Crowd noise plays a huge factor in college football. It makes sense it would be a part of EA Sports’ return to the gridiron for 2025.
But EA Sports College Football 25’s stadium difficulty ranking for visiting teams may value noise level over how opponents actually fare in these hostile environments. Case in point: Texas A&M’s Kyle Field.
Kyle Field is the fourth-largest stadium in America by seating capacity (more than 102,000). Its crowd can reach volumes of up to 126 decibels, the sixth-loudest recorded screech in college football. But the Aggies are only 7-4 against SEC opponents at home the last three years, a number that helped lead to head coach Jimbo Fisher’s ouster and a historic $77 million buyout in 2023.
Despite this, A&M’s home base will reportedly be the toughest place to play in College Football 25.
EA Sports College Football 25, the new video game scheduled for release in July, has unveiled the game’s rankings for the toughest places to play in college football. It factors in historical home win percentage, home attendance, etc.
Let the debating begin… pic.twitter.com/au58H97AmY
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 25, 2024
Here are the full rankings:
- Kyle Field, Texas A&M
- Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama
- Tiger Stadium, LSU
- Ohio Stadium, Ohio State
- Sanford Stadium, Georgia
- Beaver Stadium, Penn State
- Camp Randall Stadium, Wisconsin
- Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Oklahoma
- Doak S. Campbell Stadium, Florida State
- Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Florida
First and foremost, I’m shocked EA left *your* favorite team off this list. Despicable.
There are, however, some notable absences in this top 10. Michigan Stadium holds more than 107,000 and the Wolverines are 22-0 there the last three seasons. Oregon’s Autzen Stadium only holds 54,000, but is constantly rated among the loudest fields in the country. Programmers included Louisiana State’s “Death Valley,” but not Clemson’s — a place where a good-not-great run of Tiger teams is 12-2 against major conference competition since 2021.
There’s probably only a silver of difference between the stadiums in the top 25. Still, it’s June and there’s no American football on the schedule for two months. Feels like the perfect time to debate something meaningless.
