"Experts" rank the best SEC college towns

81usaf92

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Apr 26, 2008
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South Alabama
http://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-sec-college-towns-expert-poll

I really havent been to many away games so I honestly dont know how these actually rank, but I am planning to go to Athens this fall for the UGA game. This list is somewhat suprising from the ones I have been to . I marked the ones Ive been to in bold with their rankings.

1. Nashville, TN
2. Athens, GA
3. Oxford, MS
4. Knoxville, TN
5. Baton Rouge, LA
6. Tuscaloosa, AL
7. Auburn, AL
8. Columbia, MO
9. Lexington, KY
10. College Station, TX
11. Gainesville, FL
12. Fayetteville, AR
13. Columbia, SC
14. Starkville, MS
 
Last edited:

CajunCrimson

Moderator (FB,BB) and Vinyl Enthusiast
Staff member
Mar 13, 2001
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Breaux Bridge, La
http://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-sec-college-towns-expert-poll

I really havent been to many away games so I honestly dont know how these actually rank, but I am planning to go to Athens this fall for the UGA game. This list is somewhat suprising from the ones I have been to . I marked the ones Ive been to in bold

1. Nashville, TN
2. Athens, GA
3. Oxford, MS
4. Knoxville, TN
5. Baton Rouge, LA
6. Tuscaloosa, AL
7. Auburn, AL
8. Columbia, MO
9. Lexington, KY
10. College Station, TX
11. Gainesville, FL
12. Fayetteville, AR
13. Columbia, SC
14. Starkville, MS
Actually Columbia is a pretty nice town. Not a fan of Oxford though.....
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
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Nashville is not a college town. It's a great city that, oh yeah Vanderbilt is there. Knoxville is a dump BTW.
Im more inclined to side with you on Nashville. Its a great city, but Vandy really doesnt give me that unique college atmosphere. I know alot of people in the SEC say Athens is the best, but I never been there myself. Im making my first trip there on October 3rd so I will see if that holds water.
 

B1GTide

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Apr 13, 2012
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Of those cities, I have only been to three: Nashville, Baton Rouge and Columbia, SC. I didn't care for Nashville or Columbia, and none of the three was a college town.
 

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
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Huntsville, AL,USA
I read it on another site and I could only conclude that they were rating towns for a weekend trip, not a gameday. What I thought I was getting and what I think most are interested in is a gameday experience. As said above, I've never been able even to tell when I passed over from Nashville into Vandy. Mediocre gameday experience. Athens? Are you kidding me? Trash city? The only SEC city where the administration had to ban tailgating for a year? Not even to mention the constant "Woof, woof!" in your face. Knoxville is a tawdry little honky-tonk town. Oxford, I'll grant, is a good gameday college town and you'll never get blasted with a urine-filled balloon, as you may in Baton Rouge. Where on earth do they unearth these "experts?" Are they zombies?
 

RobK

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Aug 27, 2004
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To me, a true outstanding college town comes to life and is electric on home football weekends. Not just on campus; throughout the whole town...the restaurants, bars, downtown areas, hotels, cars driving around with flags and magnets, and even the supermarkets where tailgaters are stocking up. No matter where you go, you can see it and you can feel it.

I have nothing against Nashville. My family and I enjoy visiting there a time or two a year. But it isn't a true college town. It's a big city. On a Vandy gameday, in 98% of the city you'd have no idea they were playing. A major convention would have more impact around town. You're likely to see more cars with UT, Bama, UK, and NFL flags than Vandy.

And, to me, Columbia, SC and Knoxville are a little too large to have true college town feels but have few redeeming qualities beyond their campuses.

Fayetteville is VERY underrated in my opinion. It has a great downtown and campus, beautiful Ozark scenery, solid dining and nightlife, is in a booming region, and lacks the blight and crime issues of older cities.
 

Braveheart

All-SEC
Feb 12, 2006
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I TOTALLY don't get Oxford being so high on the list. The only thing Oxford has going for it is hordes and hordes of good looking women. There is NOTHING and I do mean NOTHING to do there.
 

81usaf92

TideFans Legend
Apr 26, 2008
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South Alabama
I TOTALLY don't get Oxford being so high on the list. The only thing Oxford has going for it is hordes and hordes of good looking women. There is NOTHING and I do mean NOTHING to do there.
So the grove isn't anything special? I'm asking because the only places I've been in missisippi is tupelo and biloxi.
 

exiledNms

Hall of Fame
Aug 2, 2002
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I love going to Ole Miss games. Oxford is a great town. Knoxville, on the other hand, is a dump.
I 2nd both of these. To top off the Knoxville gameday experience, we got dog-cussed by a guy holding his little boy's hand leaving the stadium after the Vols beat my Tide! It was surreal, in the worst sense of that word.
And while I'm being a Tidefans heretic & violating unwritten rules by saying something non-negative about Oxford & Ole Miss, let me also add that I've enjoyed visiting Auburn (once on a gameday way back when--not vs. us--and once about a month ago.)
Athens is decent, as long as it's NOT gameday.
Re Nashville: My hunch is that a fairly wide swath of the population of city would have to be reminded that Vandy is there. Fun place to visit in gen'l, but as noted, definitely NOT a college town.
Baton Rouge: had a good time at the one LSU game I've attended (again, not vs. us). But then, I cheated; met a HS classmate who played there in the late 70s & thus got to attend the pregame lettermen's buffett meal with all the LSU legends of many sports. Very cool!
Used to live in Gainesville back in the late 70s; very fun place to live as a moronic 20-yr-old utterly not interested in anything academic.
Columbia's a neat place to visit, although I haven't done so on gameday yet.
Starkville: pretty decent gameday environment pre- & post-game, but again, I cheat. Every game I've been to there has been with one of my dearest friends who's an MSU grad. The cowbells, though...just brutal on the ears. That's why I say pre- & post-game. A bizarre MSU gameday was that I was sitting there when they lost a football game 3-2. One of the strangest things I've ever seen in sports.
 

AlBamaWagg

1st Team
Jan 3, 2007
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Living here, I don't see how Nashville could rank as it does for a college town. A weekend/vacation destination, yes. I have no ill wishes toward Vandy, because bless their hearts they try, but this is a pro sports town. It has shifted from the Titans to the Predators of late, due to success and lack thereof. I never thought I would see a fan base be so excited by a hockey team in this Southern town of which I have spent most of my 67 years. On any given day, one will see more of the populace wearing Bama gear than Vandy, except on campus.
 

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