The most cursed college football stadiums

Counting down the most likely spot for your dreams to die. Or chaos. That too.

Jordan-Hare Stadium, home of the Auburn Tigers football team and the site of some of the most chaotic football this world has ever seen. Credit: Brian Esquire on Flickr.

Edited to show that Trouble With the Snap happened in Ann Arbor, not at Michigan State.

College football is a strange game. Collegiate allegiances run deep, giving some programs cult-like status (looking at you, Texas A&M). It’s also a game where literally anyone can win at any time. Sure, it’s hard to imagine Saban-led Alabama losing at home to a Group of Five team, but USF almost achieved that last year.

Some stadiums are tough to play in (see Happy Valley, Death Valley, The Big House, other nicknames stadiums). Some are battling for fans (looking at you, midweek MACtion crowds). And a select few are cursed. These few stadiums are the ones where chaos reigns. It doesn’t matter who’s playing, when they’re playing, or what’s going on. Chaos will reign supreme.

With that said, let’s count down the Top 10 Cursed College Football Stadiums. Is there any supporting metrics for this? No, not really. Curses are kind of vibes, don’t you think? No? Okay then. In that case, I’m measuring this based off of the most outlandish games that are played at each stadium. The more outlandish, crazy, nonsensical the body of work, the most cursed the stadium. We’ll also be focusing on the modern era of the BCS and CFP eras to get the sense of where the stadium voodoo currently resides.

10. Martin Stadium - Pullman, Washington

Washington State may have gotten left behind in the latest realignment cycle, but I choose to believe that’s because everyone is scared to travel to Pullman. Well, it’s either that or jealousy of Cougar Gold cheese.

Pullman is in the middle of nowhere but has some of the nation’s best and most devoted fans. Just look at Ol’ Crimson, the Washington State flag that has flown on every College Gameday since 2003. That makes Pullman a uniquely tough place to play at, and we see that chaos each and every week.

But back to the curses, which plagues the most unsuspecting ranked teams and even Martin Stadium’s own Coogs. In the wake of the death of the PAC-12, Washington State pulled a miracle 31-22 win over No. 19 Wisconsin in their first home game since being evicted by a dying conference. Or, we can take the flipside and see a 2023 44-6 loss by No. 19 Washington State to unranked Arizona in Pullman. The coin flips both ways here, sometimes to the detriment of one of the nation’s most underrated programs.

9. Carter-Finley Stadium - Raleigh, North Carolina

Whether or not NC State has a curse preventing them from making the ACC Championship is besides the point, because Carter-Finley Stadium is the stuff of nightmares for their conference foes.

Ever since Dave Doeren took over for the Wolfpack in 2013, Carter-Finley has been the most cursed place in the ACC. It doesn’t have the big moments of some of our other entrants, but Carter-Finley is a place that has killed the hopes of many an ACC powerhouse. But I wouldn’t rank it as one of the toughest places to play. Just one of the most unlucky sites in the nation.

It works both ways. For every 27-23 top-25 loss to an unranked Wake Forest (2018), there’s a near upset of No. 11 Miami 44-41 in 2020. Carter-Finley in the past few years is one of the most chaotic places in the nation, with most ranked teams entering it leaving with a loss no matter if it’s NC State or the opposition.

8. Ryan Field - Evanston, Illinois

We’ll put this one to the test this year to see if Ryan Field is truly cursed, as Northwestern will play on a temporary lakeside field while Ryan is under renovations.

Ryan Field, though, was nightmare fuel for a lot of the Big 10, which is a theme on this list. Nebraska got a taste of the mess when they were downed by a 99-yard drive with 1:50 on the clock in 2018, only to lose in overtime. Or, more drastically, the final 32 seconds of a Northwestern-Michigan State game that stopped the hearts of everyone in attendance a few times. How about a 2004 overtime upset of No. 7 Ohio State? Ryan Field doesn’t have the dramatic flair a lot of other entrants on this list have, but it’s still a hectic place to play.

Hopefully, Northwestern brass can sacrifice something on the build site to make sure the football gods are pleased when the new iteration of Ryan Field opens up.

7. Davis Wade Stadium - Starkville, Mississippi

Mississippi State sometimes feels like the forgotten stepchild of the SEC. They get beat down quite a bit and every so often they lash out with some monstrous upset that reshapes that college football season.

It all started in 2007, when an unranked Mississippi State notched their most recent victory over Alabama in a 17-12 upset of then-No. 21 Tide. Or, more recently, a 2016 defeat of No. 4 Texas A&M by the unranked Bulldogs. How about a 2018 23-9 upset over No. 8 Auburn (see later for the voodoo around the Tigers)?

Sure, they’re an SEC team that’s expected to win every so often. But Mississippi State isn’t your usual SEC team. They have a lot more bad years than good. But Davis Wade stays packed and anything can happen in front of that crowd. Like the most hostile Egg Bowl I’ve seen in 2019.

6. Ross-Ade Stadium - West Lafayette, Indiana

We talked about a flair for the dramatic with Northwestern? Well, Ross-Ade Stadium, home of Purdue, has enough random nonsense to garner Purdue the “Spoilermaker” nickname. Just know, if you head into a night game with Purdue clad in all black, things are about to get fuzzy.

How about we run through the list of Spoilermaker shockers forever immortalized at Ross-Ade? 2018: 38-36 upset over No. 19 Iowa. 2018: 49-20 upset over No. 2 Ohio State. 2021: 40-29 upset over No. 3 Michigan State. In all these games, Purdue entered unranked and mopped the floor with a Top Five team.

If there’s anything a national title contender feared more than a trip to West Lafayette in the BCS era, I’ve set to see it.

5. Arizona Stadium - Tucson, Arizona

While I wish I could put PAC-12 After Dark here as its own spot, someone from the most cursed conference has to make the Top Five of this list. I decided to choose Arizona’s desert voodoo.

Since 1995, Arizona has a 63-42 record at home. Compare that to a 134-182 overall record and you get a very spooky realism of desert voodoo. We can even go further and say that the Wildcats beat the spread by at least 10 points 16 times and by at least 23 points three times. They particularly beat up on Oregon and USC, with major wins at Arizona Stadium coming five times in that span. With the quality of those programs over that stretch, it’s clear Arizona has something brewing in the desert.

If you head into Arizona Stadium after dark, beware. It’s a bit unclear if that translates in a post Pac-12 After Dark world, but Arizona Stadium is one of the reasons Pac-12 After Dark existed so I expect them to keep the voodoo going.

4. Spartan Stadium - East Lansing, Michigan

Spartan Stadium, home of Michigan State, may not seem the most obvious pick, but stay with me here. There’s a fair amount of confusing nonsensical football played here on a yearly basis.

We can start here with “Clockgate,” where a timekeeping controversy allowed Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker to spike the ball before tossing a game winning touchdown to upset No. 6 Michigan in 2001. There’s also the 2004 upset over No. 5 Wisconsin where the Spartans had two fourth-down goal line stands along with two 99-yard touchdown drives to knock the Badgers out of national title contention. Or the 2010 comeback against Purdue where the Spartans scored 22 unanswered in the fourth quarter to finish the season at 11-1 and undefeated at home.

The voodoo at Spartan Stadium is dwindling, but maybe that played a role in the Mel Tucker incidents? But a first-year head coach and a ton of new players are a great recipe for chaos.

Even though it didn’t take place at Spartan Stadium, Michigan State did birth one of the greatest sports meme moments of all time. Just bask in the glory that is Trouble With the Snap.

3. Kinnick Stadium- Iowa City, Iowa

Kinnick boasts one of the nation’s best traditions in the Kinnick Wave, where the fans, coaches and players wave to patients at the Iowa Children’s Hospital which overlooks the stadium. Too bad that can’t save the curses of Iowa.

This one isn’t too built off of vibes too much. But my goodness does this place absolutely destroy offenses. Some of that is attributed to Iowa’s offensive struggles, but the amount of 10-7 games here should be studied.

But that doesn’t take into account the fact that Top Five teams come to Kinnick to die. Dating back to 2008, Iowa is 5-2 in Kinnick against Top Five teams (6-2 if you count a 10-7 win over FCS No. 2 South Dakota State last season). They haven’t seen a Top Five FBS opponent in Kinnick since 2022, when Michigan trounced the Hawkeyes 27-14, and it’s unlikely this year except for a Oct. 12 matchup with Washington.

2. Kidd-Brewer Stadium - Boone, North Carolina

While Appalachian State is known as a cursed program following their improbable 2007 upset in The Big House of the then-No. 5 Michigan Wolverines as an FCS school, Kidd-Brewer has bred its fair share of chaos since the Mountaineers jumped to the FBS.

When I made my EA College Football 25 cover for Appalachian State, I coined it the “Mountain Magic Edition” because that was the best way I could describe their program. I think that applies here.

Just look at the beginning of 2022. The first leg of a home-and-home with North Carolina ended in a thrilling 63-61 Tar Heel win in overtime. The very next week, the Mountaineers downed Sun Belt favorite Troy on a last-second hail mary.

We’ll also throw some honorable mentions for the cursed App State program, who toppled No. 6 Texas A&M on the road in 2022 and killed the 2023 dream James Madison season with improbable road wins. They don’t apply, but it’s fun to bask in the chaotic glory of Appalachian State.

1. Jordan-Hare Stadium - Auburn, Alabama

I would go so far as to say that Jordan-Hare has some of the most cursed earth in the world, not just in college football.

First, the stadium is built on a legitimate burial ground. While that may mean that Poltergeist’s newest remake should take place at Jordan-Hare, it also means Auburn can never be a normal football team. When you’re playing at Jordan-Hare, you’re not just asking if something wild is going to happen, you’re asking when.

Want some more evidence besides human remains? Let’s get into it.

The Prayer at Jordan-Hare. The Kick Six. Fourth and 31. That’s just three of the most improbable, outstanding plays in the history of college football. You want to show someone new to the sport what makes it so special? Show them those. Showrunners couldn’t write anything better than that. And somehow that all happened at Jordan-Hare.

The voodoo doesn’t just go one way, though, with lucky Auburn wins. It goes both ways, as evidenced by the Bryan Harsin era and whatever happened during Gene Chizik’s time with the Tigers. Auburn will never be a normal program. There’s always going to be some voodoo hexes around that team. Even when they’re good and even when they’re bad, Auburn is the chaos that everyone knows, loves and fears. And it all starts and ends in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

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