Beaver Stadium earns No. 3 ranking in Sporting News “Saturday Shrines”
By PSR Staff | Thu, 10/14/2010 - 15:15
Already recognized as one of the nation’s most difficult stadiums for opposing teams, Penn State’s Beaver Stadium has been selected the No. 3 “Saturday Shrine” by a Sporting News expert panel.
The home of the Nittany Lions earned the nation’s No. 3 ranking from a panel of current and former college football coaches and broadcasters. The panel weighed each of the nation’s stadiums by the facility itself, the fans and atmosphere, the city and surroundings, traditions and history.
The October 11 issue of Sporting News lists the panel’s Top 20 “Saturday Shrines,” including a two page spread on Beaver Stadium, which opened in 1960 and is celebrating its 50th Anniversary season.
The Sporting News Top 5 “Saturday Shrines:”
1. Bryant-Denny Stadium (Alabama)
2. Notre Dame Stadium
3. Beaver Stadium (Penn State)
4. Tiger Stadium (LSU)
5. Ohio Stadium (Ohio State)
Penn State played at Alabama last month and will visit Ohio State on Nov. 13. The 2010 Nittany Lions are the first team to play three Bowl Championship Series winning teams on the road the following season, with Iowa completing the trio of Penn State’s nationally-ranked road opponents this fall. Penn State played at Notre Dame in 2006 and beat LSU in the 2010 Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
Beaver Stadium’s capacity of 107,282 is the nation’s second-largest and Penn State fans have kept the Nittany Lions among the Top 4 in NCAA home attendance every year since 1991. Penn State has finished No. 2 in the nation in attendance each of the past four years and eight times overall since 1991.
Fifteen of Penn State’s 20 largest home crowds all-time have occurred since the start of the 2005 season. The Nittany Lions have won 36 of their last 41 games in Beaver Stadium and have an all-time record of 245-60 in the facility, which has been expanded seven times since Joe Paterno began his Hall of Fame head coaching career in 1966.
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