Talk to coaches about the main difference between the Football Championship Subdivision and the Football Bowl Subdivision, and they will tell you that size is the principal distinction. Athleticism is prevalent in both, but FCS players are generally smaller.
The same could be said about stadiums. I drove to Charlottesville on Saturday for the Virginia football game against Connecticut, where attendance at Scott Stadium was just above 60,000. James Madison usually surpasses Bridgeforth Stadium's official capacity of 14,513, but only by a few hundred.
Bridgeforth Stadium is considered one of the toughest places to play in the Colonial Athletic Association, but it doesn't come close to the atmosphere at Scott Stadium. Walking into the facility, the sea of orange impresses me every time.
UVA relied on its defense to win Saturday, when it recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter that led to the go-ahead field goal. The Cavaliers D is led by senior defensive end Chris Long, who is number four on Mel Kiper's Big Board, which ranks the top 25 college seniors.
Virginia Tech plays against Boston College at home Thursday, October 25, and I've got tickets. Should I expect Lane Stadium to live up to its hype?
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I've been a Hokie for 3 years and I've never been to any stadium that rivaled Lane Stadium. 66,000 fans isn't necessarily one of the largest stadiums in the US, but it's definitely one of the loudest. I've been to a few UVA games in the past, and they just don't live up to the unity of the fans at Lane Stadium who want only one thing: domination. There's only one thing better than being at Lane Stadium on a Saturday afternoon.......being there on a Thursday night against the #3 team in the Nation.
I don't know much about sports, but I have been to a few professional games and the size of everything always impresses me too. It's larger than life sometimes.
I saw the Devil Rays and the Bucs. Pretty awesome.
Don't they wear sweater-vests and sun dresses to the games? That would be so intimidating if I was an opposing player.
Interesting thoughts, people never talk about the stadiums much and since I don't really know that much about sports this intrigues me because stadiums are all very different with different atmospheres, tones, etc. etc. Never thought about that before.
I have to say, as important as home field advantage is for Tech against BC, it won't win the game. The question is, who will play QB for Tech? While Tyrod Taylor is clearly the fan favorite, Sean Glennon had a fine game against Duke last week.
What it comes down to is who can handle the pressure, and who can execute against BC's #105 ranked pass defense. In my opinion, Tyrod should start...but if I was Frank Beamer, I wouldn't be afraid to pull the plug on him and put in Sean Glennon if he's not putting points on the board.
Will Lane Stadium live up to its hype you ask? We must first define hype. If you are referring to ESPN's Bruce Feldman calling it the loudest, most consistent stadium in the country, then yes, Lane will live up to the hype. Maybe you've heard the Kirk Herbstreit quote, "Thursday night games at Lane Stadium, where ranked teams go to die." Hopefully tomorrow, Lane will live up to the hype. But if you are comparing it to UVa's Scott Stadium, then ABSOLUTELY, Lane will live up to the hype.
Virginia Tech has one of the best home field advantages in college football. Since the 1999 championship season, Tech has played 14 games against ranked opponents at home, and won 11. One of those losses was to #1 Miami, a game that would've gone into overtime had Tech receiver Ernest Wilford caught a wide open two point conversion pass. UVa hasn't been able to consistently win at home, even in 'the glory days' of 1990 when they were ranked #1 for three weeks, only to lose AT HOME to Georgia Tech. Their only notable wins since then have been against FSU, TEN YEARS apart.
Another thing that makes Virginia Tech so great are its fans, often considered some of the most knowledgeable in the game. Unlike UVa, Tech fans tailgate with purpose, getting drunk enough to cheer as loud as they can, for the entire game. UVa students are more concerned with the tradition of wearing sundresses and bowties, and effectively creating a social event out of a football game. Hokie fans, always clad in Orange and Maroon, are attentive to every play, yet still manage to be socially acceptable. UVa coach Al Groh even implemented the 'Orange Fever' campaign two years after Tech established its 'Orange and Maroon Effect' in an effort to move away from the 'Sunday Best' tradition and create a better football atmosphere. The UVa students were so busy arguing over this tradition in 2003 that they allowed an estimated 10,000+ Hokie fans into Scott Stadium for the annual Thanksgiving weekend rivalry. UVa will never get that many fans into Lane Stadium because for one, Tech students have to win a lottery for their tickets, and won't give them up, and two, any other ticket holder would prefer to watch UVa lose more than any other home game on the schedule.
And so, the VT-UVa argument continues. Next, a UVa fan will say, like they always do, "Well, we definitely have a better lacrosse team." And now, as of last weekend, I've got an excellent retort. "F*** You, We're bass fishing national champions!"
It seems there aren't any uva fans interested in the scott/Lane argument
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