July 17, 2006
Ranking the ACC Stadiums
FanBlogs has a link to a SportingNews.com article ranking the ACC football stadiums. As always, this sort of article is less about the actual picks than the discussion it generates. That said, I thik Matt Hayes did a pretty good job ranking the stadiums.
I think you could debate Lane vs. Doak vs. Death Valley forever and never settle on on order. Doak is the toughest simply because the Noles are the best program. Lane is probably the nastiest and possibly most intimidating. Memorial is the biggest and has the most history.
I'd say he overrates the Orange Bowl. The program? Great. The stadium? Poor. Attendance sucks for any non-FSU game and that's just embarassing for a program of Miami's stature.
I'd also say that he rates Kenan stadium too high. Yes, it's a pretty setting but even in the Mack Brown days, it just wasn't a really nasty crowd. Nowadays, the stadium is never full and has a ton of opposing fans.
Take this with a huge grain of salt, because I've only actually been to games at UVA, UNC, Duke and State, but here are my picks:
1. FSU (Doak Campbell)
2. Clemson (Memorial)
3. VT (Lane)
4. NC State (Carter-Finley)
5. UVA (Scott)
6. Miami (Orange Bowl)
7. Georgia Tech (Bobby Dodd)
8. UNC (Kenan)
9. BC (Alumni)
10. Maryland (Byrd)
11. Wake Forest (Groves)
12. Duke (Wallace Wade)
| That Kid Clyde wrote: |
| I think your top 2 is right along the lines of national rankings, ACC or not. Meaning, both places should be ranked highly for stads in the country. Geez! Duke has a football program?!? Who knew! lol |
Good to see you here, Clyde!
I'd say the top three probably all belong in national lists. Lane isn't as big, but it's a damn intimidating and spirited place. The ESPN guys always get all gooey with excitement about the atmosphere on Saturday nights. Of course, that's in part because there's nothing else to do for about a hundred miles of Tech's campus.
| Deacon wrote: |
| How did Wake Forest (Groves Stadium) manage to rise about last place? I haven't been to Duke but it must suck. And Groves isn't dirty or broken it's just old and the seats are uncomfortable. |
Well, Wallace Wade is old and uncomfortable as well as dirty and broken. And when the Blue Devils play any team with decent fans, the "home" game quickly fills up with visitors and becomes a defacto roadie.
| mountinfun wrote: |
| I would be interested in Dave's pre-season prediction of ACC champs??? Would you say Miami is the fav followed by Va Tech? |
I still need to read up on all the teams for next season. There are just too many teams now to keep up on how many players return and which key players left for each squad. I can just about keep track for basketball, but there are too many players for football.
Let me read up and I'll get an article out.
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