A fifteen year odyssey across the backroads of America during the ultimate College Football roadtrip.

Tag: Big 10 (Page 1 of 3)

Maryland vs Michigan State – Terps trounced in the Byrd…

After a Navy game in the afternoon, it’s a quick shot over to Landover for the evening tilt in Byrd Stadium. With only a few minutes to spare before kickoff, the parking situation on the Maryland campus is an absolute abomination. One narrow road leads into the parking lots and traffic backs up for miles as the hapless, yellow vested attendants direct traffic into a cluster of steel chaos. A line of gridlock stands between me and kickoff, and I’m not pleased about it.

After an agonizing 30 minute wait behind an endless line of tail lights, I pull into the first lot I am able, gladly forking over $17 in exchange for the freedom of walking. With kickoff a few ticks away, I quite literally sprint towards the stadium, snatching up a quick pair of tickets along the way for $30 apiece. Energy swells as I near the stadium, Terps fans rife with anticipation for their biggest home game of the year against Big 10 conference leader Michigan State.

IMG_2580

With cell phone service completely jammed, it takes a few minutes to locate my sister. In town for work, she’d reluctantly agreed to hit another game with me this year, despite the mercury dipping will into the 20’s on a frigid Old Line State night. Any hopes of entering the stadium quickly were soon dashed at the entrance gates, as a mob of fans stack up at the woefully understaffed iron gates. It takes another fifteen minutes to simply enter the stadium, the entire process backed up by a measly pair of security personnel, insistent upon the usual foolish rigamarole of frisking, patting and groping.

Put simply, the traffic and crowd control at Maryland is an absolute disaster. Easily the worst I have seen in all my travels. They have some serious work to do to better equip themselves for the task of Big 10 football.

IMG_2600 IMG_2590 IMG_2588

Despite the ambitious 51,802 turnout, Terps fans are quickly dismayed by the sound thrashing they receive on the field. They cough the ball up four times, victims of an anemic offense that manages only 6 yards rushing the entire contest. Michigan State fans erupt in celebration at each foible, our section in particular decked in a sea of green coats and winter hats. The Spartan faithful have turned out in droves for the contest, occupying nearly four full sections of the stadium, their boisterous cheering smothering the lifeless Terrapin crowd. Sparty tears up 482 yards of total offense, perfectly split between rushing and passing and asserting their dominance over the Big 10 newcomers. In the end, Michigan State rolls to an easy 37-15 victory, keeping their conference championship hopes alive.

IMG_2584 IMG_2586 IMG_2582 IMG_2589

IMG_2583

Special thanks to my sister for coming along on another frigid adventure this year, and perhaps next year in California we can catch something a bit more suitable to your climatic preferences.

IMG_2598

Full Clickthrough Gallery Below

Drugs are sumptuous, and definite people cannot get the medicaments they need. Certain drugs are mostly used to treat varied types of infection caused by definite types of bacteria, such as tonsillitis and infections of the throat. If you’re concerned about sexual problem, you probably know about http://isviagraoverthecounter.com/Male-Enhancement-Pills.html. What are side effects of Cialis? There are various drugs for male impotence cure. Very likely Male Enhancement Pills Over the Counter is a very complicated topic. More information about Cialis available at best male enhancement pills over the counter. While the generic is credited with improving nausea, it may also kill the mood in bedroom. All kinds of medications, from those that are considered ‘all natural’ to those that are chemically produced in a laboratory, may cause some kind of aftereffects.

Share this post:

Penn State vs Ohio State – Nittany Lions drop a barnburner to the Buckeyes…

As one of the few remaining Big 10 schools on my list, a trip to the college football juggernaut of Penn State was long overdue. Given scheduling pressures for my annual trip with my friend Federico, however, the adventure this year would be a quick one and we’d be doing an in and out trip to Happy Valley.

IMG_2393IMG_2386

Despite the abbreviated trip, however, the game was a monster that any Nittany Lions fan had circled on their calendar a year ago. The Ohio State buckeyes were in town for the weekend, with their sights firmly set on a Big 10 Championship and a seat at the table in the new four team playoff. The rebounding Nittany Lions pulled out all the cards for this one. The contest would be a night kickoff on prime-time television, and the athletic department called for a “white out”, which blanketed behemoth Beaver Stadium in nearly 108,000 monochromatic fans all garbed in freshly bleached white shirts.

IMG_2390  IMG_2392

The contest lived up to the hype, as the Nittany Lions took the Buckeyes into a double overtime thriller before finally succumbing to the Ohio State University in a gut wrenching loss. Were it not for a couple of blatant missed calls by the officials, Penn State could possibly have pulled out the victory. Despite their well known sanctions taking their toll on the Nittany Lions bench strength, this is a team that will continue to rise in the coming years as they return to full strength.

IMG_2401 IMG_2402 IMG_2403 IMG_2404 IMG_2407

The quick trip to Penn State only whetted my appetite for a return trip for a full weekend to get the entire Nittany Lions experience. A day trip is simply not sufficient to take in the October splendor of a weekend in State College. As the only premier college football destination in the Northeast corridor, I have no doubt that a return trip will happen soon – and I’ll have a fresh white shirt ready to go….

IMG_2396

Special thanks to my friend Federico for making the trip again this year, and next year we’ll be sure to find another premiere SEC destination on the Aggies road schedule!

IMG_2399

Full Clickthrough Gallery Below

Drugs are sumptuous, and certain people cannot get the medicaments they need. Certain drugs are ordinarily used to treat varied types of infection caused by specific types of bacteria, such as tonsillitis and infections of the throat. If you’re concerned about sexual problem, you probably know about http://isviagraoverthecounter.com/Male-Enhancement-Pills.html. What are side effects of Cialis? There are different drugs for male impotence cure. Very likely Male Enhancement Pills Over the Counter is a very complicated topic. More info about Cialis available at best male enhancement pills over the counter. While the generic is credited with improving nausea, it may also kill the mood in bedroom. All kinds of medications, from those that are elaborate ‘all natural’ to those that are chemically produced in a laboratory, may cause some kind of aftereffects.

Share this post:

Rutgers vs Howard: Scarlet Knights bury the Bison…

As another fall is ushered in, and my sixth season of travels begins, home base has once again changed. Now located in New Hampshire, my football travels will become increasingly challenged as the entire Northeast corridor is a vacuum for great college football. This season will inevitably mean more flights, and carefully arranged planning to make the most of my precious fall weekends. Spontaneity will give way to more advance planning and preparation, a new challenge as I continue to probe further into the depths of the sport.

With their long anticipated move to the Big 10, however, Rutgers offered a reasonably exciting opportunity to open my season at a bigger conference venue. As the “birthplace” of college football, Rutgers is considered the founding father of the sport when, in 1869, they squared off against Princeton in front of College Avenue Gymnasium in the first ever inter collegiate football game. While the program has enjoyed mixed success in recent years, their expansion into the Big 10 seeks to bring new revenue streams into the state university of New Jersey despite the challenges of gaining traction in an area dominated by a huge NFL presence. Personally, I think both Rutgers and Maryland are incongruent fits for the Big 10, but as a scholar of the sport, I wanted to scope out the scene there regardless.

I hit the road on Friday night after work, piling into “White Lightning” – my white, 2002 Jetta TDI – that reads 170,000 miles on the odometer. Despite a season ending breakdown in late November last year during a particularly frigid run to Northern Illinois, the little car is fully repaired and ready for another 100,000 miles or so of flawless service. After only a few minutes in the car, however, it’s a sobering reminder of how excruciating driving in the Northeast can be. Traffic every 20 minutes, pothole infested roads under perpetual construction, and obnoxious, aggressive drivers swerving across lanes at every opportunity. It’s a close cousin to a county fair demolition derby, complete with the concrete “Jersey” crash barriers. After a few white knuckled hours in the car, I long for the flat open plains of Texas, or the vast expanse of the New Mexico high desert. Driving in this part of the world is sheer toil.

After a couple of hours on the road, I pull into New Haven, Connecticut a stone’s throw from the Yale University campus and squeeze into a parking spot in front of a tiny, innocuous red brick building. It’s here, in this little brick building that Louis Lassen claims to have invented the hamburger back in 1895 at his appropriately dubbed business; Louis’ Lunch. The ancient little building is still owned and operated by third generation family member Jeff Lassen, and the humble interior is decorated with names and dates carved into every surface of the ancient wood booths. In a nod to simplicity, Louis’ menu is exclusively burgers. Your only options here are cheese, tomatoes, and onions; no condiments are permitted – especially ketchup. To pay my respects, I order up two with the works, and hand over twelve dollars in cash; naturally Louis’ doesn’t take plastic.

IMG_1961 IMG_1959

I chat up the grill man while I wait, the line forming eight people deep during dinner service, and later will well out the door after the dozens of local Yale bars close in the early morning. According to him, they can go through as much as 500lbs of ground beef a day, and he prepares each burger to order in an ancient vertical cast iron grill – the same grill that’s been in continuous operation since 1898. If there’s another grill in the country still going strong after 116 years, I’d like to see it. The burgers arrive unceremoniously, wrapped in butcher paper that turns a delightful shade of translucent grey as the grease drips through. Served medium rare, the sandwiches are a precarious affair, as the lightly toasted slices of thin white bread don’t hold up well under the heft of the thick patties. But when they’ve been served this way for well over a century, and I’ll not dare question the genius of a pioneer like Mr. Lassen.

IMG_1965 IMG_1962

The next morning I finish the drive down to Rutgers, crossing through the industrial wasteland surrounding I-95 in North Jersey – a landscaped dominated by marshland and oil refineries. Arriving near the newly baptized “High Point Solutions” Stadium, parking logistics become an immediate frustration. I’m informed that none of the parking within eyesight of the stadium is available without an advanced purchase hang tag – no cash lots, no side streets, no lawn parking – zip. Instead, I’m forced to park at a remote overflow lot for $20 and take a shuttle bus over to the stadium – a situation that puts me at the mercy of public transportation.

IMG_1966 IMG_1967

Visiting Big 10 fans will be in for a rude awakening at the cultural desert surrounding Rutgers Stadium, an offsite monolith plunked coldly into the middle of nothing – exactly like its sterile NFL counterparts a few miles up the road. Here in Piscataway, you’ll be corralled into a sea of gravel, and removed from any semblance of atmosphere or community. No stores, no pubs, no campus, no semblance of college atmosphere whatsoever. It’s a far cry from the charm of spending a game day pub crawling through Madison or tailgating under the fall colors in a grove in Bloomington. On the bright side, however, the tailgating scene is surprisingly robust, and a few of Jersey’s finest sons should keep you suitably entertained.

IMG_1971

Strolling up to the box office to get a feel for ticket availability, I recoil at the $55 face value for a seat against a tomato can opponent like Howard. As usual, I opt to try my luck on the streets instead, and, quite literally thirty seconds later, I’m handed a freebie by a guy standing outside the stadium with fistfuls of extra tickets. They were given to him as part of a promotion, and he’s kind enough to pass the good will on to me. Say what you will about brusque talking Jersey natives, evidently a few of them ain’t so bad.

IMG_1969

I find respite under a few of the broad shade trees outside the box office, taking refuge from the sweltering 90 degree heat. The band marches by a few minutes later in a procession of brassy regalia. Donning full red and black, long sleeved uniforms, they might have to break out the smelling salts later this afternoon to ward off collapse. As a voice cracks over the loudspeaker, it signals my entrance into Rutgers Stadium, excuse me – “High Point Solutions” stadium. With a stated capacity of only 55,000 it’s one of the smallest stadiums in the Big10, but with an FCS opponent like Howard in town, the Scarlet Knights will still struggle to fill it for the home opener.

IMG_1974 IMG_1973

After the game kicks off, the Biston strike first by marching the length of the field for a touchdown after forcing the Scarlet Knights to punt on their first possession. But after the initial blow by Howard, the Scarlet Knights take over from there. Senior quarterback Gary Nova slings the ball all over the field, firing three touchdowns in the first half alone, and four total on the day. Despite my free ticket in the upper deck, I slip into a few seats under the shade of the grandstands, retreating from the oppressive sun. The students take note too, and after halftime with the Scarlet Knights leading 31-7 most of them retreat back to the comfort of the tailgating lots, leaving a ghost town in the student seating section. While the Bison would punch in a few late touchdowns in the 4th quarter against the second string Rutgers defenders to bring the final score to a respectable 38-25, the game was never in question. Despite the easy win, the Scarlet Knights will face their first real test of the season next week, when they open their Big 10 schedule against the visiting Nittany Lions of Penn State.

But the question isn’t whether Rutgers is ready for the Big 10. The real question is whether the Big 10 is ready for Jersey….

IMG_1977 IMG_1980 IMG_1981 IMG_1982 IMG_1985 IMG_1986

 

IMG_1989

Full Clickthrough Gallery Below:

Drugs are sumptuous, and certain people cannot get the medicaments they need. Certain drugs are ordinarily used to treat varied types of infection caused by specific types of bacteria, such as tonsillitis and infections of the throat. If you’re concerned about sexual problem, you probably know about http://isviagraoverthecounter.com/Male-Enhancement-Pills.html. What are side effects of Cialis? There are different drugs for male impotency cure. Very likely Male Enhancement Pills Over the Counter is a very complicated topic. More info about Cialis available at best male enhancement pills over the counter. While the generic is credited with improving nausea, it may also kill the mood in bedroom. All kinds of medications, from those that are mature ‘all natural’ to those that are chemically produced in a laboratory, may cause some kind of aftereffects.

Share this post:

Michigan State vs Minnesota: Spartans spear the Gophers…

During Thanksgiving weekend in Ann Arbor, I opted instead for a trip over to East Lansing to see one of the few remaining Big 10 schools that I have left on my travels: Michigan State.  With a conference game against Minnesota to finish out their regular season, the Spartans were only a couple of wins away from a trip to the Rose Bowl, or, given their lone defeat on the season, perhaps even more.  They made things more interesting than they needed to be against an opponent like the Gophers, however, slinking away with a narrow 14-3 win on the strength of their noted stingy defense.  After the game we walked the nice campus grounds of MSU across the banks of the Red Cedar River before grabbing a thick burger and a few pints at the landmark Crunchy’s Pub.  We then chased the burger with a few scoops of ice cream from the Michigan State Dairy Store, an on campus dairy that features their own ice cream and cheeses.   East Lansing is definitely a place I’d like to return to, especially as they continue their recent dominance in the Big 10.

IMG_1151 IMG_1148

IMG_1154 IMG_1156 IMG_1157 IMG_1161 IMG_1164 IMG_1178

IMG_1173 IMG_1171

IMG_1167 IMG_1170

IMG_1174  IMG_1176IMG_1183

Spartan Stadium Wide

 

Drugs are sumptuous, and certain humanity cannot get the medicaments they need. Certain drugs are ordinarily used to treat varied types of contagion caused by specific types of bacteria, such as tonsillitis and infections of the throat. If you’re concerned about sexual problem, you probably know about http://isviagraoverthecounter.com/Male-Enhancement-Pills.html. What are side effects of Cialis? There are different drugs for male impotency cure. Very likely Male Enhancement Pills Over the Counter is a very complicated topic. More data about Cialis available at best male enhancement pills over the counter. While the generic is credited with improving nausea, it may also kill the mood in bedroom. All kinds of medications, from those that are mature ‘all natural’ to those that are chemically produced in a laboratory, may cause some kind of aftereffects.

Share this post:
« Older posts

© 2024 Pigskin Pursuit

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑