Joel Klatt ranks top five toughest places to play in college football
There just aren’t many environments in sports better than a college football powerhouse’s home stadium on a nice fall Saturday night, with tens of thousands in raucous support of their programs.
On the Joel Klatt Show this week, the Fox Sports analyst was asked by a listener to lay out his top five toughest places to win in all of college football — a question that’s nearly impossible to answer given how many legendary stadiums with diehard fans exist across the country. But Klatt did his best to provide an accurate top five.
Take a look below at his ranking of the hardest home fields to win at in college football:
1. LSU
Your stadium doesn’t get the nickname Death Valley for no good reason. LSU fans pack Tigers Stadium with 100,000+ every weekend for the religious experience of rooting for their football team. While Joel Klatt says he’s not had the honor of calling a game there yet, he has the utmost respect for the tradition in Baton Rouge.
“LSU at night — even though, truth be told, I haven’t called a game at LSU in particular at night — but just watching it, talking with people around the sport, LSU, that’s the toughest road environment in college football,” he said.
2. Penn State
Between State College and College Township, the municipalities where the Penn State campus is located, the total population is hardly over 50,000. Yet, on college football Saturdays, Nittany Lion fans converge in droves to double that figure with 106,000 strong at Beaver Stadium at its full capacity during college football games.
Plus, there is perhaps no stadium with a better aesthetic than PSU’s typical white-outs, with those 100,000+ forming a big white glacier around the field, which is why Klatt loves it so much. “Penn State that white-out environment, again, in a big game, it’s really tough to beat,” he says.
3. Alabama
The aura of Nick Saban may no longer be around to horrify visiting teams. But the strength of the Alabama home environment is the fans, who pack Bryant-Denny Stadium with the expectation of victory week in and week out.
“I think Bama is intimidating for a lot of different reasons,” said Klatt. “One, it’s Alabama. Two, there’s 100,000. And three, they just don’t generally lose there. They really don’t.”
4. Oregon
Next up for Joel Klatt is Oregon, the only school on the west coast to appear on this list. Way out in the Pacific Northwest, he says the fans are just as passionate.
“Oregon, again, one of the most underrated home field advantages in all of college football. It’s it’s loud, it’s terrific, great fan base,” he reviewed of the crowds at Autzen Stadium.
5. Clemson
Clemson may argue they have the true “Death Valley” at Memorial Stadium. There’s an argument to be made, since Tiger foes meet a grizzly death seemingly every time they walk into that building under Dabo Swinney.
“Clemson, they had a stretch where they went 62-1 at home from 2013 to 2022,” notes Klatt. “That’s ridiculous. So yes, it’s a combination of — their team has been really good, but that’s also a place that’s just ridiculously tough to play at. Great environment.”