BATON ROUGE — You can add another accolade to the list for Tiger Stadium as LSU’s Death Valley has been rated by Rivals.com as the nation’s second-best stadium when it comes to home field advantage.
The Rivals.com poll took into account the following factors for determining its top 10 home field advantages in college football: How often do games sell out? How hard is it for opponents to infiltrate your stadium in mass? And, how loud does the crowd get for season-openers?
Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium earned top billing from Rivals.com with LSU’s Tiger Stadium following at No. 2 and Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium at No. 3.
Of Tiger Stadium, Rivals.com said, “boasting some of the most hardcore tailgaters in the nation, Baton Rouge is filled with tens of thousands of purple and gold-clad fans by Friday afternoon…. Once inside the stadium, LSU fans don’t sit on their hands. With the seats wrapping completely around the field, Death Valley is arguably the loudest venue in college football.”
Rivals.com also called the tradition of playing night games in Tiger Stadium LSU’s “X-factor” saying, “with its home games often firing up around 7 p.m., LSUs’ fans have all day to get themselves marinated for the big game. By the time kickoff comes, they’re ready to roar.”
In recent years, Tiger Stadium has been ranked among the top venues in college football. In 2001, The Sporting News ranked Tiger Stadium as the sixth-best stadium in college football, while in 1998 Sport Magazine called Tiger Stadium the “most feared road playing site in America.”
LSU, winners of 10 straight games in Tiger Stadium, opens its first season under Les Miles on Sept. 3 when the fifth-ranked Tigers host North Texas at 7 p.m.
Rivals.com Top 10 Stadiums For Home Field Advantage
Rank
School
Stadium
X-Factor
Capacity
1.
Virginia Tech
Lane Stadium
Beamer Ball
66,233
2.
LSU
Tiger Stadium
Night Games
92,400
3.
Ohio State
Ohio Stadium
The Pride of the Buckeyes
102,329
4.
Florida
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Stadium dimensions
88,548
5.
Penn State
Beaver Stadium
Joe Paterno
107,282
6.
Oregon
Autzen Stadium
Exceeding capacity
54,000
7.
Texas A&M
Kyle Field
Tradition
82,600
8.
Wisconsin
Camp Randall Stadium
The Fifth Quarter
82,368
9.
Florida State
Doak Campbell Stadium
Chief Osceola
82,300
10.
Auburn
Jordan-Hare Stadium
City-sized crowd
87,541