I went to the game on Saturday, UF's stadium is crappy.

That is one of the worst stadiums I have been to in a while. Anyone complaining about Starkville just wants to complain. Their jumbotron is about the size of our old one that was replaced at Dudy Noble.

Their seat sections went from Section 325 then the next label was 322. Really odd. Also the seat numbers were worn off most of the seats. We sat in section 324, seats 3 and 4, the only seats on the row labeled were 6 and 8. I can count, no biggie. Weird thing was Section 325 and 324 don't have any type of divider. The row we were on ended with maybe seat 10 section 324. The other end of the row was probably seat 20 in Section 325. So seat 1 in section 324 was directly beside maybe seat 32 in section 325.

Their atmosphere was also mediocre. We were in front of their jumbotron and they definitely pump in the crowd noise. Anyone complaining about cowbells need to quit throwing rocks from glass houses. They also played music with our center over the ball. They would play it until the snap and then switch to crowd noise. Very obvious when you sit in front of the speakers like that.

As far as crowd interaction, they have the 2 bits chant which is kind of cool. Go Gators which is basically like Hail State for us. Then they do an Orange Blue just like our Maroon White chant.

My wife did look up who had the fight song first between them and Bama, apparently UF had the song 20 or so years first. So Bama stole it from UF.

Honestly, I guess UF puts 90k in the stadium so they see no reason to upgrade. It definitely seemed like a 2nd class experience especially when you have UGA and Bama putting money into it. The atmosphere was honestly worse than the Dak years and I think our game day atmosphere has improved since then.

Also, their band halftime was also lame. I think our band song selection needs to improve but they are apparently on par with UF.

I've been to Gainesville a couple of times for football and always have thought it was kind of a dump. Tailgating is standing in some dudes front yard drinking beer, the atmosphere is bland, and I was there for a top ten UF vs Miami game on one trip. Never been impressed at all.

The only time it was good is on 3rd down which everywhere gets loud for and when we got a penalty they had some chant for it. The only stadiums I haven't been to are Mizzou, A&M, Texas, and Oklahoma. UF is only better than Vandy.

Judging atmosphere when a lame duck coach is facing a sec team on a 14-game losing streak probably isn't the best time.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Judging atmosphere when a lame duck coach is facing a sec team on a 14-game losing streak probably isn't the best time.

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I wasn't necessarily just talking about atmosphere. The stadium itself is the quality of Davis Wade before the new endzone. Jumbotron from like the early 2000s. The one jumbotron is about half the size of our scoreboard at Dudy Noble. Very few section numbers in the stadium and almost no numbers on the seats. It probably needs $1 Mil in maintenance. I have been to Auburn and UGA recently. UF compares to those like Jackson St compares to MSU or Ole Miss.

As far as crowd getting into it, UF fans weren't too lackadaisical. They were yelling for the most part. I was just saying their gameday atmosphere overall is just ok. They play won't back down at the start of the 4th quarter. They had an intro video before walk out. Their flames and smoke was not as big as State.

I just figured a big time program would be first class all the way. Our current gameday is a huge improvement from last year. UF's is not on par with the rest of the SEC.

Bama pipes in crowd noise too.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Judging atmosphere when a lame duck coach is facing a sec team on a 14-game losing streak probably isn't the best time.

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I was at the 2010 game, and it was a dump then. The atmosphere, like a lot of things in Florida, is as fake as the t***S on a stripper. They have 90,000 people come to games because they have 55,000 students and 350,000 people in their metro and like Starkville, its in the middle of nowhere so there is jack else to do. And Gainesville is as big of a dump town as there is in the SEC. It's basically one big strip mall.

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Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg

I was at the 2010 game, and it was a dump then. The atmosphere, like a lot of things in Florida, is as fake as the t***S on a stripper. They have 90,000 people come to games because they have 55,000 students and 350,000 people in their metro and like Starkville, its in the middle of nowhere so there is jack else to do. And Gainesville is as big of a dump town as there is in the SEC. It's basically one big strip mall.

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Agree, that's a very good description.

Ya’ll aren’t doing a very good job of selling Layne on the job.

Never been there, so can't say you guys are wrong. I do find it odd that every stadium ranking I can find has the swamp top 5.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Never been there, so can't say you guys are wrong. I do find it odd that every stadium ranking I can find has the swamp top 5.

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I have a feeling that the ranking is based on UF kicking ass in a night game. Again, they were pretty into the game for at one point chanting Fire Billy. I could see playing I Won't Back Down with all those fans singing being a cool thing but not really any better than Don't Stop Believing. Same feel but all the instances where we play some song like Sweet Dreams and the cowbells are rocking, they don't have that crowd interaction.

Honestly the coolest thing was the food trucks on the street in front of the stadium. And again, it barely looks like they have done maintenance on the stadium in the 20 years since I had been there in 2001.

I in no way think Davis Wade is top tier. I do think this year's gameday experience is now SEC quality but UF isn't.

Also, is it because they don't have to put money into it? They get 90k in the stadium. Why spend money when you don't have to I guess. Other big time programs are putting money in. Kind of like the complaints about not having LED lights until this year. Not sure if UF had them but if they did they didn't use them. They certainly haven't spent that kind of money on anything else.

I wasn't impressed with Gainsville years ago when I went. It has been + years but I was not impressed with LSU or Tenn either. I know LSU has had an upgrade, maybe Tenn has too.

I don't know why everyone dumps on MSU and Starkville. Most SEC places I've been are worse or no better.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Never been there, so can't say you guys are wrong. I do find it odd that every stadium ranking I can find has the swamp top 5.

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You know as well as I do that those rankings tend to be very biased to big winning programs - always are. I find the Sanford Stadium experience being meh as well. I've easily been to 25 games in Athens in my lifetime and other then adding more seats, the quality of the fan experience can be awful. The traffic and parking are horrendous unless you have a gameday house or pay big money to park near the stadium. Tailgating is very spread out because where the stadium is on campus so there is no real vibe about it. The bathrooms are Templeton worthy. The concession areas are impossible to get through because they do not have concourses. The ice stinks worse then our smelly cups. But they do a great LED show, and the band is cranked the whole game, and the UGA fans think they are cool and their World's Largest Cocktail St. Simons Party Beach Party will be featured in the next issue of Garden & Gun.

https://www.constructiondive.com/new...0of%2088%2C548

University of Florida to advance $398.5M stadium upgrade
Birmingham, Alabama-based Brasfield & Gorrie is the contractor on the multiphase endeavor, according to the project website.

Published Oct. 20, 2025

NEVER BE DONE ON TIME!!!

It definitely needs serious updating and it won't be cheap.

Wow. I guess they see the same. Good, maybe it will be done by the time we go back.

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

Wow. I guess they see the same. Good, maybe it will be done by the time we go back.

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You speak. They listen

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Originally Posted by AlSwearengen

Ya’ll aren’t doing a very good job of selling Layne on the job.

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Gainesville sounds pretty similar to Oxford to me.

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Originally Posted by R2Dawg

I wasn't impressed with Gainsville years ago when I went. It has been + years but I was not impressed with LSU or Tenn either. I know LSU has had an upgrade, maybe Tenn has too.

I don't know why everyone dumps on MSU and Starkville. Most SEC places I've been are worse or no better.

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Bingo. People dump on Starkville because MSU fans allow it. There is really no difference between Starkville, Oxford, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Gainesville, etc. In fact, Starkville might end up being better because of all of the new initiatives towards building things to catch up.

Then you do have cities in the SEC that are roughly about the same size as Jackson like Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Columbia, and there is no way you're ever going to get a college town vibe from those places. Then Vanderbilt is in Nashville which is honestly maybe the best SEC city but no one there cares about them except that jackass that whistles.

I?ve been to Starkville, Oxford, Tuscaloosa, Columbia, Knoxville, Nashville and College Station. Starkville and Oxford are better than all of them except College Station which is the best college town of the grouping I?ve been too

Most of those towns are just bigger versions of Starkville. Oxford's square isn't any better than Starkville's main street to the Cotton District strip, it is just in a square instead of straight.

Athens downtown is cool but again just a bigger version. Auburn is the same. I haven't been to Tuscaloosa in a while for a game but my sister in law works for the university and says in the last 5 years it has gone to shit. A lot of crime now just from the population explosion. A lot of non students moving there now that might have moved to bigger cities before.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Never been there, so can't say you guys are wrong. I do find it odd that every stadium ranking I can find has the swamp top 5.

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I have been there many times and that stadium ranking would be better off used as A$$ wipe. The place is a dump.

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Originally Posted by 99jc

I have been there many times and that stadium ranking would be better off used as A$$ wipe. The place is a dump.

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The interesting thing is a crap stadium can be an incredible place because of the atmosphere and history of what has taken place there.
Old Yankee Stadium was the worst. The whole place smelled like pee, rats, and pizza grease. Travel getting there on the subway was an adventure. The neighborhood was beyond rough.
But, when you walked through the tunnel into the seating area, and saw that green grass, it all went away and the ghosts of Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, etc. took over. In a good, close game it was as good as any SEC big event.
Then after the game you trudged back through the nasty pee rat pizza grease concourse and hardly noticed.

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Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe

Most of those towns are just bigger versions of Starkville. Oxford's square isn't any better than Starkville's main street to the Cotton District strip, it is just in a square instead of straight.

Athens downtown is cool but again just a bigger version. Auburn is the same. I haven't been to Tuscaloosa in a while for a game but my sister in law works for the university and says in the last 5 years it has gone to shit. A lot of crime now just from the population explosion. A lot of non students moving there now that might have moved to bigger cities before.

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Athens is probably still my favorite. I lived there briefly back in '02, but now it's gotten too big for my college town taste. Development is linking to metro Atlanta.

del