. The band spends time at practice the week before the game marching in a tight parade formation since drunken OSU fans often attack us at Ohio State when marching through town. Michigan won the football game that day, but the band had to wait in the stadium for forty-five minutes after the game ended since it was not safe for us to leave. When we did leave, the riot police was protecting us from a bunch of fans that looked really pissed off. Our busses were hit with several eggs as we were leaving Columbus. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to Columbus again. They treat opposing fans like crap and the cops just sit back and laugh at the poor Michigan fans that are getting verbally and physically assaulted.
Three places I want to see a game someday:
Texas A&M – Preferably against Oklahoma or Texas.
Alabama – Obviously, against the Auburn Tigers.
Nebraska – I’ve heard nothing but good things about the football experience there.
I will add Minnesota and Syracuse (vs. Iowa) to the list of road trips this year. After 2006, I will have seen a game at every Big Ten School except Indiana and Purdue.
The last two parts of my season preview will consist of my preseason Top 25 poll and my game-by-game breakdown of the 2006 Michigan football schedule.
posted by GaryGinew at 10:34 PM
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