Wednesday, November 11, 2015

108 stadiums & counting

On a mission to see all 129 FBS stadiums/see all 129 FBS teams play at home.  Currently I have been to 111 of them, but I am still a little behind so this post is all about 108.

So we are over 2 months into the college football season.  As of the end of last year, I had been to 100 of the 129 stadiums, and here are the numbers so far for this season:


17 games (7 in Sept, 7 in Oct, and 3 so far in November)
Of these 11 have been new stadiums/teams at home, and 5 have been repeats (1 doesn't count b/c it is FCS, not FBS - I only did that one b/c I write reviews of stadiums on StadiumJourney.com, and that was on my editor's list for this year).

For #107 I traveled to Arizona State, which I wrote about in my last post, and for #108, I drove from Tempe north to Las Vegas to see UNLV.  I have actually seen Sam Boyd Stadium before, back in 1996 when BYU whooped Wyoming in the inaugural WAC Championship game.  Well, whooped is a term I am using loosely - it was actually a dramatic 3-point win in OT that helped BYU stay ranked, and get to go to the Cotton Bowl to whoop K-State (again whooped I use loosely, BYU only won by 4).

The 2nd best thing about that WAC Championship game was that I got to be on TV - I was standing right behind Pochman when he was being interviewed after making the game-winning field goal.  There was no ESPN back then (I don't think) so it was probably only KSL.  But still cool.

The #1 thing about that game of course was that BYU won - sure being on TV is nice but I am not selfish, I would much rather my team win.  And I have to say the Cotton Bowl trophy is pretty awesome, I actually saw it in Lavell's office and it is 8-10 times the size of Saban's national championship trophy - not a shelf display, has to go on the floor, it is the size of a kitchen table.  Maybe not anymore, but back in those days it was (different sponsor, before the bubble burst).

But I totally digress.  For #108 I went back to UNLV's stadium - you can read all about the stadium in my review (http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/sam-boyd-stadium-s475/).  But the coolest thing about the stadium (besides being in Vegas, duh) is the Vegas-themed decor on the field).  UNLV is having a rough year (they are only 3-6), and on Halloween they got spanked by Boise State (55-27 so this time I am NOT speaking loosely).  But I did get to sit in the press box to watch the game, so that was great.  I also got to see the Grand Canyon b/c I took the long way from Tempe to Vegas (I even drove through California by accident, b/c who doesn't like driving through the desert alone at night?).  I also had lunch on Route 66 in Flagstaff.

So that is 108, tune in next week for 109-111, a triple header in 3 parts (3 games in 3 days across 3 states).  So come on back!





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