Mississippi State (SEC) 2013

College: Mississippi State

Year:   2013

Game: Mississippi State Kentucky

Rating: 9

Cost Index:  20 dollar ticket, 13 to camp

Tickets:  Easy

Stadium:  Davis-Wade is a pretty decent structure.  It sits on south west edge of campus. From the outside it looks like a typical concrete behemoth but on the inside it's much more elegant.  It's seats 55,000 and is in the middle of an expansion.  It has a similar set up to Georgia where all the fans seated on the lower level can walk down by the field (the area between the fans and players is separated by hedges).   HAIL STATE!

Description:  HAIL STATE!  First, the drive from route 55 to Starkville is the prettiest I've been on for one of these trips.  Mile after mile of hills and rolling farmland.  Starkville is in the middle of the state and it's a very rural campus but it's not as difficult to get to as I originally thought.  The campus is impeccably manicured, the people are very friendly.  The tail gate looks big when you approach it but it's only on one side of the stadium so it's actually kind of small, especially by SEC standards. I know Ole Miss is the snob school in that state but they do have a better tail gate and a better crowd, which I'm sorry to say but it's true.

They do ring the cowbells ALL GAME.  It's pretty cool actually as it looks like some of the cowbells are really old, I think they've been doing it since the 30s.  The crowd was not great though.  I guess it's fall break so the student section was only half full.

Football Observation: Too many teams run an average version of the spread offense.  Teams would do well to recruit and execute a pro style attack as defenses are really starting to adjust to the spread.  Both Kentucky and Mississippi State run very average spread offenses.

If you want to make it part of a lager trip:  Memphis is about 3 hours to the north, Vicksburgh is about three hours to the west (excellent civil war park).  The Natchez-Trace parkway is nearby (this is a 444 mile scenic parkway between Nashville and Natchez).  Tuscaloosa is only 90 minutes away to the east, so if Mississippi State plays on a Thursday you could have a pretty good "Two Birds for one Stone" trip.  Atlanta is 4 hours

Don’t Miss:  Roadside BBQ

Avoid:   

Attendees:  Bones

Game Recap:  http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=332970344

Mississippi State Pregame

Cowbell

West Virginia (Big 12) 2013

College: West Virginia

Year:   2013

Game: Texas Tech 37 West Virginia 27

Rating: 9

Cost Index:  20 dollar ticket, 150 for the hotel

Tickets:  Easy

Stadium:  The first observation about Milan Puskar (pronounced Push-kar) is that it is the perfect size. The second observation is that the WV mountain people set up a perfect mountain tail gate around the place.  There is a large lot on one side of the stadium and an elevated lot behind it.  Then there are a bunch of other spots nestled in in the space toward the basketball arena (about a mile away).  Keglers is about a 20 minute walk away.

Description:  This is the second year in a row I attended a game in Morgantown and the second year in a row I had a great time. I had to go back this year because Polychronopolis has wanted to attend a game here and I felt guilty last year when I set out for it and he could not make it.  I think we did this one about as well as you can given our age and circumstances.  We got there around 10AM and walked from our hotel to the game, picked up a couple of 20 dollar tickets along the way.  We walked around the tail gate for an hour and then went to the Varsity Club for a goblet of beer and some lunch.  This bar is literally a 45 second walk to the stadium (gold mine).  We saw WV battle a top 10 team down to the wire.  After the game we went over to Keglers to check out the 3:30 games for a bit.

At night we went back out to watch the FSU vs. Clemson game and hit Morgantown Brewing Co. This place earns a 10 out of 10 on the brew pub rating scale.  Great food, great atmosphere and great beer.  The only disappointment was that Clemson got destroyed by FSU.  Embarrassing loss at home for a team that I had hoped would hang around undefeated.

Don’t Miss:  Hanging around the tailgate and soaking it all in.  The view on the hill behind Milan Puskar.  Singing "Country Road" after a win (still haven't gotten to do this....someday....). Ride the PRT
If you want to make it part of a bigger trip:  World class rafting is less than 3 hours away, Pittsburgh is less than 2 hours.  You could go to a September game and then raft the Gauley river for a couple of days.  

Avoid:   Racist hillbillies

Attendees:  Bones, Polychronopolis, Dave



Game Recap:  http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=332920277

Kentucky (SEC) 2013

College:  Kentucky

Year:   2013

Game: Alabama 48 Kentucky 7

Rating: 7

Cost Index:  20 dollar ticket, 30 dollar campsite 15 miles outside of Lexington

Tickets:  Very easy

Stadium:  Commonwealth Stadium is perfect.  Now, I don't think it's the best stadium out there because it doesn't have the character or the tradition of some of the others but there is some beauty in it's symmetry and practical design.  My only complaint is that they retire numbers digitally.  Put the fucking numbers up in some permanent manner please.

Description:  I had a great time in Lexington.  Tail gate set up is great (ie:  it's not Penn State or LSU but it's as good as any other), area around the stadium is wide open and filled with fans.  There is an RV section, people get rowdy without being obnoxious.  When it comes to football Kentucky has it's rival Louisville beat for a stadium experience.

The game itself was decent for a while, mainly because of a couple of Alabama turnovers, but eventually the cold machine from Tuscaloosa steam rolled the Wildcats.  It was inevitable, they just grind you down.

I did not know Paul "Bear" Bryant coached at Kentucky from 1946 to 1953,

Don’t Miss:  The tail gate around Commonwealth Stadium. The Air Raid siren when Kentucky scores.Country Boy brews (excellent wet hop beer)
If you want to make it part of a bigger trip: Go later in the year and merge with a Kentucky basketball game.  Try to hit Louisville and Kentucky in the same trip.

Avoid:   The Lexington bar scene is disjointed and doesn't seem all that exciting.

Attendees:  Bones


Game Recap:  http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=332850096

Cincinnati (AAC) 2013

College:  Cincinnati

Year:   2013

Game:   Cincinnati 38 Temple 20

Rating:: 7

Cost Index:  20 dollar scalped ticket, 15 dollars parking, campsite 20 miles away for 30 dollars

Tickets:  Easy

Stadium:  Nippert is every bit as good as I was led to believe.  It's perfectly integrated with the rest of the campus.  The only word I can come up with to describe it is "nestled".  It's been there forever but they've renovated it a bunch of times so the stadium appears ultra modern.  I want to spend more time on the campus because it appears they take their architecture very seriously. There was no tail gate to speak of, the campus is pretty urban.

Description:  First, there is a major trend toward allowing beer at games because both Louisville and Cincinnati sold beer at their stadiums. Cinncy was a really cool experience, especially since the team is nothing special this year.  The students were into the game and the crowd was fun.  I would be open to going back there for a bigger game.

Don’t Miss:  Hanging around the stadium concourses.  The Cincinnati campus in general.
If you want to make it part of a bigger trip: Merge with a Bengals game or try and hit Kentucky or Louisville in the same weekend.  Make a baseball trip out of it with the Reds. 

Avoid:   Downtown Cincinnati

Attendees:  Bones



Game Recap:  http://espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?id=332842132