Texas A&M (SEC) 2015

College: Texas A&M

Year:   2015

Game:  Auburn 26 Texas A&M 10

Rating: 9.5
Cost Index:  Moderate
Tickets:  Moderate

Stadium:  Kyle Field

Let's start with Kyle field, it's recently been redone and it has to have the best seats of any of the large (100K+) stadiums. Didn't look like there was a bad seat in the house.  

Texas A&M is all about tradition, but in the best possible way.  The student section (the REAL twelfth man) is the only one I've seen that rivals Wisconsin's.  Where Wisconsin's student section is delightfully vulgar Texas A&Ms is a precision unit.  This is mainly due to their core which is a really large and well organized ROTC unit.  

Texas A&M does not have cheer leaders, they have yell leaders (all male) who do some pretty funny dances to co-ordinate the cheering. They also has a great song they sing, great melody, the Aggie War Hymn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3N4ajREoHw

Keeping with tradition the band is military style and executes some pretty intricate movements, only band I would compare to Ohio State in that regard.  

I got in to A&M on the day of the game, parked my car and found a spot to grab a beer. Like most big colleges (and A&M is one of the biggest) there is a complex of bars just off campus.  I was flying solo on this trip, while I was drinking my beer I started shooting the shit with a guy my age and it turns out he had an extra ticket.   So I was lucky enough to hang out with a group of guys who had went to school there and gave me the lowdown on the school and all the traditions and how they came to being.  They were great guys and I really appreciate them letting me hang out with them.  

The mascot Revelle has a handler who takes her to class.  If she barks during class it means she's bored and class ends early.  

As far as the game itself, pretty boring.  A&M could never really get anything going on offense and Auburn just sort of ground 'em down.  For the second year in row they've had a QB start out a season on fire (Kyle Allen) only to get a vote of no confidence from Sumlin.  If it happens one (Kenny Hill) you can blame the QB.  If it happens twice now (Kyle Allen) you have at least look at the guy in charge and wonder how he's handling these kids. The A&M fans were more upset with the OC than Sumlin.  

One lame thing: At half time they had us hold up card signs that were marketing for their 4 Billion dollar fund raising goal.

One personal note:  I have now had a slice of pizzia at all Antonio's pizzia locations.  This won't matter to many people but if you went to UMass you may appreciate it. 

If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  Texas, Houston, Baylor, TCU
Don't Miss:  Texas A&M Bars

Avoid:  Only problem with Texas A&M is there aren't many hotels in the area  

Attendees:  Bones

Game Recap:  http://espn.go.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400603910

USC (PAC 12) 2015

College: USC

Year:   2015

Game: USC 42 Utah 24

Rating: 8
Cost Index:  High
Tickets:  Moderate

Stadium:  LA Coliseum

My impression of USC:  You don't attend a game at USC so much as survive it.  After spending a couple of days in downtown LA and going to this game it's no surprise to me that people get half beaten to death at Dodgers   games.  In general I like LA, but there are a lot of shitty people there and a whole bunch of them are USC fans. My wife and I had just sat down for opening kick and some asshole was threatening a skinny hippie looking kid about something he may have said to some other random dude.  This asshole was looking for trouble and he wasn't the only one around there who had that attitude.

The Coliseum is an old stadium but it's not without it's charm.   The fans are loud, the place does shake.  One of the most intimidating places for a visiting team to come into.  The neighborhood around the Coliseum is legitimately ghetto, I think we parked a house where drugs were sold.  We drank before the game at the Menlo club.   The Coliseum doesn't have a lot of green space around it, there isn't much of a tailgate scene.   There isn't really any bar scene around the stadium either.

The game:  USC threw an ass-kicking on Utah, which was disappointing because I really like Utah and want to see them crash the playoff.

So, overall UCLA is a more pleasant experience, USC is more intense.   UCLA is more fun, USC is Big Time.  USC has a better home field advantage.  UCLA has a better stadium.

For the record....USC has THE BEST fight song.  It's even better live than on TV.  

If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  UCLA
Don't Miss:  The Menlo Club

Avoid:  The area around USC's campus

Attendees:  Bones, Wife

Game Recap:  http://espn.go.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400757058

UCLA (PAC 12) 2015

College: UCLA

Year:   2015

Game: UCLA 40 Cal 24

Rating: 8
Cost Index:  Low
Tickets:  Easy

Stadium:  The Rose Bowl

Someone else went on the same trip that I put together:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/12/1/9806596/usc-ucla-los-angeles-football

I attended the Rose Bowl last year for the first CFP semi final, so this is twice in one year.  A regular season UCLA game does not compare to the Rose Bowl, obviously, but it's still a cool experience in one of the nicest areas of southern California. Pasadena is a unique town, I've never been anywhere else like it.  What it lacks in diversity it makes up for in tradition.

We stayed at an Airbnb in Altadena, about 10 minutes away from the Rose Bowl.  Neat little town, animals running around the streets, people riding horses instead of driving.

The game itself was the slow death of Cal as a playoff contender.  UCLA was the better team from the start, Cal tried to get back into the game at the end of the half and UCLA responded back with a 60 yard field goal (60 yards!!!!).   The Rose Bowl seats 90k and UCLA got somewhere between 50-60k for this game which is fine but it takes away from the atmosphere a bit when the stadium is that empty.  It was louder than I would have thought for a half full stadium.

One interesting side note:  the half time show was a combination of the Cal & UCLA bands putting together haphazard "Fuck you" to USC.  The show was so bad it was entertaining.  So ugly it was cute.

One rather large negative.  We were sitting in the end zone in the third quarter.  A few rows in back of us there were some Cal fans displaying the STATE FLAG OF CALIFORNIA....and UCLA security came up and made them take it down.  This event included a fat jerk off pulling out his flashlight for no reason. Well no reason other than he clearly wanted the Cal fans to RESPECT HIS AUTHORITAI!!!!

If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  USC

Don't Miss:  Pasadena
Avoid:   Downtown LA

Attendees:  Bones, Wife

Game Recap:  http://espn.go.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400757056

Northwestern (Big 10) 2015

College:  Northwestern

Year:   2015

Game: Iowa 40 Northwestern 10

Rating: 7
Cost Index:  Moderate
Tickets:  Easy

Stadium:  Ryan Field

Chicago's BIG !0 team, that's the Northwestern slogan and this was an October BIG 10 football.  Which is to say the tailgate was ok, the atmosphere was decent and the game was boring.  I had been to Northwestern several years ago for an Ohio State game and my main complaint is that the place was 75% Ohio State fans.  It wasn't quite as bad this time, maybe 1/3 of the fans there were Iowa fans.  The Northwestern student section was non existent.

I will say this, Northwestern probably has football in perspective.  This is probably how college football should be, but it's not quite as fun as the gold star programs.   I probably won't wait 10 years to go back again.  Northwestern is starting a freshman QB and they are building a pretty good defense.  The Big 10 West is weak and it's not out of the question that Northwestern can win the division at some point in the next couple of years.

If you want to make it part of a larger trip:  Chicago, Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin

Don't Miss:  Chicago in general
Avoid:  Evanston nightlife

Attendees:  Bones, Wife

Game Recap:   http://espn.go.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400763544