For those that went, what were your thoughts on your first trip to The Shoe and the atmosphere.

[Frank Sinatra]

I come in peace. I was curious as to what everyone thought of the atmosphere in The Shoe and also your time in Columbus? I’m not here to rub in the game at all and I know this is not the outcome you were hoping for. Man, trust me, I know how it feels after the UM game, but was just curious how your first trip to The Shoe was? I wish Tennessee nothing but the best of luck next season, and hope we can run into each other in the future! You guys have an amazing fan base!

 

[zeppelin128]

Polite and talkative fans, but honestly very, very arrogant lol. I had a good trip aside from the outcome of the game, obviously. The Shoe and surrounding area felt more like a pro-game atmosphere as opposed to what I am accustomed to at Neyland. Noise level was comparable to Neyland as well, but I think Neyland is just a bit louder (mostly due to design, Shoe has open spaces up top whereas Neyland is enclosed). Drone show was neat.

But I'm ready to get back to Tennessee. lol

 

[fefe]

Stadium feels like an NFL stadium minus the bucket seats. The music is too loud. I couldn't hear either band. Also, why are there no ramps, only stairs?

I didn't have any issues with OSU fans. The fans I sat next to were good.

 

[zeppelin128]

Oh, second what dude above me said. Way way way too much music. Like some is okay, and I thought at first they were trying to drown out our band. But it was wall to wall music, couldn't hear y'alls band either.

 

[camp_steveo]

Was on the top row of the visitor side on the 40 near the small jumbo tron. The stadium and atmosphere were great. Everyone was pretty much fine. Only a couple of people that were a little out of line, but it was both sides at times.

Sucked that the Vols were completely outmatched. It was obvious to everyone. They were already talking about Oregon at halftime.

 

[74charger]

Most OSU fans were good, always some total idiots in every fan base. I mean come on, you serve alcohol at these kind of events and what do you expect?!?! Of course I’m biased but Neyland is louder for sure, maybe the shoe is different with less opposing team fans there. I hated the constant music playing, more like NFL game. What’s the point of either band if you can’t ever hear them.

 

[AthensVol2007]

Polite and talkative fans, but honestly very, very arrogant lol. I had a good trip aside from the outcome of the game, obviously. The Shoe and surrounding area felt more like a pro-game atmosphere as opposed to what I am accustomed to at Neyland. Noise level was comparable to Neyland as well, but I think Neyland is just a bit louder (mostly due to design, Shoe has open spaces up top whereas Neyland is enclosed). Drone show was neat.

But I'm ready to get back to Tennessee. lol

I didn’t feel the noise was anywhere close to Neyland. We were on the 3rd row and could have relatively normal conversations throughout the game. I was in the upper deck for the Bama game and my voice was gone by the 2nd QT from just trying to talk to people next to me. Of stadiums I’ve been to, noise wise, it ranks behind UT, AU, UF, UGA, SCar and AM. I’ll give it being louder than Bama but for 102k it was not intimidating from a noise perspective at all.

 

[DaddyChad]

Really enjoyed seeing the stadium and interacting with most fans. Most buckeye fans are fairly friendly, a little good natured ribbing on Vol fans but for the most part decent people. A few of your younger fans are complete idiots but I think that goes with any fanbase. Found it a little weird that we were able to buy as many tickets to this game as we did and have the numbers we did in the stands.

 

[UTK]

Probably felt like Neyland the first couple mins at least. After that it was probably a mid environment I would guess. Didn’t seem loud besides when Ohio state was on offense early in the game lol

 

[DaddyChad]

Probably felt like Neyland the first couple mins at least. After that it was probably a mid environment I would guess. Didn’t seem loud besides when Ohio state was on offense early in the game lol

If all the people there were buckeyes I’m sure it’s loud AF. A lot of BS loud music was there instead.

 

[VolPack22]

Drone show was really cool. Other than that, it wasn’t anything we haven’t seen. Neyland gets louder and the band plays a lot more. I may be biased but nothing compares to Neyland so everything else will seem like a letdown imo. Had a couple cordial OSU fans in my section but most of the others were very arrogant. Our fanbase did talk a lot of smack leading up to this game though so I expected it.

 

[UTK]

If all the people there were buckeyes I’m sure it’s loud AF. A lot of BS loud music was there instead.

Even Ohio state fans say their stadium isn’t that loud because of how it’s built. So I don’t know

 

[ATC_VOL]

Fans were good for the most part. Atmosphere was fun. I would put it on par with South Carolina, and I don’t mean that as an insult. Arriving traffic, parking, and departing traffic were terrific compared to most places we go.

Definitely agree it has a NFL feel to it, similar to Alabama.

Game sucked but glad we came. Fun to experience new stadiums.

 

[Daddy pants]

I didn’t feel the noise was anywhere close to Neyland. We were on the 3rd row and could have relatively normal conversations throughout the game. I was in the upper deck for the Bama game and my voice was gone by the 2nd QT from just trying to talk to people next to me. Of stadiums I’ve been to, noise wise, it ranks behind UT, AU, UF, UGA, SCar and AM. I’ll give it being louder than Bama but for 102k it was not intimidating from a noise perspective at all.

Agree. Great atmosphere and likely as good as it gets in the Big10 but not SEC loud.
Spicy vibe tho. Someone above mentioned their fans are arrogant and I concur. They were super-annoyed at the amount of Vols. Lady I sat next to blamed it on a “computer breach”. Please.

 

[Vol in Buckeye Land]

Didn’t have a great experience with OSU fans tbh. Nothing crazy just very crass in general. I think younger fans of both teams kinda suck and I worry for gen Z. I get that OSU fans were probably on the defensive a little with our whole “Neyland North” schtick (there was a lot of orange in that stadium).

The Shoe is cool. I agree with others: it would have been nice to hear more of TBDBITL and our pep band, and less of random hip-hop and country songs on the PA. You can also miss me with the bozo on the jumbotron “Alright, Buckeye Nation, here’s the latest bs we’re gonna to do pass the time during the TV timeout!”

Electric environment to be sure. If I never hear “O-H!” again in my life, that’ll be just fine.

 

[UT_Tix79]

Stadium was a lot quieter than expected, but, that’s probably because we crapped the bed

 

[bpalmer28]

Stadium was a lot quieter than expected, but, that’s probably because we crapped the bed

Agreed. It was the quietest true road game I’ve ever attended . Fans were relatively nice. I only had to tell 2 or 3 to shut up

 

[FLVOL_79]

It was similar to driving through Ohio on 70..

 

[GoBigOrangeVols]

Atmosphere felt very NFLish. It got loud at spots but most of that was noise generated by the loud speakers. More distracting than the noise was the pulsating scoreboard lights especially in all the tunnels - I’m surprised that is allowed. Perhaps it can get loud when it’s all Buckeyes there, but there were 35-40k Vols last night so the noise level was not elite at all and what noise there was, was artificially enhanced by the speaker system.

A distinct difference is that during tv timeouts, Ohio did what I would call minor league baseball game activities like relay races, mascot competitions, and bouncy sumo wrestling. At Neyland, we honor our past champions and our history with video board and on-field tributes. As a visitor to the stadium I didn’t feel like I saw anything about the school’s history, culture, traditions, or classic players. Barely heard your band at all, and I was sitting close to that end zone — all you could hear was the generic pop music throughout the game. The stadium itself is very dingy and needs major renovations. The guts of the stadium are very very poor. Bathroom and concession situations were quite bad - even worse than Neyland which are by no means good. More leg room and seat space than Neyland, which was nice. The drone show was neat but they should’ve turned the lights down for it.

Overall I thought the stadium atmosphere and experience was a let down. It felt like a pro sports game and didn’t offer much of the pageantry that makes college football so special. And it certainly wasn’t elite as far as noise levels go, at least not last night.

Fans in the stadium we mostly fine. A couple bad apples mixed in with the good. Hoards of young townies roving High St after the game were trying to start trouble and really made for a negative and dangerous experience. That really soiled my opinion - they did not win with class or dignity.

Ohio has a great team - best money can buy - frankly there is no team better in the country. If you don’t win a Natty it will be your own fault as your best is better than any other team’s best this year.

 

[VolCalls]

Was on the top row of the visitor side on the 40 near the small jumbo tron. The stadium and atmosphere were great. Everyone was pretty much fine. Only a couple of people that were a little out of line, but it was both sides at times.

Sucked that the Vols were completely outmatched. It was obvious to everyone. They were already talking about Oregon at halftime.

With all due respect, many on this board were talking about Oregon when the bracket came out two weeks ago.

 

[OrangeLife]

Honestly, we usually enjoy the experience and the trip, outside of the outcome, but can’t say that about The Shoe. More arrogant, unfriendly fans than we’ve encountered anywhere else…and that includes trips to Florida, Oklahoma, Bama, Georgia, S. Carolina, LSU, Auburn, Vandy, Kentucky, Mizzou, and Georgia. For SEC games and even Bowl games it always feels like more of a respectful banter back and forth but always without hate and animosity. Maybe we just got all of the pent up frustration from being 1-14 against the SEC but that seemed to be what they were focused on.

It was definitely not nearly as loud as Neyland. We sat in the lower level flagpole end zone (3A) and could talk without issue throughout the game.

 

[boeninghaus]

I didn’t feel the noise was anywhere close to Neyland. We were on the 3rd row and could have relatively normal conversations throughout the game. I was in the upper deck for the Bama game and my voice was gone by the 2nd QT from just trying to talk to people next to me. Of stadiums I’ve been to, noise wise, it ranks behind UT, AU, UF, UGA, SCar and AM. I’ll give it being louder than Bama but for 102k it was not intimidating from a noise perspective at all.

I thought the same thing. I'd rank it about the same as where you have it.


The steps instead of ramps was silly. You couldn't pee at all as the lines were ridiculous. Tailgating was pitiful. They are certainly the softest fans. Ms marked out all over campus lmao. Most of the fans were fine.

 

[Ttucke11]

Not nearly as loud as I expected. Was trying to get some fun ribbing in pre game. Not much traction. Plenty after which is fine. We walked into a little bar afterwards just to warm up a sec and grab a beer waiting on an Uber. Old guy jumped up and tried to fight us immediately. OSU bouncer was cool at least.

 

[coach931]

OSU fans were mostly manageable, you've got to be able to take it when your the road team going up north. Most of them would high-five after a touchdown and then make some kind of classless gesture or comment afterwards. A fan told me they started playing loud music this year between plays because they saw it happening in SEC stadiums. I didn't agree with the flashing lights all across the stadium that would blind our QB or cause someone with epilepsy to have a seizure, which should be banned. Like others said they were reeling off of a hard loss, felt agitated by the number of vol fans and hate the SEC so I expected them to be pretty classless. OSU is a prestigious program but none of their fans recognize the difficult schedule of the SEC, but (we didn't help that last night). They will continue to have success because of their NIL capabilities, only having to "get up" for 2 games in regular season. Most SEC stadiums are louder than the Shoe, a playoff night game in primetime should have set decibel records at the start of game but it was not that loud. The activities they did during media timeouts were too numerous. Restrooms were backed up and concessions was a cluster**** but it was probably due to the cold.

 

[West Coast Vol]

My thoughts:

1 - Columbus is a cool college city. Some fun neighborhoods, good eats, etc.

2 - The Shoe is an impressive facility, especially from the outside. Even though capacity might be more, the Shoe feels a lot smaller than Neyland and it is not even remotely as loud.

3 - OSU fans should be embarrassed at the turnout. GameDay was 60%+ orange and that stadium had a ton or orange in it.

4 - They have a lot of video boards on the sideline and over the exits where they display erratic flashing lights when we were on offense. Surprised that’s allowed.

5 - The fans around us (immediately behind Tenn bench) were subdued, but there were a lot of Tenn fans so they wouldn’t have had the courage to be overly aggressive. However, after the game I was surprised at the level of ugliness directed at a middle aged man with two kids in tow. A little alcohol-fueled ugliness is to be expected but it was a lot. I guess a sign of their SEC little man syndrome. The real surprise was that of the thousand of OSU fans we passed there were a LOT of jerks but not a single person said a nice thing. No one said “thanks for coming” or “better luck next year” or “you traveled well” or anything. I came into this game without any opinion on the OSU fan base and left with a significant negative view. Now I understand why Michigan hates them so much. Every fan base has jerks, but at Neyland there is lots of southern hospitality/kindness extended to opponents and there was none of that at OSU.