Road to CFB: Visiting Every Division-I College Football Stadium

The best way to see America is on the road. I'm out to experience every Division-I college football stadium– take in its culture, food, and traditions.

Brett Gibbons | Nov 15, 2022

Road to CFB

My name is Brett Gibbons and I'm on the road visiting all 131 Division-IA college football stadiums. I call the journey Road to CFB, and this season I'm incredibly excited to share my travels with you all here on KillerFrogs.

This season, you can follow along with Road to CFB's 2022 campaign right here. Check back for weekly game day write ups, stadium reviews, and more first-hand experiences from the nation's top colleges.

Thank You For An Awesome 2022!

Always a bittersweet time, my 2022 Road to CFB campaign has come to a close. Thank you to all who have followed along this season and helped make this year the best yet!

You can catch my coverage of championship weekend and Bowl Season here at KillerFrogs for the remainder of the college football season.

Be sure to check out an going podcast series with College Football Tour – College Football Featured! We'll be discussing in-depth all of the aspects of college football that make it truly the best sport in the world.

If you missed any of my writeups from 10 brand new stadiums, they're posted below. From East Carolina to Wisconsin and West Virginia to Iowa, there were some special moments along the way.

Otherwise, I will see each of you back here in the spring for my Spring Game report and scheduling releases.

2022 Games Seen

Sept. 1: #17 Pittsburgh 38, West Virginia 31 (Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA)
Sept. 2: Old Dominion 20, Virginia Tech 17 (S. B. Ballard Stadium, Norfolk, VA)
Sept. 3: #13 NC State 21, East Carolina 20 (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Greenville, NC)
Sept. 10: Washington State 17, #19 Wisconsin 14 (Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI)
Sept. 17: Bowling Green 34, Marshall 31 (Doyt Perry Stadium, Bowling Green, OH)
Sept. 24: Cincinnati 45, Indiana 24 (Nippert Stadium, Cincinnati, OH)
Oct. 12: Louisiana 23, Marshall 13 (Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV)
Oct. 13: West Virginia 43, Baylor 40 (Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, WV)
Oct. 22: #16 Penn State 45, Minnesota 17 (Beaver Stadium, State College, PA)
Nov. 9: Northern Illinois 24, Western Michigan 21 (Waldo Stadium, Kalamazoo, MI)
Nov. 12: Iowa 24, Wisconsin 10 (Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA)

Road to CFB Article index

What is Road to CFB?

Five years ago, I set off on a journey to experience a game day at every Division-IA (FBS) stadium in the country. As of the 2022 season, there's 131 schools at the FBS level with two more entering the ranks in the coming season.

So far, I've checked off 40 games and visited 108 stadiums.

From big cities like Seattle, Austin, and Miami to small college towns like Starkville, Laramie, and Bowling Green; my goal is to share what America looks like from the road. Each stop has its own unique tradition and culture.

On this journey, the product on the field is secondary. I focus on the fan experience–the sights, sounds, and smells from a Saturday in the stands. I hope you'll be able to use Road to CFB as a guide and an inspiration to get out and see this country mile by mile.

Where can you find me this season?

This season, I'm focusing on the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. While the 2022 schedule is constantly a work in progress, here is my current iteration:

Sept. 1: West Virginia at Pitt* (Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA)
Sept. 2: Virginia Tech at Old Dominion* (S. B. Ballard Stadium, Norfolk, VA)
Sept. 3: NC State at East Carolina * (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Greenville, NC)
Sept. 10: Washington State at Wisconsin* (Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI)
Sept. 17: Marshall at Bowling Green (Doyt Perry Stadium, Bowling Green, OH)
Sept. 24: Indiana at Cincinnati* (Nippert Stadium, Cincinnati, OH)

Oct. 1: OFF
Oct. 8: OFF
Oct. 12: Louisiana at Marshall* (Joan C. Edwards Stadium, Huntington, WV)
Oct. 13: Baylor at West Virginia* (Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, WV)
Oct. 22: Minnesota at Penn State* (Beaver Stadium, State College, PA)
Oct. 29: OFF

Nov. 9: Northern Illinois at Western Michigan* (Waldo Stadium, Kalamazoo, MI)
Nov. 12: Wisconsin at Iowa* (Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA)
Nov. 19: OFF
Nov. 26: OFF

Game completed
*New stadium

Follow the Road to CFB journey on social media

2021 Schedule and Stories

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the best stadium you’ve been to?

This is the million dollar question and usually the first one asked (that or how many I’ve been to). The honest answer is, I can’t pin down just one. I also can’t rank my “top 3” or “top 5.” I see stadiums in tiers. My top tier in terms of all around game experience would consist of:

Ohio State
LSU
Texas A&M
Wisconsin
Penn State

However, this could change if you asked me just about the stadium & structure. That tier would consist of:

LSU
Ohio State
Texas A&M
Tennessee
Clemson
Texas

The same applies to just atmosphere, just tailgating, etc. A lot goes into game experiences.

Q: What’s your favorite part about game days?

The beautiful thing about college football is that everything is subjective. Things I love about certain places might be the chagrin of another fan. A great example of this is at Mississippi State and their cowbells– ask any Ole Miss (or SEC) fan, and they’ll tell you it drives them up a wall. I, for one, love the cowbells.

I love when a stadium gets really noisy. If I have a headache leaving, chances are, it was a great stadium experience. Fans are also an integral part of the experience. Kindness and openness to conversation goes a long way. I’m not a big fan of hecklers and people who scream at coaches or referees– or anyone on the field, really– from the stands. I also love freedom and accessibility so stringent schedules, complicated stadiums, or strict section ushers might ding a place a couple of points.

Mostly, I love experiencing a new place and being infected with the boundless excitement that a fan shares with their team. Outside of very rare cases, I become a fan of that school for the day.

Q: What’s the worst place you’ve been to?

Almost every single game day experience I’ve had has been completely positive; it’s hard to have a bad time when you’re watching the game you love with tens of thousands of your closest friends. Certain aspects have been subpar (Eastern Michigan isn’t the crème de la crème of the college football stadium world), but almost nothing has straight up ruined a game day for me.

Outside of games, I was extremely disappointed while visiting ULM. The city was run down and dirty and, frankly, didn’t feel very safe. The home stands are a big square that covers very little of the sideline and the away stands are bleachers with gaps; there was a bent and rusty temporary fence surrounding the stadium that was very much intended to be permanent. High schools outdo ULM.

Q: Of all the great matchups in Week X, you chose Team A vs Team B?

One factor that doesn’t weigh heavily in my game selection is this week’s slate of marquee matchups. Usually, those games are incredibly expensive for not great seats and anything outside of a walk-off winner or an OT thriller is a disappointment. If I spend $250 to see Georgia play Alabama and the Crimson Tide walk away with a 41-14 victory (or, hell, even a close 13-10 game), that wouldn’t be a satisfactory experience for the price paid.

I look for value. Sure, if I can score reasonable tickets for a big game, I will. For example, I scored lower-bowl seats to #7 Oklahoma at Texas Tech for under $50 each and it was an incredible experience. But I can have just as awesome an experience at a closer matchup between two evenly-matched Sun Belt schools. It’s all about balancing price with outcome– which is the value I look for.

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Published Nov 15, 2022

BRETT GIBBONS

Brett is an avid sports traveler and former Division-I football recruiter for Bowling Green and Texas State. He’s covered college sports for Fansided, Stadium Journey, and several independent outlets over the past five years. A graduate of BGSU, Brett currently works on-site at Google as a project lead for content curation products.