Big Ten Stadiums/Arenas (or Towns/Campuses) You Have Visited

Inspired by the conversation in the Nebraska football pregame thread, I was curious what Big Ten stadiums and arenas we have all visited - or more generally, what college towns and campuses have you been to within the conference, and what were your thoughts?

Personally, I have only really spent time in Champaign, Iowa City, Evanston and Madison, with a short visit to West Lafayette.

Iowa City, IA: I lived many years in Iowa City, so I am biased ... but it's a great college town. Its setup is as if Downtown Champaign and Campustown were meshed into one, and it works fantastically. The campus itself is not as nice as Illinois' (though it's just different/hard to compare, and this is JMO...), but I admit I frickin' love the setup of Iowa City as a "downtown" area. As far as the venues, I absolutely love Kinnick Stadium and think it's the hidden gem of the conference. It's loud, intimate, classic and the fans support their team through thick and thin ... but the real prize is the tailgating scene around the stadium. I have not been to many places, but I would be shocked if there are many Big Ten setups as cool as Iowa's. Carver (basketball) is the very definition of "meh," though; it's in a bland area far from campus, and it is so non-descript inside with a terrible setup for the students. With that said, due to the low ceiling it can get very loud, and there really isn't a bad seat in the house.

Evanston, IL: I have to say that I found this to be the most massively overrated town and campus I have ever visited. Don't get me wrong, Evanston is nice and the campus is nice, as well ... but I can only assume people are mentally clouded by the proximity to the lake and to Chicago? Because the town itself seems exceedingly boring, and the campus, while cool, does not exactly stand out vs. other ones I have visited. I have only ever been in Ryan Field during a non-gameday, but I feel like you would have to have sentimental attachment to it to really think it's cool. I have been to Welsh-Ryan a few times for basketball games but only after the renovation, and I like it. Sure, it's a dinky little arena-ette, but there aren't any bad seats, and I have fond memories of Illini fans absolutely taking the place over every time.

Madison, WI: I have been in Madison a few times but only twice for a proper visit - both Iowa football games there with my buddies. Madison is obviously awesome and deserves all of its praise, but I almost feel like it's too big to really get a "feel" for in the way you can for Bloomington, Champaign, Iowa City, etc .... in other words, it's a true city and much more than just "UW." I have never been to the Kohl Center, though it seems pretty "bland NBA arena" in feel and always seems quieter than it should be on TV. I have been to Camp Randall, though, and I think it's a cool enough stadium. However, I was absolutely shocked at how quiet it is compared to Kinnick or even Memorial Stadium when we have the place full ... I think it suffers from the "Big House Problem" of the seats not being steep enough to trap the noise? Anyway, would definitely go back.

West Lafayette, IN: I actually took a detour through West Lafayette on the way back to Chicago from Indianapolis just to grab a bite to eat and try to get a feel for it, and I must say I do not understand the hate it seems to usually get ... I thought it was a cute town with some pretty good scenery (for the Corn Belt) surrounding it and a very pretty campus. I have not been to either of Purdue's venues, though I must admit I only really have a strong desire to see Mackey (which is at the top of my basketball arena bucket list).

Top bucket list visits:

Football
1. Memorial Stadium (Nebraska)
2. Beaver Stadium (Penn State)
3. Ohio Stadium (Ohio State)

Basketball
1. Mackey Arena (Purdue)
2. Breslin Center (Michigan State) ... such nostalgia for those classic 2000s years.
3. Williams Arena - "The Barn" (Minnesota) ... always loved this place!

Campus/Town
1. Ann Arbor ... let's see if this one is overrated, as well!
2. Bloomington, IN ... some worship this place, others (like my sister) say it's overrated and the town outside the campus leaves tons to be desired ... so I want to find out for myself!
3. State College, PA ... I have hated PSU ever since the incident, but I will admit State College looks awesome!

I've seen every B1G town and stadium except 4. Only ones I haven't seen are Piscataway/Rutgers, College Park/Maryland, State College/Ped State, and East Lansing/MSU.

Of the towns I've seen I liked Madison the best. Of the campuses I think IU is prettiest with the trees and all the limestone buildings. I absolutely think The Beloved is Top 2 or 3 of best campuses, though.

Haha I appreciate you starting a thread on this topic so we can expand on our thoughts. I'll share my original post and

redwingillini11 said:

I started to make a point to go to road games in the Big Ten pre-pandemic, and that all game to a screeching halt with the pandemic and fatherhood. I am hoping to start making proper trips again maybe next year, so I am very eager to see the schedule come out hopefully in the next day or so.

Been to many games:
Memorial Stadium (Illinois)
Michigan Stadium (will be there 11/19)

Been once:
Ryan Field (been too long, maybe going this year)
Kinnick Stadium (exceeded expectations)
Camp Randall (fell somewhat short of expectations)

B1G bucket list:
1. Memorial Stadium (Nebraska) (really far, but seems like a great atmosphere and the fans seem nice)
2. Beaver Stadium (even further, better atmosphere, but the fans rub me the wrong way)
3. Spartan Stadium (I came close to spontaneously going to the 2019 game, but was "too tired" to. Ugh...)
4. Ross-Ade Stadium (idk why I didn't make that trip while down at school, it was too easy not to do)
5. Ohio Stadium (obligatory at this point, but man it just sounds like an extremely toxic environment)
6. TCF Bank (Seems nice, but too far and not too impressive)
7. Memorial Stadium (Indiana) (seems like it has improved, but annoyingly far from Chicago)

8. SECU? (hard to imagine ever going, but at least you can fly into and stay in Washington)

9. High Point Solutions? (why? I can't think of one reason why.)

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Campuses
Iowa City: I came away very impressed with the downtown. Like you said, the downtown area integrates seamlessly with the campus. I've really only ever been there when the weather has been horrendous, but I was still pleasantly surprised. I think I wouldn't love trekking around there as a student in the winter, up and down the hills and across the river. But as a visitor it was great.

Madison: Did not meet the hype for me. While having the lake is nice, I feel like they don't fully utilize it at all. State Street was solid but nothing I've never experienced before. Overall, its probably still better than Iowa City. But expectations-wise they could not have been more opposite. If you take away "Jump Around" there's nothing overly special about going to a game at Camp Randall. It was fine.

Evanston: I spent a week one summer in high school doing a pre-law camp at NW. Living on-campus in Evanston, commuting downtown to the law center. I really enjoyed it, and could have seen myself going there. Choosing between Northwestern and Illinois was really tough, and money was the ultimate decision maker. But going back there in recent years I found the campus too chaotic. Maybe being near the lake has its perks (it surely does). But walking around the campus I did not find it as enjoyable like walking around our quad. I don't regret picking Champaign at all looking back. Ryan Field is quaint and enjoyable, Welsh-Ryan Arena just wasn't pleasant. Maybe its better now, but it just felt cramped in my experience.

Ann Arbor: Disclosure: I grew up a diehard Michigan fan. I still support them (football only) as a secondary team solidly behind Illinois. When I walk around Ann Arbor itself and the campus I "get" why its considered top tier. But it didn't feel "right" or "like home" for me. Now, I'll never get over how impressive the scene on a major gameday is. I'd give anything to experience that as a regular scene. But when I took my proper college visit to Michigan senior year I came away saying, "well, its nice, but I cannot justify picking this over Champaign." I knew then that if I had a choice to make between Michigan and Illinois I'd end up picking Illinois. Still, fun college town to visit. And Michigan Stadium is fantastic, of course.

South Bend (bonus): Of course, the campus town is nothing to write home about. But the campus... I got into ND but didn't visit until after graduated UIUC. If I had visited it would have been really hard to say no to... I probably would have based on the money, but shoot that would have been tough. Walking around the campus is everything you'd want. Just a perfect atmosphere.

Basketball venue bucket list rankings:
1. (pretend) Assembly Hall
2. Mackey Arena
3. Williams Arena
4. Breslin Center
5. Carver-Hawkeye Arena
-Underwhelming but probably necessary-
6. Crisler Center
7. Kohl Center
-I get that they are worth seeing, but eh?-
8. xFinity Center
9. Rutgers Athletic Center
-Yawn-
10. Pinnicle Bank Arena
11. Value City Arena
-Are we really sure this actually exists?-
12. Bryce Jordan Center

GrayGhost77 said:

I've seen every B1G town and stadium except 4. Only ones I haven't seen are Piscataway/Rutgers, College Park/Maryland, State College/Ped State, and East Lansing/MSU.

Of the towns I've seen I liked Madison the best. Of the campuses I think IU is prettiest with the trees and all the limestone buildings. I absolutely think The Beloved is Top 2 or 3 of best campuses, though.

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I agree that while we have our downsides(disconnect from downtown Champaign and plastic-y high-rise developments), the heart of our campus is right up there at the top as any in the conference, especially in the fall.

redwingillini11 said:

I agree that while we have our downsides(disconnect from downtown Champaign and plastic-y high-rise developments), the heart of our campus is right up there at the top as any in the conference, especially in the fall.

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I will say, even though I do not like the plastic-y high rises, as you point out, Champaign has improved SO much since I first started visiting for games - specifically Downtown but also Campustown. I hope little things like placing this over the railroad thingy continue:

With some sprucing up (specifically the streetscape from the Neil Street exit to Downtown ... good GOD, it's like Downtown pops up as a luxurious oasis out of a not-so-pretty lead-in), Champaign can continue its trek toward being one of the best college towns in the conference. It would be really nice if "Midtown" (I am not sure I have ever really spent time here, lol...) could connect Downtown and Campustown more effectively and allow people to easily walk between the two.

P.S. Somewhat OT, but when the hell is Campustown going to re-up its bar game...? I know Firehaus and the Clybourne (never made it to that one, lol) closed years ago, but now Brothers is gone, as well as that new The Hub place?! Illinois has almost 35k undergrads, compared to about 22k at Iowa. Yet, these are the only bars I believe exist in Campustown now a days:

Murphy's Pub
Legends
Joe's Brewery
The Red Lion
Kam's
Illini Inn - if this even counts as in the boundaries?

It's gotten to the point where when I bring my Iowa buddies to Champaign for a game, we mostly do our drinking Downtown (at least 7 different spots that I genuinely like) before and after the game, which kind of sucks! You compare this to Downtown Iowa City, where even if you limit it to explicitly "college-y" bars only, there are at least 20 options.

Whenever I go back to Champaign, I'm always astounded by how utterly flat it is. If it just had a couple of hills, a river or lake, it would be tops.

Madison is probably the nicest. Ann Arbor and Iowa City are up there. Rutgers' stadium is the worst. I went to grad school at UMaryland in the '90s... the campus is pleasant but they had next to no campus town, which was kind of depressing, though DC is a metro ride away.

That said, after visiting some Pac-12 schools (Ariz, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal), they win that challenge every time. UGA is probably the nicest campus and Athens the best college town I've ever visited. Oh, and I spent a couple months in Princeton for work... it's like a movie set, like the college campus of your dreams, my IQ jumped 10 points just being there.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

I will say, even though I do not like the plastic-y high rises, as you point out, Champaign has improved SO much since I first started visiting for games - specifically Downtown but also Campustown. I hope little things like placing this over the railroad thingy continue:

With some sprucing up (specifically the streetscape from the Neil Street exit to Downtown ... good GOD, it's like Downtown pops up as a luxurious oasis out of a not-so-pretty lead-in), Champaign can continue its trek toward being one of the best college towns in the conference. It would be really nice if "Midtown" (I am not sure I have ever really spent time here, lol...) could connect Downtown and Campustown more effectively and allow people to easily walk between the two.

P.S. Somewhat OT, but when the hell is Campustown going to re-up its bar game...? I know Firehaus and the Clybourne (never made it to that one, lol) closed years ago, but now Brothers is gone, as well as that new The Hub place?! Illinois has almost 35k undergrads, compared to about 22k at Iowa. Yet, these are the only bars I believe exist in Campustown now a days:

Murphy's Pub
Legends
Joe's Brewery
The Red Lion
Kam's
Illini Inn - if this even counts as in the boundaries?

It's gotten to the point where when I bring my Iowa buddies to Champaign for a game, we mostly do our drinking Downtown (at least 7 different spots that I genuinely like) before and after the game, which kind of sucks! You compare this to Downtown Iowa City, where even if you limit it to explicitly "college-y" bars only, there are at least 20 options.

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I agree definitely that the fine details around town have improved greatly, though I am also in a minority that would be saying "But Moe, the dank! The dank!" (See Simpsons for reference.)

Shoot, Brothers is gone now too? What a sad demise for the classic college bar. I'm thankful that my main two bars (Legends and Murphy's) are still around. But it seems like any bar could disappear overnight. If I lose those two I don't know what I would do. You can't make me go to Lion or Joes!

Fighter of the Nightman said:

I will say, even though I do not like the plastic-y high rises, as you point out, Champaign has improved SO much since I first started visiting for games - specifically Downtown but also Campustown. I hope little things like placing this over the railroad thingy continue:

With some sprucing up (specifically the streetscape from the Neil Street exit to Downtown ... good GOD, it's like Downtown pops up as a luxurious oasis out of a not-so-pretty lead-in), Champaign can continue its trek toward being one of the best college towns in the conference. It would be really nice if "Midtown" (I am not sure I have ever really spent time here, lol...) could connect Downtown and Campustown more effectively and allow people to easily walk between the two.

P.S. Somewhat OT, but when the hell is Campustown going to re-up its bar game...? I know Firehaus and the Clybourne (never made it to that one, lol) closed years ago, but now Brothers is gone, as well as that new The Hub place?! Illinois has almost 35k undergrads, compared to about 22k at Iowa. Yet, these are the only bars I believe exist in Campustown now a days:

Murphy's Pub
Legends
Joe's Brewery
The Red Lion
Kam's
Illini Inn - if this even counts as in the boundaries?

It's gotten to the point where when I bring my Iowa buddies to Champaign for a game, we mostly do our drinking Downtown (at least 7 different spots that I genuinely like) before and after the game, which kind of sucks! You compare this to Downtown Iowa City, where even if you limit it to explicitly "college-y" bars only, there are at least 20 options.

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Brothers is gone??? When did that happen?

Minnesota is really nice. It has all the trappings of a typical large school campus, but with a major urban downtown 5 minutes across the river.

Random sidenote, the most pleasantly surprised I have ever been by a campus is KU in Lawrence ... maybe my expectations were way too low or maybe I was just awe-struck as a high school senior, but man I really liked that one. I highly recommend a visit for anyone who's never been, it had a feel that was cool and unique and kind of hard to describe:




I can honestly say I have visited very few college towns where I just have not been able to find the charm ... they're all just different.

redwingillini11 said:

I agree definitely that the fine details around town have improved greatly, though I am also in a minority that would be saying "But Moe, the dank! The dank!" (See Simpsons for reference.)

Shoot, Brothers is gone now too? What a sad demise for the classic college bar. I'm thankful that my main two bars (Legends and Murphy's) are still around. But it seems like any bar could disappear overnight. If I lose those two I don't know what I would do. You can't make me go to Lion or Joes!

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Exactly, you gotta have a few "pubs" to give the place atmosphere ... I just CANNOT believe there is not excessive bar demand for a school the size of Illinois and given how highly it constantly rates on party school rankings ... the place is bordering on barren!

redwingillini11 said:

Haha I appreciate you starting a thread on this topic so we can expand on our thoughts. I'll share my original post and.....



Ann Arbor: Disclosure: I grew up a diehard Michigan fan. I still support them (football only).....

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I've spent a fair amount of time on campus in Madison as a kid when we visited my uncle up there. I've only been to one game at Camp Randall: our game on Halloween 1992 where we won 13 - 12.

The after game stuff was more memorable, being Halloween in Madison.

A few years ago I went on a trip up to Happy Valley with my wife's alumni group. (Hint: they wear purple and their coach's name rhymes with Spits.) We sat about half way to the sun and I couldn't care less about who won that day but I'll say this: the stadium atmosphere at Beaver Stadium was next level awesome.

Road trips just to see: Minn, MSU, Purdue, Iowa, Wisconsin. Non-B10 mention North Carolina.
Football games: NW, Iowa, Purdue, Michigan. Non-B10 mention Iowa State.
Basketball games: NW, Wisconsin. Non-B10 mention Virginia.
Never have I ever: Rutgers, Maryland, tOSU, Penn St, Indiana, Nebraska, USC, UCLA.

Dislike UM to my core but entering the Big House is undoubtedly an experience. Agree with those who said Madison was overrated; yes the lake side is nice, but that is only half the campus. The other half looks like any other beaten-down and aging midwestern city.

Iowa City layout is very nice. Don't get me started on Campustown in Champaign, find it very disappointing these days. Please Murphy's don't ever close.

One of my favorite college moments is when Orange Krush took 3 Coach busses to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Illinois vs Nebraska game in their old stadium. The outcome of the game we don't need to talk about, but such a fun trip! We posed as State Farm interns and they gave us a tour of the entire athletic facility, the gym, the indoor football field, watched a recruiting video. Then they took us down into the locker rooms, we walked out of the tunnel and got to slap the horseshoe and then they took us out onto the field. Such a cool experience running sprints up and down the field and taking pictures. They had no clue all 150 of us were Illinois students.

Great thread, Fighter. Thanks for starting it.

OK, Sky, you can slag me, too. I grew up in Columbus. Though I find I can only root for OSU football when they're playing Michigan or someone in the Rose Bowl (and I can never root for them in basketball), I have fond memories of Ohio Stadium that go way back to seeing my first game there in 1972 as a first grader. Saw a lot of games there growing up. Before the massive renovation in the late 90s destroyed its classic lines and aesthetics, I thought it was one of the true football cathedrals. Now it strikes me like a narcissistic bodybuilder on steroids. Still a great place to see a game, however. The crowd is overwhelming and the atmosphere oozes tradition.

I've always been fond of campuses and stadiums. The only one I haven't visited in the BT is Rutgers. Have been inside all of the BT football stadiums except Rutgers' and MN's new one (but sat in Minnesota's old Brick House, Memorial Stadium, in the late '80s before it was torn down, so that counts to me.) Have been inside all of the basketball arenas except the RAC and Breslin (though I visited Jennison Field House, the old MSU basketball gym, on the same afternoon in '96 when I found Breslin locked.) I even got inside the old Iowa Field House and Carver-Hawkeye on the same day.

Haven't been in Kohl but visited old Wisconsin Field House, home to Badger basketball, in '88 long before Kohl existed. Finally got into Value City Arena in Columbus last fall. I found it really generic and sterile. The old St. John Arena, where I grew up watching OSU hoops, is still one of my favorite venues. A fairly steep seating configuration and an aluminum roof like Mackey's. Loud as all get out. A shame that they'll tear it down soon. Visited Nebraska in 1990. Got into Memorial Stadium on a Tuesday afternoon in late September, took a photo at midfield, enjoyed the Husker Strength Museum (I kid you not) and saw their old basketball arena, too.

I had the pleasure of seeing a down-to-the wire Iowa-Michigan game in Kinnick in '03. Fighter is spot on: it's a great game-day experience and Kinnick is a wonderful place to see a game. (I've now alienated at least 3/4 of the board by making that observation!)

Michigan Stadium is a dump, IMO. An unimaginative, gigantic, featureless bowl placed in the ground. The gameday experience is far inferior to OSu and PSU. Beaver Stadium @ PSU is a fantastic venue. Saw Illinois v. PSU in 2008 there on a Saturday night for a White Out. The stadium has been cobbled together over the years so is a bit ungainly, but you can't beat the atmosphere when it's packed and rocking for a night game. That's the only place I've been for a game that's as overwhelming as Ohio Stadium.

IU has a pretty campus for sure. The monotony of limestone buildings wore on me a bit, however. (Just as Georgian brick probably wears on certain visitors to the UIUC campus.) It's hard to beat Madison, however, for its beautiful setting between two lakes. It gets my vote as prettiest BT campus. Agreed concerning Maryland's unfortunate, depressing campus town.

BTW, if you've never read it, I recommend a book I stumbled upon last year: Big Ten Country by Bob Wood. In the fall of 1988 the author, who grew up in Kalamazoo and attended MSU, visited every Big Ten campus and attended a football game. The book has 20 separate chapters. For each school he has a chapter about his experience hanging out on campus during the week, and one chapter about the game day experience. It's a really enjoyable read for any BT alum, particularly for those of us who recall that era. It gives such a good flavor of the campuses and their traditions. Mr. Wood is a really nice guy, too; he's now a retired high school teacher in Western Michigan. After I read the book last fall I managed to track him down and exchange some emails with him. Highly recommended.

The post is now deep into TLDR territory. Will write another one about basketball arenas and stuff I've seen around the country.

If I can extend this outside the B1G I've heard the view from Shea Stadium at West Point is amazing.

MoCoMdIllini said:

If I can extend this outside the B1G I've heard the view from Shea Stadium at West Point is amazing.

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It is. A tiny stadium but (as I recall from driving through there in 2006) it's placed uphill from the campus and with a breathtaking view across the Hudson valley.

When my cousin's son was a Midshipman 20 years ago I went to several Navy games in Annapolis. The stadium is nothing special but the service academy atmosphere at the games was really fun. Went to the Army-Navy game with my cousin and his wife in 2009 in Philly. It was brutally cold that day but am glad I ticked that box. Had always wanted to attend that game since I was a kid.

The AF Academy Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, like Army's, is in a gorgeous spot, right below the Rockies. I was there in '90. Visited the nearby campus and chapel and regret not trying to get into the stadium.

Lived in Champaign, West Lafayette and Lincoln. I never cared for WL (even though that's where I met my wife) and I was scared to death that I would say "Purdon't" during my grad school interview. I have great respect for Purdue as an institution but someone would have to dump the Brinks truck on me to go live there again. I really enjoyed Lincoln but my wife would never live there. Athletic venues are top notch and people love husker football because it's all they have - their words not mine. I'd move back to the Champaign area in a heartbeat if I could convince my wife although I'm a little worried the state is going to hell but let's a different post for a different forum.

I have to admit to only having been to football games at MS, and I think maybe 1 game at Mackey, but I've spent at least an afteroon on a number of the campuses. Basing them solely on the "college campus vibe" and the corresponding aesthetics, I would rank them thusly:

1. Madison - has the advantage of being very near to downtown/capitol area. Very cool, very quirky in places. The lakefront union building is a must-see. Great public transportation and not a ton of traffic problems--at least when and where I was there.
2. Minnesota - similar to Madtown. Gorgeous place, especially in the fall. It had a nice self-contained campustown area and quick access to both MPLS and St. Paul.
3. CU in the mid-80's. Campustown had almost no high-rises. Lots of shops, restaurants, and bars all within about a 4 block radius. We've got one of the best Quadrangles I've ever seen with a good range of architecture. Walks to either the East or West off campus were also very picturesque with rows for Greek houses, funky apartment buildings and houses, etc. Great bus service
4. Columbus - HUGE campus, but lots of green space, great buildings, nice campustown area, and that stadium is a melon farmer.
5. Ann Arbor - she may be a wh*re, but it's a nice campus.
6. Northwestern - I honestly don't remember too many details other than it was well laid out, comfortable, and had some cool buildings.
7. UIUC in 2022 - My 80's bias is coming through, but "Campustown" is just ugly now. 6th Street and Daniels have lost most of their charm and character. The Quad is still great, but even a lot of the apartment areas are over-developed and those quirky old houses are disappearing.
8. W. Lafayette - Campus-wise, they're kind of a UIUC wanna-be. TBF I haven't been there since 1987, so a lot could have changed, but I thought it was OK.
9. E. Lansing - Similar to scUM in my memory
----------huge drop off here----------
10. IU - Crap hole. Just a dump, as is most of Bloomington Indiana.
I haven't been to Iowa, Nebby, Rutgers, PedState, or Maryland. I've heard that Happy Valley is very cool, however.

Outside of that, I've spent at least an afternoon each at GT, University of Chicago, Emory, DePauw, FSU, UGA, Clemson, UAB, Illinois State, EIU, SIU, and NIU. Emory, DePauw, and U. Chicago are probably the most "stereotypical" college campuses you can imagine. FSU was a lot nicer than I expected it to be, and Clemson is no slouch either.

IlliniShelt said:

Lived in Champaign, West Lafayette and Lincoln. I never cared for WL (even though that's where I met my wife) and I was scared to death that I would say "Purdon't" during my grad school interview. I have great respect for Purdue as an institution but someone would have to dump the Brinks truck on me to go live there again. I really enjoyed Lincoln but my wife would never live there. Athletic venues are top notch and people love husker football because it's all they have - their words not mine. I'd move back to the Champaign area in a heartbeat if I could convince my wife although I'm a little worried the state is going to hell but let's a different post for a different forum.

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When I stayed in Lincoln in '90 coming back from a two-month, post-graduation road trip across the west with my UI roommate (who was an architecture grad) he knew nothing about Nebraska football. But he (unlike me) knew that Lincoln was famous for it's architecturally distinguished, Art Deco, state capitol building, the centerpiece of which is a 250-foot tower with an observation deck. Amazing views from up there.

Only a year later I was dating someone in Chicago whose friend had gone to school at Nebraska. He told me that locals refer to the capitol building as "the penis on the prairie!"

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Random sidenote, the most pleasantly surprised I have ever been by a campus is KU in Lawrence ... maybe my expectations were way too low or maybe I was just awe-struck as a high school senior, but man I really liked that one. I highly recommend a visit for anyone who's never been, it had a feel that was cool and unique and kind of hard to describe:

I can honestly say I have visited very few college towns where I just have not been able to find the charm ... they're all just different.

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Lawrence is a pretty campus in its central part. That high ridge (nice glacial feature, no doubt) running through campus affords a scenic view over the football stadium. I stayed overnight once there in late October 2003. (Roy Williams' seat was still warm!) Got up very early on a Friday morning (Halloween, actually) and walked around campus before classes got going. Allen Field House, to my great fortune, was open. I wandered in and had the place entirely to myself around 8 a.m. What a grand old barn that is. I can imagine that seeing a game there is quite an experience.

Oh, crap, I forgot Butler. Toured it with my son, it's a neat little campus, and Hinkle is the real deal. I got chills walking into it, would love to see a game there sometime.

Ransom Stoddard said:

Oh, crap, I forgot Butler. Toured it with my son, it's a neat little campus, and Hinkle is the real deal. I got chills walking into it, would love to see a game there sometime.

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can you close your eyes and imagine Jimmy Chitwood hitting a 22 ft jumper in there ?

Ranking the BIG (and future BIG) campuses I’ve visited:

1. Indiana (legit gorgeous)
2. UCLA (loses points for no on campus stadium)
3. Northwestern (gorgeous campus, on a lake, with expansive “campustown” and easy access to big city)
4. Illinois
5. Wisky (student union right on the lake is great, but no defined quad)
6. UM (excellent town + classic buildings)
7. USC (lovely buildings; scary surrounding neighborhood)
8. MSU (way prettier than I expected; limited campus town)
9. Minny (perfectly nice, except the five months when it’s deathly cold)
10. tOSU (nothing stands out except it’s enormity)
11. Purdue (bland)

I haven’t been to Iowa, PSU, Nebraska, Maryland or Rutgers, and likely never will.