Oregon football: Autzen Stadium left out of EA Sports' Top 10 Toughest Places to Play
By Ethan Lee
The Oregon Ducks have one of the most intriguing and unique stadiums in all of college football. Autzen Stadium only holds around 54,000 folks (closer to 60,000 with standing room only entrants), but because of the unique design, it’s known to have an absurdly loud and intimidating atmosphere.
There’s a great home field advantage that can be found in Eugene, Oregon, but for one reason or another, the Oregon football stadium is often overlooked. And while it’s not a massive amount of disrespect, EA Sports ended up leaving Autzen Stadium just outside of the top 10 in its preseason College Football 25 rankings for the Toughest Places to Play.
The home of the Oregon football team came close! The Ducks’ beloved and beautiful Autzen Stadium sits at No. 11 in the preseason college football stadium rankings, according to EA Sports. But, well, that’s still outside the top 10. It’s a narrow miss, but it’s still a miss of that top 10 spot.
And that’s a shame considering the intimidating atmosphere that Oregon football fans regularly create on game days.
EA Sports College Football 25 preseason rankings: Top 25 toughest places to play
Here’s what the full list of rankings looks like for the toughest college football venues (according to EA Sports’ game developers). Just a heads up, there are going to be numerous disagreements on where each team and each stadium should be ranked.
- Kyle Field - Texas A&M Aggies
- Bryant-Denny Stadium - Alabama Crimson Tide
- Tiger Stadium - LSU Tigers
- Ohio Stadium - Ohio State Buckeyes
- Sanford Stadium - Georgia Bulldogs
- Beaver Stadium - Penn State Nittany Lions
- Camp Randall Stadium - Wisconsin Badgers
- Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium - Oklahoma Sooners
- Doak S. Campbell Stadium - Florida State Seminoles
- Ben Hill Griffin Stadium - Florida Gators
- Autzen Stadium - Oregon Ducks
- Memorial Stadium - Clemson Tigers
- Neyland Stadium - Tennessee Volunteers
- Jordan-Hare Stadium - Auburn Tigers
- Williams-Brice Stadium - South Carolina Gamecocks
- Michigan Stadium - Michigan Wolverines
- Lane Stadium - Virginia Tech Hokies
- Rice-Eccles Stadium - Utah Utes
- Darrell K. Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium - Texas Longhorns
- Kinnick Stadium - Iowa Hawkeyes
- Notre Dame Stadium - Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Spartan Stadium - Michigan State Spartans
- Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium - Arkansas Razorbacks
- Albertsons Stadium - Boise State Broncos
- Davis Wade Stadium - Mississippi State Bulldogs
There’s no way on earth a list like this won’t receive some pushback. Expect LSU fans to really raise a fuss about it (as they absolutely should). Oregon is close to getting in the top 10 with Autzen Stadium. The venue probably deserves to be there and it's a shame that it isn’t. But, all things considered, that’s far from being amongst the biggest issues with the list.