Best SEC road games for a newbie OU Rook

LSU perhaps. Close enough to NO if you like that kind of crowd and Bourbon Street.

I’ve been to all but Missou and had a fantastic time at all. For food/culture, obviously LSU is hard to beat but they all have their charm.
I’m guessing you’ve been to College Station. It is definitely last among SEC road trips if that gives you any indication.
If planning trips, I would start with the traditional big 6 of the SEC, but others like Kentucky, Ole Miss, and USC offer some great times as well.

Knoxville is up in the mountains somewhat and close by to the mountains. You could make a long weekend and stay in Pigeon Forge and then travel to the game. Not sure about food etc. Dollywood is nearby if you have kids. Great entertainment along with some rides.

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I really want to go to Oxford, but what are the best spots for food, culture, and just overall fan experience?

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There aren’t many bad road trips in the SEC.

Even some of the under the radar locations are a lot of fun:
-Vandy: you get to spend the weekend in Nashville.
-Kentucky: nice venue and if kickoff is right you can watch the horses run at Keeneland

Then you have places like Athens, Baton Rouge, Auburn, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville, Knoxville, Oxford etc that are all top ten CFB road trips and the ranking just depends on what you like to do.

Without ranking Auburn as I clearly think it’s #1. Here is my list that I’ve been to based on tailgating, people, food and gameday atmosphere and location.

Arkansas- Absolutely love the town of Fayetteville. One of the prettier campuses and overall great people
LSU- Best food and fun. Town is meh but a very pretty campus.
Ole Miss- Love the square. It’s an experience to tailgate in the grove for sure. Easy to fall in love 100x in 10 minutes. Food is meh at best.
Georgia- Best bar and live music scene and it’s not close. Meh food and the fans are awful. Would be #1 if not for the obnoxious barking and assholes everywhere you go
Alabama- Quad is a fun time and some decent bars as well. People aren’t as bad as they are on here. Overall usually a pretty fun time.
Tennessee- Knoxville is fun and good people as well. Always welcoming. I just prefer smaller cities for colleges.
South Carolina- see above.
Gainsville- weird arse people. Too hot. Can’t carry a beer around on gameday in lots of places.



Mississippi state- will never go back. Absolute shithole of a town and the non stop clanging of cow bells will drive you to insanity. fricking weird people too.

Never been:
Kentucky, tex am, missouri


Didn’t rank: Vandy. Not fair to rank Imo. Nashville is obviously a great city and everyone knows that.

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Would like to reverse the question if you don't mind:

How's the Norman gameday experience?

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To be fully honest, Norman has a long way to go to be on par with the rest of the SEC. I do know both the university and the City of Norman is fully committed to getting there though. It probably won't happen by kickoff 2024, but they are planning to spend truckloads cash.

OU has a beautiful campus and it's spread out. Campus corner has a lot of bars and restaurants and it's pretty welcoming to visiting fans. Tailgating is nothing compared to the SEC right now.

It's really different from the Big 8/Big XII. In no particular order, some thoughts from someone who went through a similar introduction recently:

Georgia is near the top of everyone's list. Athens is a great college town, and the stadium is iconic (and a pretty good place to watch a game). I sure wish that our only trip there so far hadn't been plagued by heaving rain. Hoping for better next time

A lot of people outside the SEC overlook Auburn. It's easy to get to (100 miles of Interstate from ATL, and on the right side of town, unlike for a trip to Athens). The town is committed, although the funny thing when you are there is to see how many Bama fans wear their colors on game weekends. Good stadium (if in need of some touchups) with no bad seats.

Florida gets a bad rap here because of the less than friendly welcome some folks experience, and Gainesville being a small college town that is overwhelmed by a huge school. With fair weather, the Swamp is a good place to watch a game, but the odds of having a crisp Fall Saturday in Gainesville are miniscule (we managed to have a pretty nice evening on our only trip and enjoyed the visitor section, but I understand that section is less enjoyable for a hot day game).

South Carolina is not a favorite of mine because the stadium is off campus, in the middle of a bunch of parking lots. Now, I did Columbia as a daytrip from Charleston, so I haven't gotten the full Columbia experience (will do so eventually), but I can highly reccommend making a long weekend of it and basing in Charleston, which I would say is sort of New Orleans without the vice (historic town, with lots of great places to eat).

I did Tennessee during Covid, and will get my first true taste of a UT gameday this Fall, but Knoxville looks to be a good destination for a football weekend. Big enough town to have things to do, but small enough to still be a college town. The stadium is an old bucket of bolts (like Lewis Field, in that respect, but they are renovating it a bit at a time), and the seating configuration reminds me of the Cotton Bowl. A lot of folks crammed into a rather small space. Don't expect to be comfortable watching the game.

I haven't done Kentucky for football, yet. Went for baseball a couple of years ago and Lexington is an interesting place. I understand that it's a real plus if your game happens to fall during Keeneland's Fall session, so you'll want to look into that whenver the sooners are scheduled to go to UK.

Vandy is one of the most popular road trips in the conference. Nashville is a great tourist destination, and visiting fans routinely take over the stadium.

Bama is an interesting trip. The Strip being right next to the stadium is a plus. The stadium is mostly updated, but the high endzne seats that comprise the bulk of the visitor's allotment, are a long way from the field. Try to get in the 1500 seats your team will get in the lower bowl if you want to sit amongst sooner fans.

LSU is famed for it's tailgating, but, since we play them over Thanksgiving weekend, I feel like we don't get their best shot. Traffic here is a nightmare, so I like to stay at the Sonesta suites which is within walking distance of the stadium. Traffic also makes commuting from New Orleans a less attractive option. I've done this (thankfully, someone else was doing the driving) at it took forever to get back. The stadium is not great, the views from the visitor's section in the lower bowl are terrible, but the seats in the East upper deck where the rest of the visitors go are like climbing the Himalayas -- you feel like you're watching from another state. LSU fans used to have a reputation for being rowdy, but the folks who earned that reputation have been priced out of college football. It's really no different from any place you go. If you pass an LSU tailgate and someone yells "Tiger Bait!" at you, just laugh and you're likely to be invited to share in what's on offer.

Ole Miss and the Grove are on everyone's checklist, and while I would encourage you to check it off, keep your expectations in check. Ole Miss's idea of tailgating with china, chandaliers, and cold finger food is not to my taste. If you can rent a place near the square and walk everwhere, that's ideal. It's a small town that is overwhelmed by a football weekend.

Starkville is another really small town, but, unlike Oxford, no one hypes up Starkville. It's not the wasteland that some folks woudl have you believe. But, the damn cowbells are annoying. Get your tickets from OU and sit amongst your own fans and it will be a much more enjoyable experience than if you have those things being rung literally in your ear.

I've only done football in Fayetteville once (FU Jerry Jones), but Fayetteville has some options for visitors. With 500,000 people in the metro area, it surprises a lot of folks on their first visit.

I'm assuming you've done CoMo. If you haven't, it's nothing to write home about.

You'll never do Austin, so we'll skip that.

I'll let others describe College Station.

I enjoy the smaller college town scenes particularly where the bars and restaurants are walking distance from the stadium and tailgating is top notch

Athens
Oxford
Tuscaloosa
Auburn
Starkville

Never been to Knoxville, Columbia, Lexington or Gainesville. I’m sure you’re familiar with Fayetteville and Columbia Missouri

LSU has top notch tailgating but the bar and restaurant scene is pretty spread out you’ll need an Uber and body armor

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Way to stay on topic. Neyland is meh.

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My wife went to ou. I went to a game q few ywars ago and yall wemt to overtime against army lol. It was a cute harmless little stadiun