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  • A few notes from tonight’s experience:

    • Missed kickoff because of traffic
    • Parked on a golf course
    • Healthy MSU contingent
    • The above all seems 👍
    • An opportunity to sing the WVU-approved lyrics to “Sweet Caroline” on one of these trips gets some odd looks, but is always a treat
    → 10:54 PM, Sep 3
  • From the shores of Lake Michigan, greetings from Ryan Field for Michigan State at Northwestern.

    And my 20th stadium of The Quest.

    → 10:31 PM, Sep 3
  • These trips are always better when the home team wins.

    Congrats Illinois Football Team.

    And a Happy Scott Frost Day to you and yours!

    🏈

    → 4:54 PM, Aug 28
  • Halftime at the kickoff for the 2021 college football season with Nebraska at Illinois.

    And my 19th visit of 130.

    #HappyScottFrostDay #19of130 #TheQuest

    → 3:03 PM, Aug 28
  • 18 of 130: The Quest to see every FBS team

    I grew up in my home state of West Virginia around college football.

    Each fall was spent either listening to the Mountaineers on hunting trips or traveling up to Morgantown for games.

    After a while, I started going to road games as well here and there.

    Later on, I started my career in sports departments of small West Virginia newspapers in Parkersburg and Clarksburg - eventually covering Marshall when Byron Leftwich was their quarterback.

    I’ve had that base of things in my life, when a few years ago, I got this notion of wanting to see a home game at every FBS college team.

    I’m up to 18 (of 130), and am knocking off a handful each year until my kids go off to start their adult lives and/or I retire some day in the future.

    From now on, I’ll post more detailed things along the way, but I figured I’d load up the current list and state of things.

    2020

    No progress here because moves arms in a circle at the general state of the world in that year.

    2019

    Bowling Green at Buffalo - November 29, 2019

    35E3AE12 57E5 460C A253 94F0D543E688 1 105 c

    Home team running onto the field.

    IMG 5420

    One of the more-useful hats I collected along the way.

    Game summary

    Observations

    Buffalo in late November is quite possibly the ideal state for this visit to a tiny stadium tucked away in a mostly residential area.

    Able to witness a nearly empty stadium, some light snowflakes, and a huge day from Buffalo running back Jaret Patterson.

    Biggest oddity, though, was the lack of a halftime show of any sort … and there was a band there (as you can see in the first photo).

    Good coffee, though.

    UAB at Western Kentucky - September 28, 2019

    6197F838 4BB2 4654 B360 D59BB3F1FBFB 1 105 c

    Fans in the stands

    EBD782B3 A01C 497D 8076 734A4272F078 1 105 c

    Home team running on to the field

    36E94B1A FB5C 4CC6 951F C24F68883360

    Me and Big Red (in water cooler form)

    Game summary

    Observations

    The second stop of a double-header day (more below on the visit to Vanderbilt earlier in the day), WKU reminded me most of games I’d attended at Marshall - just red instead of green.

    One of the few times since I’ve committed to this quest that I didn’t pick up a hat - I couldn’t find an in-stadium merch store. All I have from here are photos, a themed game day t-shirt, and a long-digested belly of Cook Out for dinner beforehand.

    Ended up driving home to Indianapolis around halftime - rolling into my driveway near midnight.

    Northern Illinois at Vanderbilt - September 28, 2019

    D12A4A1D D8F5 48D5 A74B F3544BE2D863

    Likely my most-used hat from my trips so far - I can pretend the “V” stands for “Vannoy” instead of “Vanderbilt”

    E0114308 1655 415A 891D C9DF1D122BFD 1 105 c

    Sparsely attended … though a surprisingly large contingent of Northern Illinois folks.

    Game summary

    Observations

    Woke up and started my day with a drive down to Nashville - about four hours south of my home in Indianapolis - in tiem for this noon kickoff.

    Vandy might be the weirdest of my trips so far (well, perhaps tied to Buffalo). It’s a strange atmosphere mix of SEC money, MAC enthusiasm, and an urban campus. Huge production/scoreboard, announcers and the like and a very “meh” crowd reaction throughout.

    Didn’t help that the home team struggled mightily with a middle of the pack MAC team.

    Tennessee Tech at Miami (OH) - September 7, 2019

    C992A0F2 9625 4F58 B9B7 1B41D4A2647A

    I brought a buddy to this one!

    12207F1D 8D93 49D0 8E93 FC23D1C77708 1 105 c

    The band is on the field! The band is on the field! (they were supposed to be … this is pregame)

    Game summary

    Observations

    This is so far my favorite MAC experience. It feels like a small library arts college - but it’s a public Ohio university. A cute college town, a walkable campus, a fun culture and great small college atmosphere.

    Super fun and I highly recommend it.

    UCLA at Cincinnati - August 29, 2019

    E7A6DD3D 7284 4D75 8E92 5AF5188EAE4F 1 105 c B83CCD6D BEE3 493D B756 00A20DAF76DE 1 105 c F5ADC631 9384 4370 A46A A974F61D1735 1 105 c E6485857 2F2C 41DB BE31 31E77D071883

    Nippert Stadium is really neat.

    Game summary

    Observations

    Nippert Stadium, where UC plays, is packed into and surrounded by this urban campus and is among the most unique venues I’ve been to.

    Helped to watch them kick off the season with a solid win.

    Also relatively easy to get in and out of.

    2018

    Buffalo at Toledo - October 20, 2018

    ABB21F13 DB79 4301 ABF2 8C60A51B76FA 1 105 c

    Brought my other buddy to this one

    4BD8FA8A 241A 4EE1 AF29 F87E99FEA51C 1 105 c

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    Game summary

    Observations

    With her brother spinning cubes at a World Cube Association event down in Findlay, my daughter and I went north a bit to catch a game at The Glass Bowl in Toledo.

    Nice fall day, cool old stadium, and I enjoy the pettiness of the rocket (pictured above) supposedly pointed on a trajectory that would hit the fifty yard line ~25 miles down the road at traditional arch-rival Bowling Green.

    Good local pizza, too.

    West Virginia at Iowa State - October 13, 2018

    1B45A348 446A 42CF AEC4 939B1A8A5735 1 105 c

    I usually root for the home team, but there are exceptions.

    CB949895 F939 4099 B846 203B0B691DF1 1 105 c

    As a WVU game, this sucked … but as an Iowa State experience, it’s hard to imagine better.

    Game summary

    Observations

    Reminded me an awful lot of WVU, which makes sense given the identical original stadium design. Ames is also a cute town, and it was fun to attend the official WVU tailgate thing before the game.

    As I mentioned up the caption, as a WVU fan, this game sucked. We went in ranked #6 in the country and got positively pantsed.

    As part of The Quest, though, this was probably the best-case scenario for seeing a night game in Ames.

    Just sucked to have it happen to my team.

    And the cookie-dough place in the stadium also sucked. Do better.

    Indiana at Ohio State - October 6, 2018

    2EF904F1 885F 433A 990F 7C5EB1866FE8 1 105 c

    Top row, behind the endzone. Not bad seats at all, and ones that amde it real obvious how bad OSU’s pass defense was this year.

    B5C9E3ED 346B 478A 97DA 77FC38DCD538 1 105 c

    Great photo of me (other than the hat), taken by my wife (not pictured) who set up this game and the Iowa State one for my 40th birthday present.

    Game summary

    Observations

    Dotting the I is way cooler than I anticipated. Otherwise, this is pretty generic college football product.

    No, I don’t much like Ohio State-Columbus … why do you ask?

    2017

    Central Michigan at Ball State - October 21, 2017

    B570C44B 02D0 4074 AB14 DE87EB6CC131 1 105 c

    A nice thing about MAC games is you can end up with pretty much any seat you want.

    657906D0 226F 4727 99B7 85831D5C4AD8 1 105 c

    Chirp. Chirp.

    Game summary

    Observations

    Ball State has always been right up the road from my adult home here in Indianapolis, but I’d never made it up there until this trip.

    This trip - done more or less on a whim - is also what triggered The Quest into being, really. I had such a good time (despite the lopsided score) with the fans, the game atmosphere, the stands and everything else that I figured I wanted to see all of them.

    Earlier

    Photos exist for a few more of these, but they’re actual hard copies and I don’t feel like dragging out the scanner just yet.

    A few others I’m hazy on the year, but am sure my Dad took me on a WVU road trip there.

    Missouri State at Kansas State - September 1, 2012

    Wisconsin at Purdue - November 6, 2010

    5FF8DB03 27A3 4580 B8B4 7B59E2727BBB 1 105 c

    Penn State at Indiana - October 20, 2007

    Trip down to Bloomington with my wife - before we had kids and had fully settled in to Hoosier-dom.

    Marshall at Virginia Tech - September 12, 2002

    Part of my brief time covered Marshall college football for a small newspaper in West Virginia.

    Several at West Virginia

    Earliest I remember is a Miami at WVU game with Testaverde as the Hurricane QB in 1986 (they clobbered us).

    WVU at East Carolina

    Fun fact: Back then, “Scotty’s Pottys” provided the portable toilets. I find this funny to this day.

    WVU at Louisville

    As I recall, there’s a Unitas statue out front - or was way back then.

    WVU at Maryland

    I remember this one because some of the folks we were traveling with convinced a Maryland State Trooper to give me a hard time (I was maybe 12 at the time).

    A few at Marshall

    I can’t recall which specific games I covered, but I definitely made it down to Huntington for a handful during my time covering them.

    → 7:54 PM, Aug 22
  • As much as I’m enjoying Week Zero of college 🏈 this evening (and especially the Arizona-Hawaii nightcap), I’m starting to get mega-stoked about kicking off Week One in person for UCLA at Cincinnati Thursday.

    → 7:59 PM, Aug 24
  • So, I had been eyeing a Michigan-Michigan State doubleheader in my quest to (eventually) see a game at every FCS stadium. Turns out, same weekend, a Vanderbilt-Western Kentucky double looks way more doable (assuming Vandy gets the JP nooner spot)

    → 9:39 PM, Jul 27
  • If I have any Michiganders listening: Say there’s a football game at Michigan at noon and another at Michigan State at 4.

    Say I’m willing to leave in the third quarter of a laugher … chances I could make kickoff in East Lansing?

    → 8:26 PM, Jul 2
  • Planning my 2019 football trips already. And noticing Michigan State and Michigan are both at home on September 28. And wondering if I can pull the double. Oh, and Vanderbilt is home the day before.

    Might be a busy weekend.

    → 11:23 AM, Feb 16
  • Had anticipated this game being a rainy and fairly miserable experience, but it seems the rain’s stayed north of us and it’s a perfect fall day. Bonus: The home team is also winning. 3FA68874-1F21-4832-BECF-7A65B6BCBE63.jpg 1249B7EF-865E-46B8-A324-05BF85FC7E34.jpg CAB79DED-7E49-479B-BF49-F8E24B4C0B01.jpg 91DBDB58-2C4B-4B78-A5D0-99FA58DE2980.jpg

    → 1:28 PM, Oct 20
  • If this game has an instant replay, there’s a very good chance Lauren and I are making the (ESPN3 Streaming) broadcast. F349E467-C0E5-4C26-8EF9-E13C2CA5B631.jpg

    → 11:21 AM, Oct 20
  • One more stadium to close out the birthday month.

    Greetings from The Glass Bowl, home of the University of Toledo Rockets. Featuring: A special guest.

    B462B529-8E30-4003-A492-D12DC05333C5.jpg A8148065-2BFB-46BE-B5A9-0622006EBBC3.jpg 04EFE2A8-D42D-43E0-80C4-554738998813.jpg 2335CB19-DDDC-4F8A-9E74-26E5BB650A48.jpg

    → 10:52 AM, Oct 20
  • More photos from a crappy WVU game, but a top-notch game to catch at Iowa State (as in: as a CFB fan, you get one game in Ames? Make it a night game upset over a top ten opponent).

    8685584A-9F5D-4309-AAF1-DC3DE750BEF4.jpg 7525CAD6-7468-4FC3-8814-4C138D06099B.jpg 6E9BCA81-FC54-4D04-B512-82520ED61ED5.jpg 4F5E2797-6911-4A3A-93D2-9291C53DC1B5.jpg

    → 1:02 AM, Oct 14
  • Sliver lining: I was here for a patented Saturday Night in Ames. Shame my team on the receiving end, but here’s to Jack Trice Magic.

    → 10:20 PM, Oct 13
  • Whelp. This sucks.

    → 10:00 PM, Oct 13
  • Another week, another stadium. Greetings from Iowa State’s Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, IA.

    No rooting for the home team this week. Let’s Go Mountaineers!

    D97853AD-F104-4351-AAFF-8D9724DA321D.jpg ABC02958-5B4D-4A8E-A9C9-CF55D6642958.jpg 0F19C289-16A5-41AA-AD31-C7F3EFDEB8EA.jpg 62382D53-6F28-45C7-BA10-B21D1064A6FB.jpg

    → 7:25 PM, Oct 13
  • More photos from the cheap seats at Ohio State’s win over Indiana today. 23C64DF1-F79C-4E79-A6DE-62372820BE46.jpg 1C3C1D4A-A03B-42BC-8355-00A08E344794.jpg 123B829F-2CF8-48D7-9A60-92966A9A1167.jpg

    → 11:38 PM, Oct 6
  • When I do these stadium visits, I have three rooting interests: WVU, Chaos, and the Home Team. In that order.

    Late in the third quarter, and Chaos is still very much in play.

    → 6:43 PM, Oct 6
  • Kicking off my birthday month with another stadium off the list (100 or so to go, next up Ames, IA). Greetings from The Horseshoe.
    3017110B-FD5D-4AC5-888E-642CDEAC874D.jpg 7F7F99CC-33D6-4A6B-8D09-1DDB286EEEE7.jpg 94A9B8B4-5ACE-43F1-823C-6123384F7EB0.jpg 8FD32292-EAA3-44F2-8D57-966137C15A0D.jpg

    → 3:04 PM, Oct 6
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