Goal: To thoroughly experience gameday at every FBS college football stadium. STADIUM COUNT: 108/134
When thinking of famous trophy rivalries, one may consider the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe between Minnesota and Wisconsin, or the Old Oaken Bucket awarded yearly to the Indiana/Purdue victor. However, the Peace Pipe trophy fought over by Bowling Green and Toledo probably cracks the top ten on few people’s lists. However, the intensity, history, and importance of this battle is just like any other.
Here we have two programs who have experienced recent success, yet are suffering from seasons packed with disappointment. Ohio comes into Toledo having not left the Glass Bowl with a victory since 1967. However, coming off a conference championship game appearance last year, the Bobcats feel that this would be the moment to end the 40 year streak. Toledo has experienced many conference crowns lately, but both the Bobcats and Rockets are facing losing seasons as the halfway mark of the 2007 college football season passes. Tonight would be an opportunity for both teams to regain confidence and possibly avoid a losing campaign. The game would prove to be much more exciting than most may have anticipated.
Peden Stadium in Athens, Ohio is another hidden gem of college football that few people know about. Only an hour south of Columbus, Athens appears as a cute brick laden college community, but only after the highway dwindles from three lanes, to two, and down to one. The campus is visible from the highway and as soon as the exit for Ohio U is reached, the stadium appears in the near distance. Tents lined up across the street and adjacent to the Hocking River host tailgaters that sprinkle the lawns with enthusiasm. Just a short drive from the stadium is Court Street – an all brick road brimming with fans weaving in and out of shops and filling up on novelties and gear for gameday. Ohio is known for its party-school status and traces of this were evident along Court Street.
Security in Athens, Ohio today seemed to be as penetrable as prosciutto. In anticipation of the contest between Wyoming and Ohio, we executed our usual pregame walk around the stadium. Upon realizing that we had arrived on the side opposite of our seat assignment, I asked an usher if we could reach the other side of the stadium by going around the back way. With a blank look on her face, she pointed toward a rather desolate fenced in alleyway and replied, “I’m not sure, give it a try!” Confused, we followed her instruction, and as we passed the back doors to a concession stand, we realized that we had been led into the security/service entrance. Shortly after, we stumbled upon the entrance to the Wyoming locker room. Additionally, we were already inside the stadium and no one had taken our ticket! To make matters even more unexpected, Wyoming head coach, Joe Glenn, appeared from around the corner, came up to me, and asked, “Do you know which way is east?” Poor guy didn’t realize that he just asked directions from the most directionally challenged person on the planet. Mildly stunned from these events, I stuttered, “I’m not sure, but can I get a picture with you?”…
Central Michigan University is an unexpected surprise hidden among the nothingness in the middle of Michigan. Driving into Mount Pleasant provides immediate clues that you have arrived onto a college campus. Folks decked in maroon and gold trickle around the area and it all flows toward Kelly Shorts Stadium where just outside awaits a massive party in preparation for game action. Live bands, loud music, dancing on trucks, and other common college behavior electrifies the area around the stadium. It’s a concentrated gaggle of young adults crammed together making it difficult to walk through and get to the stadium.
Having just arrived from Ypsilanti and the yawner that transpired there, Mount Pleasant was a pleasant surprise. The drive toward the stadium offered more excitement than the entire game played down at Eastern Michigan. Enthusiasm dripped from all corners of the campus with the epicenter of the action being the stadium parking lot. Nothing could have prepared me for the wild college party that blanketed the area around Kelly Shorts Stadium. Kids dancing on cars, wall to wall bodies, live bands and college spirit absolutely drenched the surroundings. Central Michigan easily could have been confused for a major college team. We couldn’t wait to punch our ticket and pass through the gates.
The entire state of Michigan focused their attention on the Michigan Wolverines and their response to the earth-shattering upset they endured a week earlier to the Appalachian State Mountaineers. If only the folks in Ypsilanti could care that much about their football team. Eastern Michigan University is only ten minutes from the University of Michigan, but they couldn’t be further apart in fan support and devotion. Attendance numbers for their home opener at Rynearson Stadium did not even surpass the 6,000 mark. The scene looked more like a spring game than a home opener. The highlight of the afternoon probably came at halftime when the 1987 California Bowl champion, Eastern Michigan Hurons, were honored on the field. Twenty years since Eastern’s last bowl game and the empty seats in the stands provided solid proof. As the game continued, it became clear that their streak of bowl absences would continue.
Ball State University might want to replace their maintenance staff with NIU tailback Garrett Wolfe as he covered more ground and clipped more blades of grass with his shoes than John Deere could with a fleet of mowers. On an evening where nearly every type of imaginable weather came over Sheumann Stadium, nothing could stop the nation’s leading rusher.
In recent years, Toledo has been to the Middle American Conference as Michigan is to the Big Ten – a dominant, conference champion-grabbing machine. Western Michigan has enjoyed only one victory over the Rockets in the past twelve years. Both teams gathered in Kalamazoo on this chilly, atypical September evening carrying 0-1 records. With this matchup being a conference clash, neither team could afford to dig themselves deeper into the loss column. Already at week two, the Rockets and Broncos were in must-win situations.
Finally, the first game of this tour since launching collegefootballtour.com and I end up traveling 400 miles to view a game between two teams I have already seen in a venue that doesn’t even count toward my stadium goal. Why? Bret Bielema. Since Barry Alvarez’s departure from the sidelines, many Wisconsin fans have questioned the changes that loomed ahead. Seeing that I have more Badger games on my record than Tommy Lee has tattoos, my interest in the new coaching change was significant.