EA Sports Gives Clemson’s Memorial Stadium Questionable Toughness Rating
Next month, the eagerly anticipated EA Sports College Football 25 returns to the marketplace, and the expectation is that the game will be an enormous hit.
As part of the ramp-up to the release, EA Sports has been giving college football fans little tidbits of information about the game. On Tuesday, it released its Top 25 toughest places to play in college football.
Clemson football fans may be less than amused by Memorial Stadium’s ranking.
Also known as “Death Valley,” Clemson’s home stadium was ranked No. 12.
Yep, Memorial Stadium wasn’t even in the Top 10.
Texas A&M's Kyle Field was No. 1 overall. After that it was Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium, followed by LSU's “Death Valley,” or Tiger Stadium.
Which stadiums were ahead of Clemson?
Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium was No. 4, followed by Georgia’s Sanford Stadium at No. 5 and Penn State’s Beaver Stadium at No. 6.
Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium was No. 7, followed by Oklahoma’s Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at No. 8, Florida State’s Doak S. Campbell Stadium at No. 9 and Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at No. 10.
Oregon’s Autzen Stadium was at No. 11, right ahead of the Tigers. Clemson’s in-state rival, South Carolina, saw its Brice-Williams Stadium ranked No. 15.
EA Sports took a variety of factors into the rankings, including historical home win percentage, home attendance, active home winning streaks, team prestige and more.
Clemson’s football account on X took exception to one of the criteria, which was home record. In the graphic below, Clemson noted that their home winning percentage in the time period sampled was second only to Alabama.
🤨 https://t.co/jBzvPhOg1I pic.twitter.com/qGk0bVrryy
— Clemson Football (@ClemsonFB) June 25, 2024
Brad Crawford of 247Sports noted that while Kyle Field is rated No. 1, their record against conference opponents since joining the SEC doesn’t exactly back up the ranking.
Texas A&M is 24-20 at Kyle Field against SEC teams since joining the conference. pic.twitter.com/Zgx5pTwXqp
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) June 25, 2024
Clemson’s website also made the point that it has ranked among the top 20 in attendance for 43 straight seasons and is ranked among the Top 5 gameday atmospheres according to 247Sports.
EA Sports noted that the rankings are subject to change in future updates, so don't expect the rankings to remain static.
Clemson is second only to Alabama in appearances in the College Football Playoff with six, has won two national championships and has been to two other national title games in the CFP era, which started 10 years ago.
While Clemson hasn’t been to the CFP since the 2020 season, the Tigers figure to have a chance to get back into the expanded CFP this season, which will take 12 teams.
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