Michigan Football Roadtrips
This fall I'm traveling to Rutgers and possibly Notre Dame for away games. I've already been to Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Penn State, Iowa, and Minnesota (metrodome), and Arlington for the Alabama game. I want to travel to all of the big ten football stadiums and am getting close to doing that. So far my favorite away stadium was PSU and my favorite drive was probably a tie between the Minnesota and PSU. Has anyone else attempted this feat before? Which were your favorite/least favorite stadiums and drives?
Northwestern is fun too, Chicago.
I've done the drive and flights to most of the big ten venues.
I wound have to say, Penn State is the best package.
Too bad the next Michigan game at Camp Randall is in 2056.
I'll probably be dead in 5 years.
~Herm
Indiana is the worst (for football, at least). The students pregame and then don't show up, and the stadium is half empty. The apathy there is palpable. Also, there's an incredibly loud and annoying "INDIANAAAA FIRST DOWNNNNN" recording played EVERY SINGLE GOD DAMN TIME THEY GET A FIRST DOWN.
to Indiana among my best Big Ten experiences. 2006 drove over from Columbus of all places. Found parking for free about 500 yards from the stadium. Good food and was among many thousands of Michigan friends. Got to walk out on the field after the game and stood on the IU, walked around Assembly Hall.
Great trip.
But, when you do get a chance to go to Nebraska, the fans are great. I've been to two games there, for the 2012 Michigan game and the 2013 Michigan State game (Nebraska is the only Big Ten school within a reasonable driving distance for me). The old part of the stadium sucks. The new part that they added last year is pretty cool and much easier to get to and from seats. The campus is right on the edge of downtown Lincoln, so there are plenty of bars, restaurants, and places to park.
Nebraska back on the schedule? I just looked under "Useful Stuff" at the future schedules and don't see them listed thru 2017. But we do get Rutgers and Maryland every season---yay!?
I think road games are an absolute blast. I've been to Wisconsin twice, Notre Dame twice Purdue, MSU and OSU.
Favorite for Friday night party: Wisconsin
Favorite for Saturday tailgate: Notre Dame
Favorite for game experience: Notre Dame
Least favorite: Purdue (place just sucked)
We went to the 2006 & 2010 ND games so I'm 2-0 against Touchdown Jesus. In 2006 we set up our tailgate on the front lawn of somebody's house across from the stadium and not long after we got set up a guy set a BBQ stand next to us and traded us sandwhiches for beers. Then the house next to us filled up with the following families: The Long's, the Henne's & the Rivas's (apparently Mr Rivas went to every Michigan game home and away even though he lived in Miami). Mrs Henne had a list of all the players families and was on the phone coordinating getting everybody to our little location which was pretty damn cool.
So between the BBQ guy, meeting the players families and kicking ND's over-rated ass that was one hell of a road trip.
1. Penn State - Best game day atmosphere and great fans.
2. Northwestern - So much to do in Chicago and so Michigan friendly as well. I love taking the Red line north out of the city. The cheers always seem to start on the platforms as the M fans begin to gather.
3. Wisconsin - Prettiest campus being right on the lake. Excellent brats. Atmosphere in the stadium can be crazy!
4. Iowa - Loved tailgating there. Enthusiastic fans and fun to hang out with. The campus is pretty cool too on a bluff over the Iowa River.
every year we play at either Rutgers or Maryland.
I am sort of with others here - I've been on a few such trips as well over the years and the best experiences that I've had overall are Wisconsin and Penn State. Both of these are on very cool campuses and have excellent pregame and crazy in-game atmospheres. I would also back up the people that have had only ho-hum experiences in West Lafayette - Purdue fans were very kind, but Ross-Ade is just a sad atmosphere for a game on many levels.
when I get out of the Marine Corps and return to the states is to follow Michigan to every big ten stadium in the next couple years. Really looking forward to Madison, Iowa City, Happy Valley, Lincoln, and East Lansing in particular
You're looking forward to East Lansing? If I were a Marine, I would rather visit Fallujah.
stretch out your timetable a bit---Michigan only has one West Division road trip per season thru 2016 and two in 2017:
2014 @ Northwestern (Nov. 8)
2015 @ Minnesota (Oct 31)
2016 @ Iowa (Nov 12)
2017 @ Purdue (Sept 23) & @ Wisconsin (Nov 18)
...so it's gonna be a long wait for a road game @ Nebraska and Illinois.
I've been there for Michigan @ Purdue 6 times and Michigan @ Northwestern 5 times, and once each to Camp Randall (33 seasons ago!!) and the Metrodome, but I'm seriously considering each and every one of those road trips I listed above. Purdue and Northwestern are both short, easy trips from this corner of Michigan. Minnesota is a must-go, as they finally have their own stadium, and its been way too long since my last road trip to Madison, so those two towns are overdue for return trips. I have yet to make trips to Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, so yeah.
As for the East Division, I've made the road trips already to Ohio State, MSU and IU, and hve little desire (for various reasons) of returning to any of those venues. Eventually I'll also finally make the trips to the far east for Penn State, Maryland, and Rutgers, but we play them every season, so the opportunity to make those individual trips come up every other season.
14 teams is too many. NO to further expansion---its a little ridiculous to miss other conference teams for 4 or 5 straight seasons! Further expansion would make that problem even worse.
Decades later there were still postcards being sold in Madison of that final scoreboard. I was at the game as a 10-year old and saw the cards in convenience stores well into my 30's. A jarring childhood memory that could not be banished...
I attended several games while living in Milwaukee. They don't like us at all. I don't know whether they still sell beer at Camp Randall, but they did throughout the 90's and early 2000's.
One particularly memorable game consisted of a drunk standing in front of our alumni club (with his back to the game) screaming every obscenity he knew together with all manner of insults for the entire second half. No one in his section tried to stop him and there was no security to help get him out of there. UW pulled an upset at the very end of the game and a lot of people were trampled by fans and students trying to rush the field.
I know tons of the most pleasant people there, but I will never go to another game at that stadium.
Been to Illinois 2007+2009, MSU 2009+2013, Nebraska 2012, Ohio State 2012, Notre Dame 2012, and Iowa 2013....maybe I should stop as I am 1-7.
Iowa and Nebraska staight shot on 80 from Toledo. Must stop at the worlds largest truck stop just inside Iowa. I agree with many people here that Nebraska fans were really awsome!
Notre Dame it was pretty cool just walking around campus, tailgated at a huge grass field about 3 miles away from the stadium.
Iowa tailgated in a church parking lot, of all the away games we got it worse their from their fans (yes ohio and sparty included). Super 8 just off 80 in Iowa offers cheap rooms and cheap taxi service to downtown iowa city were there is a decent night life.
Illinois although not the furthest for me alway felt like it. 2007 and 2009 were two different teams and games. 2007 awsome night game, packed, crazy atmosphere. 2009 horrible 2nd half just miserable. Regardless always very windy in Champagne. Might have the much muck fichigan shirts than our actual rivals for some reason.
East Lansing got to tailgate at the tennis courts. I was prepared for verbal abuse so it wasn't really that bad.
The shoe, tailgated right on the other side of the river, very easy in and out. Like sparty I prepared for abuse and for every 10 dumb people talking trash one person always went out of their way to apolagize. Forget hiding your maize and blue as long as your in public by crowds you "should" be fine. Only place were will not chill out post game, just head out regardless of outcome because thats when it will get bad.
Look forward to either Rutgers or Northwestern this year.
1 and 7 ... SO you're THAT guy !!!! yes, please stop / s
Go Blue!
Nebraska fans are by far the best and most tolerable, but the best overall trip is Madison. It's not even close.
Least Favorite: Purdue
I've been trying to add to the road trips by getting to baseball or NFL games if the schedules sync up.
I've been to all B10 places with the exception of Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers. Not making any of those trips this year.
I'm in the middle of Illinois and I'm stopping in Chicago to watch Sox Tiger game App St weekend. Last year I traded an Akron Michigan game for a Cowboys in KC trip and I really liked KC. I don't think much of STL.
Going to try to catch Chad and Dennard in Indy this year.
I hated Penn State, East Lansing, Columbus, Purdue, and IU
Liked Champaign, Minny, Madison, and Chicago
Iowa was ok I guess. Froze once and saw 2 L's. Maybe it wasn't that great.
Going to my second NW U-M game this year. Great time last year in Chicago (Slayer Friday, Michigan NW Sat.)
I can't wait to get to NJ and Maryland it's just not happening this year or next.
Every season is a roadtrip in itself for me, since I live in Atlanta and schlepp up once a year for a game, but recently I've opened up discussions with my Ann Arbor-ites about doing a roadie with them at some point in the future. I initially thought Michigan St just because of the proximity but I have heard rather nasty things about the locals and the area, so maybe that is not the #1 priority. I then gave Northwestern and Penn State some thought, but the NW atmosphere and stadium just seems subpar to me, and the Penn State destination all of a sudden seems less attractive to me now given what's happened the past few years there...
Anyway, I say all that to ask for input on any must-do road trips. Like, say, theoretically, if I could only physically do one road trip per season through 2020, which would be the best ones to do and see.
PSU is by far the best game environment.
Iowa City is the sleeper for best town.
Illinois is a toilet.
South Bend doesn't exist.
Game day atmosphere, so that puts Penn St back into consideration.
I've heard IA City is underrated, will have to put that on the list.
I'm doing South Bend when GA Tech plays there in 2015, so I'll have that one covered.
Already had no plans to do Champaign, haha.
environment as a fan of the opposing team. The vulgarity, threats of violence, and rhetoric, particularly in the presence of children, make it the worst place to be as a visitor. Unbelieveable. I will never go there again with family. Disgusting fanbase, give a bad name to the rest of the truckers and waitresses in the country.
of what I have heard. No desire to visit that place.