Time for that annual debate about which are the toughest stadiums in the ACC. This is my personal opinion. Now let me state that if it's a big game then Clemson is the toughest, followed by FSU, but they don't always bring it like the VT fans do. Lane Stadium is more consistently loud, even though it's not as loud as Doak and Death Valley.

1. Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium - Official capacity: 66,233


2. Clemson's Memorial Stadium aka Death Valley - Official capacity: 80,301, Largest crowd: 86,092


3. Florida State's Doak-Campbell Stadium - Official capacity: 82,300, Largest crowd: 84,347


4. North Carolina State's Carter-Finley Stadium aka The Carter - Official capacity: 57,583


5. Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field aka The Flats - Official capacity: 55,000, Largest crowd: 58,121


6. Virginia's Scott Stadium (officially the Carl Smith Center, Home of David A. Harrison III Field at Scott Stadium lol) - Official capacity: 61,500, Largest crowd: 64,947


7. Maryland's Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium - Official capacity: 54,000, Largest crowd: 58,973


8. North Carolina's Kenan Memorial Stadium - Official capacity: 60,000


9. Boston College's Alumni Stadium - Official capacity: 44,500


10. Miami's Sun Life Stadium - Official capacity: 75,192 (but they obviously never fill it up this much unless FSU is in town, then it shoots up way higher on the list; the Orange Bowl would have been much higher on the list if it was still around)


11. Wake Forest's Groves Stadium (I refuse to call it BB&T Field) - Official capacity: 31,500


12. Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium - Official capacity: 33,941, Largest crowd: 55,000 (1942 Rose Bowl, achieved through borrowed bleachers from State and UNC)


[Edited on July 20, 2010 at 10:23 PM. Reason : ]

7/20/2010 9:57:23 PM

thought we were up to 63k

7/20/2010 10:01:44 PM

UNC will be at 63k when they complete their new endzone construction. Right now it's a big pile of dirt with a few concrete columns.

7/20/2010 10:15:30 PM

^ Huge waste of aluminum.

7/20/2010 10:19:42 PM

huge waste of concrete as well. Bowling in their south endzone and only adding 3000 seats.

7/20/2010 10:27:51 PM

this is completely unrelated, but Kyle Parker is expected to announce that he is NOT signing his 1st rd contract with the Colorado Rockies and will be leading Clemson football again this year...

7/21/2010 9:03:35 AM

Heres to hoping we hit the 80k mark in the not too distant future. With the growth of the area and the lack of professional football its not out of the realm of possibility. We need another vaughn towers esque structure on the other side, a completely bowled in scoreboard side and two hooked in corners on the murph side to get that done!

7/21/2010 9:57:00 AM

please stop calling our stadium "the carter". for the love of god.

7/21/2010 9:58:25 AM

^^I'm not sure that would bring Carter-Finley to 80k seats. Unless we start putting together multiple winning seasons back to back it's a moot point anyway.

7/21/2010 10:26:26 AM

I don't see how CF gets to 80k. We would need a 3rd level to get there. The fundamental problem is that our main center sections just are not that large enough. Compare our to FSU. I think he current design might have a max capacity of 70k with both levels bowled in and uniform 2 levels.

7/21/2010 10:54:32 AM

I don't see how CF gets to 80k. We would need a 3rd level to get there. The fundamental problem is that our main center sections just are not that large enough. Compare our to FSU. I think he current design might have a max capacity of 70k with both levels bowled in and uniform 2 levels.

7/21/2010 11:00:10 AM

good write up on Irving. God I'm ready to see him back on the field.

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/07/06/n-c-states-nate-irving-thankful-for-second-chance-at-life-a/

Quote :

"When Bobby Floyd and Javon Walker arrived to visit their teammate and friend, they didn't know what to expect. They stood in silence for a few moments with tears in their eyes. That's when it happened. Irving began to shake uncontrollably in his bed. Gotcha. "Nate's father (Jerome) was in the room, too, and he burst into a chuckle and says 'Nate's messing with you guys,'" Floyd told FanHouse. "Nate started laughing and puts his hand out to shake our hands. I was just so happy that he was alive and that he was the same ol' Nate. "

7/21/2010 11:16:24 AM

i feel bad for whoever he hits first

7/21/2010 11:43:08 AM

On ACC stadia:

-Lane is tops. I've never been to Clemson for a big game, though.
-There's a lot of space between Clemson and FSU.
-I'd put GT ahead of NC State, but there's a ton of room between the top 5 and the rest.
-Most dissapointing stadium: Byrd. It's like a FCS stadium on one side and a FBS one on the other.
-How many Alabama fans will show up for the Duke game? I'm thinking over 2/3rds of the entire stadium.

7/21/2010 11:53:43 AM

anyone ever take a shit in CF? if so, was it a pleasant or unpleasant experience. discuss.

^Lane on Thursday night espn doesnt come close to a Death Valley saturday night game

[Edited on July 21, 2010 at 12:36 PM. Reason : .]

7/21/2010 12:35:32 PM

^ i forget which year it was, but my cousin and I went to Death Valley the year where we started out 6-0 and we ended up losing to Clemson. Amazing atmosphere. We went to Williams-Bryce i think either the next week or two weeks later to see us destory SC. that's where that douche QB got body-slammed.

7/21/2010 12:48:43 PM

Quote :

"I'd put GT ahead of NC State, but there's a ton of room between the top 5 and the rest."

I disagree. Maybe the inside of the actual stadium might be better in terms of noise, intimidation factor, etc. but the outside of GT's stadium and total lack of atmosphere gives C-F an edge over Bobby Dodd.

7/21/2010 12:51:02 PM

GT's stadium is nothing more than a glorified tackle box. The endzone upper deck expansion is usually only filled by away team fans esp. Georgia and Clemson

7/21/2010 12:53:08 PM

I have pooped in Carter-Finley. East side and west side bathrooms, actually. Not at the same time.

Call it "average". Nothing remarkable one way or the other.

7/21/2010 1:07:05 PM

Quote :

"Heres to hoping we hit the 80k mark in the not too distant future. With the growth of the area and the lack of professional football its not out of the realm of possibility. We need another vaughn towers esque structure on the other side, a completely bowled in scoreboard side and two hooked in corners on the murph side to get that done!"

For persepctive, the existing upper and lower decks each hold about 11,500 (if I remember right), and the South End Zone addition holds about 5,500.


To get from almost 60K to 80K, you're gonna have to take the stadium down and start from the bottom up again. Adding corners and another Vaughn Towers isn't gonna make it.

7/21/2010 1:16:13 PM

I think you could get close, the numbers work. If you curled in the Scoreboard side, I would bet you could get 10-11k in there, 2000 in each of the other two corners, and a club level-style vaughn towers to match at 4k (more than the other side with mostly seats) Thats 19k seats, and getting close to what I am talking about.

Where there is a will, theres a way.

7/21/2010 1:30:00 PM

The problem with the two lower bowls is the seats they installed, that really limits the people you can cram in the seats. All of those numbers ^ are assuming you add bleachers and cram em in like waify models.

7/21/2010 1:31:37 PM

Quote :

"I have pooped in Carter-Finley. East side and west side bathrooms, actually. Not at the same time."

lol. Thanks for clearing that up. I had my doubts..

7/21/2010 1:59:46 PM

Hell, even if we get the program back up to respectability and then even farther I'm not sure if we should try and cram 80,000 into C-F. I would renovate the East Side, add another tower on the opposite side and then close off the upper bowl.

7/21/2010 3:05:02 PM

Russell Wilson is the effing man, that's all there is to it. What a great dude...

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/07/18/1096506/one-play-at-a-time.html

Quote :

"Ecclesiastes talks about there being a time and a place for everything -- a time for life and a time for death. He went peacefully, and now he's with the Lord," Russell said. "He kept me motivated and told me to stay strong. He always told me there's a king in every crowd.""

Quote :

""I take it one day at a time and go from there," Wilson said. "The Lord has put me in the right place. I think I'm here for a reason in terms of the Rockies organization, but I think at the same time, I'm going back for a reason. These are great opportunities, and I'm just trying to maximize them each and every time I step on the field." "

versus UNC in the media...

Quote :

"" Message: Bet cha can't guess what I'm doin!!!!!#fetish..smh " (picture of him in Gucci store) "Message: My next move..I promise..just wait and sE" (picture of porche) " Message: Change game stupid...been spendin big stacks so my change game dumb long!!!!!! " (picture of...coinstar?) " Message: Oh yea that's the back of the. Official I jus coped some authentic gucci card...yea its blank cause I jus got sum new new..haha " (picture of Gucci card)"

[Edited on July 21, 2010 at 3:44 PM. Reason : .]

7/21/2010 3:41:33 PM

Quote :

"^ i forget which year it was, but my cousin and I went to Death Valley the year where we started out 6-0 and we ended up losing to Clemson. Amazing atmosphere. We went to Williams-Bryce i think either the next week or two weeks later to see us destory SC. that's where that douche QB got body-slammed."

i dont know what you're referring to...please clarify...

in 2002 we were 8-0 and played at clemson on a thursday night and won big, is that what you are talking about?

7/21/2010 3:42:55 PM

No he's talking about 1989. We lost to Clemson 30-10 and then beat USCocks the next week 20-10. Then we lost our last four games......... We started 6-0 and finished 7-5. Some good ole 80's NC State shit.



[Edited on July 21, 2010 at 4:04 PM. Reason : f]

7/21/2010 3:52:33 PM

OLD MOTHERFUCKERS ITT

7/21/2010 4:05:54 PM

http://michigan-football.com/ncaa/f/ncarolst.htm

Good way to waist an hour.

7/21/2010 4:10:05 PM

I was at the season ending game against BC a few years back when the winner would go to the ACC Championship. Tailgating was fun but not as good as NCSU. Sure we could tailgate all day, we got out there at 6am for an 8pm game, but there wasn't a central area like we have at the fairgrounds.

I went with a bunch of students and sat on the hill in the dead center. According to them we were in the prime place for the experience that they called something like, "The most exciting 25 secs in college football." They just split the crowd on the hill and the players ran through and let some balloons go. It didn't live up to the hype. However, I can see that it would be exciting to students and alumni.

The crowd stayed full the whole game but didn't make much noise. The stadium is very open so the noise dissipates quickly when they do get loud. So I have to think that this cannot be the best in the ACC.

Tier 1
VT

Tier 2
FSU
CLEM

Tier 3
NCSU
GT
Mary
Virginia

Tier 4
Miami
BC
Wake
UNC

Bottom Tier
DUKE

7/21/2010 4:10:08 PM

^^ god we used to get spanked by penn state every year, apparently.

7/21/2010 5:05:36 PM

^5 hey now, yep, good ole' 80's NCState shit.

Slave Famous yea, so what

7/21/2010 9:32:17 PM

disagree with daddywill88. i was at that game too, and it was pretty heated. i dont want to really think about it but aaron kelly dropped the pass with a minute left in your endzone.

anyways, where did you tailgate? did you make it to the esso club? i am biased towards NCState and Clemson, and as amazing as tailgatign at NCstate is, there is just no way it holds a candle to clemson tailgating. the fact that it spans across the entire campus makes it even more amazing. you can tailgate downtown, at the esso, at littlejohn coliseum, outside the hill, all the way down highway 93...

dont get me wrong, i'll be there when the gates open for trinity or tx lot (depending on where i land this season), but there's something to be said for on campus tailgating.

with that said, my top 3 tailgating destinations in the ACC are
1) Clemson
2) VT
3) NC State
...
100) UNC

[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 9:11 AM. Reason : .]

7/22/2010 9:10:24 AM

speaking of stadium construction/expansion, here's a webcam for UNC's new construction: http://oxblue.com/pro/open/uncaa/kenanstadium
Not that I particularly care about Kenan stadium, but they finally tore down that hideous Alamo structure. (and I just enjoy watching big construction projects take place.)
It's a nice website, with all previous pictures saved so you can view a timelapse and check out progress one day at a time (or one hour at a time).

7/22/2010 9:55:13 AM

no way they can finish that in < 2 months right?

7/22/2010 10:02:14 AM

two months? the season starts in 40+ days. they'll just throw some bleachers up and some pine trees

7/22/2010 10:21:14 AM

they dont have a home game until the 3rd week of the season thats why i say 2 months

7/22/2010 10:29:12 AM

No, it'll be like when we did the Pressbox and Murphy Center.

7/22/2010 10:29:56 AM

OMG THEY CUT DOWN THOSE BEAUTIFUL PINE TREES

7/22/2010 11:08:20 AM

Although VT's tailgating is good I wouldn't put it above State's. The VT students for the most part just drink in their dorms, which I think sucks. State and Clemson are tops in my opinion, and due to their own unique reasons (note: of all the places in the ACC I've visited, I've yet to go to FSU). It's really a matter of what you prefer when comparing NCSU and Clemson. Clemson's is bigger just b/c you have 80k+ all over campus. State's though is centrally located and feels like a giant tailgate in one roughly square mile area. Having all of the students all tailgating rather than just getting drunk in their dorm and then stumbling to the stadium is something that is a huge advantage for State when compared to most of the other places in the ACC. State is clearly the best place for tailgating in the state of NC and is one of the best in the ACC.

7/22/2010 12:55:32 PM

Quote :

"http://michigan-football.com/ncaa/f/ncarolst.htm Good way to waist an hour."

wow, we've only had one double-digit winning season in our entire existence.

It's pretty amazing to look at the W-L history of some of the traditional powers. It's just depressing.

-Michigan, between the 1968 and 2007, except for 1 year, went to nearly 40 straight bowl games.
-FSU absolutely killed it in the late 80's and all of the 90's. (In 1995, they beat us 77-17 ) They had 14 straight double-digit win seasons between '87 and 2000. They've been bowling for 27 years and counting.
-Ohio State has only had 2 losing seasons since the 60's. Absolutely unreal.

7/22/2010 12:57:18 PM

Quote :

"note: of all the places in the ACC I've visited, I've yet to go to FSU "

FSU tailgating is pretty good. Since the stadium is right by campus, you get a lot of tailgating on campus meaning it is spread out some. The women at FSU make the tailgates there pretty nice too. The frats and sororities have some big tailgates outside of their houses which can be entertaining. There are advantages and disadvantages to both on campus tailgating and off campus tailgating so it's hard to say one is better than the other IMO.



[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 1:15 PM. Reason : o]

7/22/2010 1:14:35 PM

FSU is progresivley getting worse. My dad worked for coach Bowden in Tallahassee for numerous years and I was raised garnet in gold. Until last season I have gone to just about every home game there since 1996. It used to be amazing. Now most people are sentenced to parking garages. The fraternities always have there houses so those are fun but if your just coming in for the game its eh. State has one of the top two best if not the best.

Side note- Tom O'brien is painfull to watch at the pigskin preview.

[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 7:17 PM. Reason : ll]

7/22/2010 7:13:57 PM

Quote :

"One of the questions asked of UNC head coach Butch Davis was if T.J. Yates remained his starting quarterback. Davis responded, "Absolutely." NC State head coach Tom O'Brien replied, "You got anymore announcements here Butch?" The statement drew some laughter from the crowd as a lot of fans in attendance we were waiting to hear Davis discuss the NCAA investigation of his football program."

I LOL'd

7/22/2010 11:52:35 PM

^^ Haven't been to an FSU game in about 5 years now, but considering the decline of the team, I can imagine the tailgating has diminished greatly.

7/23/2010 9:00:55 AM

Quote :

"GARNET IN GOLD"

7/23/2010 9:08:07 AM

Like all things NC State, imagine how big it would be if the team was any good

7/23/2010 9:23:59 AM

haha TOB is a badass. He knows that he owns Butch.

7/23/2010 9:29:17 AM

Quote :

"Here's a look at three Wolfpack players who could make names for themselves this fall: DE David Akinniyi: He has found a football home again after Northeastern cut its program in November. Akinniyi, who enrolled in January, is expected to start and has one year of eligibility remaining. He was a three-year starter at Northeastern as a defensive end and linebacker. He had 40 tackles, including 12.5 for loss, and four sacks last year. He had two tackles for losses against BC last year. RB Mustafa Greene: He rushed for 1,367 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging nine yards per carry last year at Irmo (S.C.) High. He also caught six passes for 62 yards and a touchdown. With the lack of experience at running game, the door is open for a rookie like Greene to see some snaps. OL Robert Crisp: He's expected to contribute immediately, as he was rated the No. 5 offensive lineman in his class by ESPN.com. He started at right tackle for the East team in the 2010 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He recorded 75 pancake blocks during his senior season. "

From the ESPN ACC blog and probably a bit obvious.

7/23/2010 10:51:19 AM

It all just comes down to who we can keep healthy this year, again

7/23/2010 10:58:27 AM