Clemson’s Death Valley Misses Top 10 of ESPN CFB Stadiums Ranking

ESPN ranked the top 25 college football stadiums , based on voting from a panel of 14 college football writers.

Each of those writers gave their top 20 stadiums in order. To determine the top 25 ranking, ESPN assigned points from 20 down to 1, with 20 points being given for first-place votes and 1 point for a stadium voted No. 20.

After the votes were tallied, Clemson’s Death Valley missed the top 10 and was ranked No. 11 with 105 points.

Here’s what ESPN’s Andrea Adelson had to say about Memorial Stadium:

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.

LSU’s Tiger Stadium topped the ESPN ranking with 247 points, with UCLA’s Rose Bowl (209 points), Michigan’s Michigan Stadium (182), Notre Dame’s Notre Dame Stadium (175) and Penn State’s Beaver Stadium (172) rounding out the top five.

The rest of the top 10 features Washington’s Husky Stadium (151 points), Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium (149), Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium (133), Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium (115) and Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium (112).

Along with Clemson, two other ACC stadiums made ESPN’s top 25 with Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium (77 points) coming in at No. 15 and Florida State’s Doak Campbell Stadium appearing at No. 19 (64 points).

Clemson has been one of the toughest places to play in college football for decades. Since the stadium was built in 1942, the Tigers have won 76 percent of their games there. Clemson is 340-104-7 at Death Valley all-time.

In the College Football Playoff Era, Clemson is 65-3 at Memorial Stadium, tied with Alabama for the best record at home. During this stretch, the Tigers won 40 straight games (2016-’22), the longest home winning streak in college football since Miami’s record streak of 58 games from 1985-’94.

There was a point from 2013-’22, where Clemson was 65-1 in Death Valley. Going back to 2011, the Tigers are 85-5 there. Since Dabo Swinney took over as head coach halfway through the 2008 season, Clemson has posted a 97-9 record at Memorial Stadium.

A limited number of signed footballs from Clemson’s 2022 class are still available.  Get yours while supplies last!  Visit Clemson Variety & Frame or purchase online!