New EA College Football Game Shows Clemson Stadium’s Evolution

The evolution of Memorial Stadium, the home of Clemson Tigers football, is highlighted in the new video game.

Sep 9, 2023; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney points up after rubbing Howard's Rock before the game with Charleston Southern the first quarter at Memorial Stadium. / Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY Sports

Clemson’s Memorial Stadium has been the home of Tigers football since 1942.

That opening game was on Sept. 19, 1942, and saw Clemson beat Presbyterian, 32-12. There were just 20,000 seats for that game.

These days the stadium, also called "Death Valley," has a capacity of 81,500 fans on gameday. Throw in standing room and you can get to the 86,092 fans it held back in 1999 for the “Bowden Bowl,” when Clemson, led by Tommy Bowden, hosted Florida State, led by his father, Bobby.

Stadiums change. That’s part of the deal. But the release of EA College Football 25 this week is putting gamers and college football fans alike on their couch for hours on end to play with their favorite Division I football team.

For fans of the previous video game release, EA Sports College Football 14, it provides a nostalgic look back, if you’re into side-by-side screenshots.

CFB Kings, a popular feed on social media, reflected on the changes in some stadiums from the last video game release to this week’s. One of those happened to be Memorial Stadium.

Even in 11 years, the changes to the stadium — and the attention to detail in the video game — is apparent.

Clemson’s stadium in NCAA14 vs. in College Football 25 🎮🐅 pic.twitter.com/doJLGQFddv

— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) July 16, 2024

In the end zone that feature’s Howard’s Rock, the older scoreboard has been replaced with the new video board. In addition, the carpet that the players run on down the hill has a higher contrast of orange that the renderings of 11 years ago.

The opposite end zone features the new stadium suites but removes the two video boards, one of which was on each side of the end zone stands.

The level of detail is amazing, and EA Sports worked with each of the 134 Division I schools in the game to get it as right as possible. Each school was asked to provide stadium renderings and imagery, information on uniforms, traditions and music as part of making the game as realistic as possible.

For the past few weeks EA Sports has been releasing power rankings for offenses, defenses, overall teams and individual player positions. Clemson ranked among the Top 10 as a team in offense, defense and overall going into the season, though EA Sports has said there will be updates to those rankings during the season.

Meanwhile, linebacker Barrett Carter had the highest ranking at his position going into the season.

Clemson opens the season on Aug. 31 in Atlanta against Georgia. After the opener the Tigers return home to Memorial Stadium for three straight games to end September — vs. Appalachian State on Sept. 7, vs. NC State on Sept. 21 to open ACC play and vs. Stanford on Sept. 28.