Florida Football hasn’t been fantastic the last three seasons. The Gators had losing records in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and there isn’t much to complain about in any poll that has the Gators at the bottom of the football rankings.
But the Gators’ home, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, remains one of the top settings in college football. However, The Swamp receives little attention in a recent ESPN list.
Florida Football: This is… The Swamp.
ESPN released a list of the top 25 college football stadiums, and all we can say is, who voted on this? The opening line of the article is “The Swamp.” The Big House. “The Granddaddy of Them All,” and yet The Swamp was ranked 20th in the nation.
So we’ll go over the other 19 stadiums regarded better than The Swamp to determine who should and should not be ahead of Florida.
1. Tiger Stadium, LSU Tigers – That’s fair enough. Death Valley is a massive stadium, and Baton Rouge’s night games have their own unique mythology.
2. Rose Bowl, UCLA Bruins – Did we really just name the Rose Bowl as the second finest stadium in America? It’s a one-tier concrete bowl with the one redeeming feature being that if you play around twilight, you’ll get to see a nice sunset.
![Alberta cheers with fans during the first half between the Florida Gators and Vanderbilt Commodores at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, October 7, 2023. [Chris Watkins/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_5125,h_2882,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01j3877x90n2ppnr089w.jpg)
3. Michigan Stadium, Michigan Wolverines – Similar to the Rose Bowl, The Big House is a one-tier oval. It can hold 107,000 spectators, which is astounding in and of itself, but due to the architecture, it can not get nearly as loud as The Swamp’s 93,000.
4. Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame Fighting Irish – As a note to Scott Stricklin, it appears that bowl stadiums are popular in America. Again, the issue with Notre Dame is the same as with the Rose Bowl: the most famous portion of the stadium isn’t really there (Touchdown Jesus).
5. Beaver Stadium, Penn State Nittany Lions – Similar to Michigan, they can seat 106,000 people. And, considering its location in Pennsylvania, Beaver Stadium stands out as a clear icon. Unlike Florida, they can genuinely achieve color synchronization among their followers.
