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State College (PA, not MS) was, until the depravity of one individual, seized upon by a clique of "New Puritan" SJW's, nearly destroyed it.
It's recovering, slowly and carefully, and I hope the stability of a program which required only three head coaches over a 81-year span, that served as the model for reform and improvement in many other schools, and never forgot the true purpose of college athletics, can continue.
The original post didn’t ask for “ornate, grand” stadiums, merely historical ones. It didn’t even ask for good football. Which is why the best answer remains mine. Kenan literally ticks every box. Small town, smaller stadium, tailgating, middle of campus, autumnal leaves, enough baby blue to outfit every maternity ward in the state, etc.
Chapel Hill while a wonderful place isn't a small town in reality. It's smack dab in the middle of 500K of people and that's not even counting the Raleigh part of the triangle.
But Kenan IS really beautiful nestled in the pines like it is. I just don't think it makes the cut because of the size of the community. So I don't necessarily disagree. If Chapel Hill were an isolated town of 60K there is no doubt it would be the choice. However, if Sanford stadium doesn't make the cut because "it doesn't have the historical vibe" (OP's words) I wonder if Kenan would. To me they look a lot alike as structures and they were both built in the late 1920s. But no doubt, outside the stadium Kenan is about as good as it gets.
Chapel Hill is a small town. You can drive 15 minutes to Durham sure, but when walking down Franklin you feel like you are in town because you are in a town.
I'm definitely going to stump for my alma mater here.
Ames, Iowa (home of Iowa State) is a fantastic place for college football. The Cyclones aren't very good traditionally, but we check every other box. The Iowa State fanbase is known for packing the stadium despite a bad team, and our tailgating is the most underrated in the country. It's on par with the SEC (which despite what ESPN tells you isn't the only place they play college ball). We have a distinct 4 season climate, so you get the effect of leaves changing color, and all that. You generally see 3 seasons in the course of the college football season here. In 2013 it was 103 degrees at kickoff on opening day and 5 degrees at kick off for the home finale. Our stadium (Jack Trice Stadium) isn't that old (opened in 1972) but it's the only D1 stadium named after an African-American. Jack Trice was our first black athlete, and he was assaulted by the University of Minnesota players (due to his race) in a game in Minneapolis, and he died as a result of those injuries. It holds 61,500 so it's not gigantic, but it's big enough to be an intimidating atmosphere. Ames is a classic Midwestern college town as well. Our campus has won numerous awards from landscape architecture societies and is stunning in mid October, when the leaves are at their peak.
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