Big Ten coaches tab Penn State as having conference's loudest stadium environment

Griffin Goodwyn

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Big Ten coaches tab Penn State as having conference's loudest stadium environment image

Matthew O'Haren

The Big Ten is home to some of the rowdiest environments in college football.

The three largest college football stadiums in the country — Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan (107,601 capacity); Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania (106,572); and Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio (102,780) — house some of the conference's elite teams. Another seven Big Ten stadiums (those of UCLA, Nebraska, USC, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Washington and Iowa) are among the top 25 biggest in the NCAA.

But when all those seats are filled, which stadiums stand above the rest as the loudest? That's a question that was asked to a number of head coaches at the Big Ten Football Media Days this summer.

Penn State's Beaver Stadium receives most votes as loudest environment in Big Ten

The coaches' responses varied, but Penn State's Beaver Stadium received a school-high five definitive votes as having the Big Ten's loudest environment.

Maryland head coach Mike Locksley, who submitted one of those five votes, offered a particularly humorous response to the question in a video shared on the official Big Ten Football X, formerly known as Twitter, account on Sept. 17.

"Penn State, unfortunately," Locksley said.

Those results shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Beaver Stadium is renowned for its “White Out” games, and it appeared second on the "EA Sports’ College Football 26" video game's list of the "Top 25 Toughest Places to Play" (behind only LSU's Tiger Stadium). Not to mention, Penn State has christened itself as having "the best student section in the country, by far" on one of the stadium's entry gates.

Here's what the remaining 14 coaches featured in the video said, in the order in which they appeared:

  • James Franklin (Penn State): "At this point, I'd probably go with Ohio State."
  • Ryan Day (Ohio State): "Penn State."
  • Sherrone Moore (Michigan): "Probably, Penn State."
  • P.J. Fleck (Minnesota): "'White Out' Penn State night."
  • Matt Rhule (Nebraska): "Penn State."
  • Bret Bielema (Illinois): "'Jump Around', fourth quarter, Madison."
  • Greg Schiano (Rutgers): "Iowa."
  • Jedd Fisch (Washington): "Probably, Michigan."
  • Curt Cignetti (Indiana): "Ohio State."
  • Kirk Ferentz (Iowa): "Toss-up — Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin."
  • Jonathan Smith (Michigan State): "Autzen Stadium."
  • David Braun (Northwestern): "Nebraska."
  • Luke Fickell (Wisconsin): "Well, last year, it was definitely Kinnick Stadium at Iowa."
  • Dan Lanning (Oregon): "I haven't gotten to experience them all yet, so I'm excited to see what that looks like. Wisconsin was a great environment this past season."

USC's Lincoln Riley, Purdue's Barry Odom and UCLA's DeShaun Foster (who has since been fired) were the three Big Ten coaches not included.

Griffin Goodwyn

Griffin Goodwyn is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Griffin has covered the MLB and more at Athlon Sports and On3.