Penn State's Beaver Stadium one of toughest places to play in EA Sports College Football 25; is it ranked high enough?

Penn State football fans who play EA Sports College Football 25 once it is released this summer will have a roaring Beaver Stadium crowd at their advantage. The makers of the game are releasing numerous rankings related to the teams and venues in college football this week. The home of the Nittany Lions checks in at No. 6 on a top 25 rundown of the toughest places to play.

Texas A&M’s Kyle Field took the top spot on EA’s list. Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium was No. 2. Tiger Stadium at LSU checked in at No. 3. Ohio State’s Ohio Stadium was No. 4 and the only Big Ten venue in front of the Lions’ 107,00-seat stadium. And, Georgia’s Sanford Stadium rounded out the top five.

How will the home field advantage ranking impact EA College Football 25 players?

“We laid out the significant impact that Homefield Advantage can have on the outcome of games in EA SPORTS™ College Football 25 during our Gameplay Deep Dive Campus Huddle,” EA Sports writes in a. news release. “Audio and in-game modifiers such as blurred routes, incorrect play art, confidence and composure affects, and screen shaking are some of the immersive impacts away teams and players will be forced to contend with. 

“But not all Homefield Advantages are created equal. The Development Team worked to compile a list of the Top 25 Toughest Places to Play, factoring in historical stats such as home winning %, home game attendance, active home winning streaks, team prestige, and more.”

Beaver Stadium will have its final season worth of games in its current condition this fall before renovations begin next year. Work is set to be complete by the start of the 2027 season. Capacity will be limited some while the work is underway. It’s not yet clear how many seats will be lost both during it and once the final touches are installed. The university does plan at the moment to always be over 100,000 seats. But, how close the final number is to 107,000 remains to be seen.

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“We’ve had great environments there,” Lions coach James Franklin said earlier this month when asked about the renovations. “I think people consider us one of the best environments in all college football. But, we weren’t going to be able to sustain that when we haven’t really updated the stadium in a long period of time. So here we are, and now it’s become a massive project. It’s going to allow football to continue to really support all those entities that we just talked about. And also the ability to increase revenue when you’re talking about the opportunity to have more concerts there.

“I think it’s going to have a big factor in terms of Playoff games. Because, we have some of the challenges with all the exposed pipes that we’ve already started kind of working on it. And then when you’re talking about, whether it’s Flyers-Penguins, just different activities that you can have there year-round. So, it’s not a facility that only has the ability to bring revenue in seven days a year. So that’s important for the entire athletic department, especially where we see everything going.”

As for EA Sports, it will release lots of other details about the game throughout the week. A ‘deep dive’ and new ‘sights and sounds’ come out on Wednesday. Top offense and defense rankings will be out on Thursday. And, Friday will bring with it overall team power rankings. The game is due out on July 19 for various gaming consoles and devices.

Are the Lions ranked high enough?

As you might imagine, fans from numerous schools immediately took to social media to complain about where their school is listed. Penn State fans felt Beaver Stadium should have made the top five. And, it probably should have, based on the criteria listed above. On the flip side, however, is the fact that now even the White Out has consistently lifted the Lions to victory over the top teams, especially Ohio State, at home. So, perhaps some points were deducted because of that. For what it’s worth, On3’s Andy Staples did his own rankings and put Beaver Stadium at No. 4. His list had LSU at No. 1. Alabama was No. 2, Florida No. 3, and Auburn No. 5. Texas A&M did not check in until No. 7, one spot behind Tennessee at No. 6.

“Never has a letter been more intimidating than the “S” that an opposing offense must drive toward when facing the Penn State student section,” Staples writes. “While most Big Ten schools opted to use most of the space allotted for their stadiums, Penn State chose to go more vertical and the result is a 107,000-person cavern that truly comes alive when everyone wears white.”

Personally, we’d move Penn State up at least one spot and drop Kyle Field as Staples has.