Where ESPN ranks Clemson’s Death Valley in Top 25 college football stadiums

ESPN recently asked its staff writers to name the Top 25 college football stadiums entering the 2024 season.

You can already guess some of the biggest names on the list: the Rose Bowl, Touchdown Jesus, The Big House at Michigan, and LSU’s Tiger Stadium all occupy the first four spots (though not in that order)

Where does Clemson’s Death Valley rank? The Tigers’ home venue since 1942 placed just outside the Top 10 at No. 11 — one spot below Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium and its checkered end zones.

Memorial Stadium was the highest-ranked ACC stadium by ESPN.

Staff writer Andrea Adelson writes:

“A trip to Clemson includes “the most exciting 25 seconds in college football.” There is a slow buildup, of course. The giant video board keeps the crowd updated: Players loading up the buses to take the 1 minute, 45 second drive from the locker room to the hill atop the east end zone. Coach Dabo Swinney is always the first one off the bus. He and his players stop first to rub Howard’s Rock, which was placed on a pedestal at the top of the hill in 1966 but did not become a pregame tradition until the following year.

They stand atop the hill, edging close to the Rock, as the crowd builds into a frenzy. Then: BANG! Swinney is off like Usain Bolt in the 100-meter dash, running down the hill with his players in fast pursuit as the Clemson band plays “Tiger Rag,” fireworks shoot from the videoboard and fans scream C-L-E-M-S-O-N to cap it off.”

Clemson Memorial Stadium finished ahead of some terrific college football venues on ESPN’s list, including Texas A&M’s Kyle Field and Oregon’s Autzen Stadium (“Autzen Zoo”).

The Tigers play their first home game of 2024 against Appalachian State in prime time September 7. The Week 2 contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff on ACC Network.