College Football Stadiums: Southern California Trojans - Los Angeles Coliseum

As an active college football fan, I have attended games at dozens of locations throughout the country. I compiled the high points and low points of my trips and put them into a series of articles for your viewing pleasure.

This time, our series takes us to Los Angeles, California, home of the Trojans. Sunny beaches, palm trees, and beach blonde hair are all a part of this historic venue...

On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the best football experience of a lifetime), let's take a look at how USC stacks up.

Friday Night: 8
I personally spent a wild night in nearby Santa Monica where our group walked along the Pacific Ocean, dined at restaurants on the pier, and frequented the local pubs. I took a particular liking to an English Soccer Pub that sacrificed one of the many TV screens dedicated to futbol to let us watch football.

Tailgate: 7
In my opinion, tailgating can always improve and USC is no different. The group I was with headed to a science building on campus where they had cleared the area to allow us visitors a chance to drink and eat. We also had a good time in the parking lot of the stadium on a sultry fall day in California. In the end, beer is beer. The weather was great and there were thousands of co-ed's sporting maroon and gold jerseys. No wonder recruiting is so simple for these guys.

Pre-Game: 6
As I recall it was not an overly exciting entrance onto the field by the home team. They did a video and the crowd got loud. The band was very good, but bands don't mean much in my opinion. To me, the best part was being able to get right down on the field, near the end zone, next to the teams as they warmed up (and all I had was a regular ticket and average seats). You can't find better access to the field anywhere else.

Atmosphere: 9.5
Historic stadium, amazing venue, sweet California sun, and rowdy fans. The bottom line for me is how GIGANTIC and historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is (I mean they held the Olympics there for crying out loud!). I also enjoyed the natural grass turf, pillars, and torches. The only thing missing was a modern press box...the current one resembles that of a high school.

Stadium Engineering: 6.5
The LAC is an amazing stadium, but pretty outdated. It needs new bathrooms and the aforementioned press box.

Decibel Level: 8.5
USC fans are loud and proud. That place was rocking! But they also had an annoying "yell leader" by the student section who screamed into a microphone all game long...and the speakers were towards our seating section. Terrible. Other than that, it was fight on for ole' SC; fight on, fight on...to victory.

Overall: 9
Great 'scenery' and energetic fans in a stadium built for a Hollywood movie. It's easy to see why Southern California is an epic place to take in a college football game. The University of Southern California is a must see, and receives the official college football road trip stamp of approval.

Sources:
http://www.lacoliseumlive.com