FOX Sports fans claim another ACC stadium better than Death Valley
By: will-vandervort March 27, 2021

FOX Sports College Football tweeted on Friday that Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium was voted by FOX Sports fans as the best football stadium in the ACC.

Not only did the FOX fans vote Clemson’s Memorial Stadium, a.k.a. Death Valley, No. 2, but the result of the poll shows Virginia Tech got 51.7 percent of the vote, while Clemson received just 31.1 percent. That is what surprised me more than anything.

How many people participated in the voting and where did the majority of the votes come from? Have these fans ever been to either stadium?

This writer has, and no offense to Virginia Tech, the Hokies’ game day atmosphere does not even compare to Clemson’s. I have gone to Lane Stadium several times in my career as a sportswriter in the ACC and it is a good game day atmosphere and it would definitely be my second choice in the conference.

Virginia Tech fans are passionate about their Hokies. The students really get into the games and the atmosphere is definitely a great one to witness in college football.

However, it does not compare to Death Valley in Clemson.

For one, Clemson’s stadium is bigger. Memorial Stadium holds 81, 500 fans, while Lane Stadium sits 66,233.

As for game day traditions, pageantry and things of that nature, I will not go into all of that because transitions are different at each school and they are special to the fans and the alumni of those schools.

However, when comparing the team’s entrances into their respected stadiums, which is part of the stadium’s atmosphere, it is no contest whose is better.

Clemson’s running down the hill in Death Valley to its own fight song being played by the school’s marching band after rubbing Frank Howard’s mystical rock is second to no one in college football. It is a unique tradition no one else does. It can’t be imitated.

That is why famous broadcaster Brent Musburger called it, “The Most Exciting 25 Seconds in all of College Football.”

Virginia Tech’s “Enter Sandman” tradition, is cool, but it is not unique from what happens at most places in college and high school football. Loud music being pumped through the stadium’s speakers while players run through smoke. You can see that just about anywhere.

Granted, Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium can be an intimidating place to play when the Hokies are playing well and the stadium is packed.

But is not Clemson.

Memorial Stadium rivals any stadium in the country. Clemson fans are passionate about football. I have been to SEC stadiums such as Auburn’s, Georgia’s and Texas A&M’s, and I can tell you, Memorial Stadium rivals those great SEC stadiums. There is a reason why the SEC media and its fans say Clemson is an SEC Football Program in the ACC.

There is no stadium in the ACC like Memorial Stadium, and there is no way this poll by FOX Sports is representing the college football fans who have actually attended games at these two stadiums.

Make sure you dress to impress and wear the latest Clemson gear.

Please stay safe and get your officially licensed Clemson gear right here!