Penn State football gets more a home-field advantage in EA Sports' College Football 26. Ranked as the nation's sixth-toughest place to play last year, Penn State's Beaver Stadium is second in the new edition of the popular video game.
Where EA Sports might have underrated Beaver Stadium last year, its College Football 26 ranks the nation's second-largest venue No. 2 behind only LSU's Tiger Stadium. EA Sports released its list of the 25 toughest places to play this week to promote the game's July 7 release.
Last year Beaver Stadium ranked behind Texas A&M's Kyle Field, Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium. Tiger Stadium, Ohio State's Ohio Stadium and Georgia's Sanford Stadium. EA Sports said then that the developers ranked venues using multiple criteria, including "historical stats such as home
winning %, home game attendance, active home winning streaks, team prestige, and more."
So how did Penn State get the upgrade? Perhaps the Nittany Lions' 13-3 season had something to do with it, or that Penn State delivered an electric "White Out" style experience for its College Football Playoff win over SMU. After some concern that fans might not show out for the late-December game, Penn State sold 106,013 tickets and showcased a rowdy crowd in the cold for the Nittany Lions' 38-10 win over SMU.
The crowd affected SMU to the point that its offense false-started three times inside the 10-yard line in the third quarter. All three snaps came in the shadow of a screaming student section that delayed their holiday break, or returned to campus, for the first playoff game at a biting-cold Beaver Stadium. SMU coach Rhett Lashlee didn't think the weather had any impact on the score. But the White Out did.
"The crowd was definitely a factor there," Lashlee said of the third quarter. "... I think that's when it affected us the most, was that third quarter going into the end zone where the student section was. And that's what college football's all about."
Penn State coach James Franklin could not have agreed more.
"The environment was phenomenal, the turnout was unbelievable," Franklin said after the game. ".... A lot of the other [playoff] games had some built-in advantages in terms of the distance between the two teams. So the fact that we filled that thing up with 106,000 fans, predominantly all of ours, is significant. I don't want that to come off the wrong way. I've got a ton of respect for SMU. I've got a ton of respect for Coach Lashlee. But it was impactful today."
Penn State relishes in branding Beaver Stadium as the toughest place to play in college football and adores when influential voices in the game give the venue their blessing. Before Penn State played Ohio State in an empty-stadium version of the 2020 White Out, Urban Meyer said this on Big Ten Network: "I told [Penn State coach] James Franklin this: That became the most difficult place I've ever coached in my career."
Penn State wants to keep it that way. Athletic Director Pat Kraft has said that retaining home-field advantage is a major consideration of the ongoing $700 million renovation of Beaver Stadium. The venue's future capacity, though not officially announed, should remain close to its current limit of 106,572. Kraft also wants the noise to remain, or even get louder.
In a winter video update Penn State released regarding the renovation, Kraft said the project is addressing more than seating logistics. Kraft said that through the renovation, the West side stands will be shifted closer to the field, which will amplify the sound.
"We talk about all the time: Be the best in the country, and the building now is going to resonate that," Kraft said in the video. "We are focused on creating even more of a hostile environment, even louder of a building."
Penn State opens the 2025 season Aug. 30 against Nevada at Beaver Stadium. Check out the top 25 toughest places to play in EA Sports' College Football 26.
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