'College Football 26' ranks the toughest stadiums to play. Where is Ohio Stadium?
Fans and gamers alike will soon get a chance to play EA Sports' popular resurrected franchise, "College Football 26," and when they do, there are some new and improved features to go along with what we've been accustomed to in its fantastic gameplay.
One of those things that returns is a ranking of the toughest stadiums to play in, which gives the home team a distinct advantage at key times in a contest. There are notorious places that are hard to play, and as an Ohio State fan, you know that there's a debate on where the 'Shoe ranks. There are times when it can be as loud as any stadium and environment around, but at other times, most notably the hotly debated noon games, fans can often sit on their hands and expect the team to bring the juice to get things crankin.'
Debate aside, Ohio Stadium was ranked as the fourth most difficult stadium to play in for last year's highly-anticipated release of 'College Football 25," but these things seem to change on an annual basis, so there's a new ranking by EA Sports coming into this year's game.
This time around, Ohio State fans can play at the 'Shoe as the No. 3 ranked toughest place to play, which is up one spot from last year's No. 4. The Buckeyes jump ahead of Texas A&M's Kyle Field and sit just behind LSU's Tiger Stadium and Beaver Stadium where Penn State fans do their best work -- especially during whiteout games.
Funny enough, Kyle Field dropped completely out of the top ten, which just goes to show you it's more about the team you play than where and when, especially with year-after-year of Texas A&M falling short of expectations.
The rest of the top ten is a who's who of college football programs. Behind Ohio State this year at No. 4 is Sanford Stadium (Georgia), No. 5 Bryant-Denny Stadium (Alabama), No. 6 Memorial Stadium (Clemson), No. 7 Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Florida), No. 8 Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (Oklahoma), No. 9 Autzen Stadium (Oregon), and No. 10 Michigan Stadium (Michigan).
I could debate many of these, especially after visiting Autzen Stadium last year in the classic game between Ohio State and Oregon in Eugene, but to each his own, and it's all about opinion anyway. Either way you slice it, when you play as OSU this year in "College Football 26," or any of these ten teams, there's going to be a distinct advantage and boost from the home crowd.
"College Football 26" will be available to all to play on July 10.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
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