I really do not get the mystique of playing in South Bend. Going by the size of the crowd and the amount of noise, It seemed no more intimidating than playing at Wake Forest which, to me, seemed louder on TV.
Having a 132' foot tall relief of Jesus in one endzone may offer some help, but then again I have recently contended that the good Lord and Savior stays out of football, especially after UGA won the title last year.
If you have never been, I would recommend you go. It’s a great game day experience. The campus is very nice, and there appeared to be many things to go see/ take in. The stadium is really nice, definitely one of the better old environments I have been to.
Game Environment: I have been to all of the acc Venues minus Pitt and Syracuse. The game last night at Notre Dame was sold out. I was 8 rows off the field, and it was loud. My seat at Notre Dame was similar to what I have at Clemson. I think Death Valley is louder but not by much. Notre Dame fans provide a great home field advantage for their team. I was not at FSU this year but I can’t believe it would be much louder. My guess was that Notre Dame was tougher because the momentum stayed on their side the entire game.
That all said, this was not Wake Forest. We take over a solid third of that stadium when we play there.
Side notes: Notre Dame does some neat things, but trying to take my orange colored glasses off I still think they fall short of what Clemson does. I have to believe that Notre Dame is at the top of the list for stadium environments. If that is the case if a recruit only got to experience the inside of the stadium, I think Clemson wins. That said our student section could take some notes and learn a thing or to.
Pet peeve. Placing the visiting band in the “upper deck”, to me, is bush league. I know not everyone does this. But it seems like this is becoming a trend. A big component about College Football is the students. Letting the visiting team have a small section near their team I feel is part of that.