The 2025 schedule was aggressive from the start, folding in two Steeler away games into the mix, especially when one was in Ireland. When my one open weekend got filled with family stuff, I was looking at 13 straight weekends from home. Back in the days of me slaying the corporate dragon, I could easily swing from an overseas trip right back into a double game weekend. Those days now appear to be behind me. By the time my season was over and rolled into a family trip to the Galapagos Islands, I was fried. My long recovery may explain why the year-end review is five months late.

Ok, enough of my whining about first world problems, here’s a summary of the 2025 season.

After several missed opportunities at a double game weekend in Kansas, I finally committed to a trip to the Sunflower state. To get both stadiums in, I broke one of my fundamental rules. Both the Jayhawk and Cats opponents would be from the FCS. I don’t like to do that but I was desperate to avoid two trips to Kansas this late in the stadium race. Joining me was Doug, my midwest connection. We were originally supposed to tailgate with friend of a friend. However, at the last minute, I was informed that the group would not be tailgating after all. With some help from local students and some quick logistical scrambling, Doug and I managed a small and controlled tailgate. A tent, chairs, cornhole and Smith hotdogs on the grill which was not bad for one night of prep.

Our K-State tailgating was a mix of a solo effort and then joining an established one. Lots of friendly folks at both games ensured we had a very good time. The Wagner – Kansas Friday night game was the as-expected blowout, but North Dakota gave the K-State all they could handle in the second game on Saturday. The season was off to an excellent start.

The following weekend I took the opportunity to update a review on an old team/stadium. Under the rules of the original bet, I was able to check off the University of Buffalo stadium because I had actually played against them when I was in college. However since then, they had built a new stadium, which was easy to visit during a trip to my home town of Erie, Pa. So, I loaded up my mom, and we met some more friends and family at the stadium for a very chill tailgate. While the weather was great, the game was not. However, as is often the case, we still managed to have a good time.

Next stop was Georgia Southern where our tailgate connection came through – unlike the one at Kansas. It generated a sigh of relief as my traveling companion Bob had already done his share of weak tailgates with me at Eastern Michigan and Ohio University. Randy and Rob’s tailgate was well appointed with a big screen tv, lots of food and drink, and plenty of friendly faces. They also schooled us on all the traditions at Georgia Southern of which there are many. While the Eagles may be lower tier in the FBS, their heritage is top shelf.

I had the next two weekends off – sort of. We were off to Dublin, Ireland to see the Steelers play the Vikings.

This was a great time. The NFL does a great job organizing these things and the locals welcomed us with open arms. Not that we needed to be welcomed – we ran into friends multiple times during the weekend. Lastly, we waited to buy tickets until we got to Dublin and that was the smart thing to do. It was cheaper than buying them in advance.

Of course, the one thing it wasn’t – was restful. The weather was great for the game, but it disappeared for the rest of the trip. We both picked up colds as we traipsed around in the Irish rain. And, I am sure my wife still has the random nightmare of me driving our rental SUV into random hedge rows. That didn’t happend but we certainly came close.

I was hoping to take the next weekend off, but we ended up in Pittsburgh visiting family. We did manage to get back late Saturday night and so I did get my first Sunday morning at home in seven weeks.

With partially recharged batteries, it was time to hit the road again. But before I joined the Nine O’Clock club for the Ball State game, we stopped off for a Thursday night game in Cincinnati to see the Steelers play the Bengals. Our group of family and friends numbered around twelve, with most of us in our Black and Gold. It was a exciting environment and game even if the Steelers came up just short.

On Friday afternoon, my son Trent and I packed up and headed over to Indianapolis to join the rest of the Nine O’clock club. The group was knee deep in poker chips when we arrived. That may or may not have contributed to the decision to not head to Muncie early the following morning. After all, the local guys assured us “It’s Ball State, there’s no rush.” It turns out that everyone does go to the game in Muncie, or at least for homecoming. It all worked out for the best because our lot was jumping. And I mean jumping, music pumping and even some guys throwing hands.

After a wild tailgate, the game was probably going to be a letdown. Instead, we enjoyed a competitive contest until the threatening clouds showed up. It didn’t surprise me that some of the club members bailed at the first sight of sprinkles despite it being a back and forth game (see Northwestern). I was the last of the group to leave. Ball State was clinging to a ten point lead with Akron ready to score, but it was clear the rain delay was imminent. I was dodging raindrops while running toward the car when they announced the rain delay. Fortunately, that stoppage took the zip out of Akron and I had no misgivings listening to the end of the game in the car as Ball State secured the win.

The decision to skip the Cal – Va Tech game the following Friday night was made quickly and with no regrets (not unlike the Va Tech hiring of James Franklin later that season). The Hokies were having a terrible year and I was more tired than Amazon pickers on Prime Day. It was a welcomed rest.

Now fully rested, I geared up and headed down to Auburn to join my cousin and his daughter for the Auburn – Kentucky game. We were hosted by a lovely Auburn alum and dear friend, Katie. She gave us all the scoop on Auburn and was an incredible game day host. As a bonus, her lakehouse had a Directv connection so we avoided the whole Youtube / ESPN kerfuffle. If not for an absolute turd of a game, the weekend would have been perfect.

My final official game of the season was another SEC battle – Aggies versus Tigers. Texas A&M was hot, ranked #3 in the country. While I was hopeful that Mizzou could rise to the occasion, the Aggies (Kurt and Travis) with me just wanted Texas A&M to keep rolling. We had a great time in Columbia. There’s nothing quite like a college town on a big game weekend, especially with a slight chill in the air. Compliments of Bulldawg Barry, we were connected another well-appointed local tailgate. Despite our group being mostly Aggies, Dave T. welcomed us to his Mizzou tailgate where we partied with three generations of fans. The only thing that didn’t pan out was the game, as the Aggies took care of business – not that Kurt and Travis minded that.

I had one final game for the year and it had the potential to be a big one. My cousin Phil is a Kentucky fan by proxy, as his daughter Taylor is a student there. In reality, his true allegiance lies with Pitt. He had put the Pitt – Notre Dame on my radar long before ESPN decided to make it their Game Day location for the weekend. I happily drove up to Pittsburgh Friday night. It was another great time hanging with family. It was Phil and I’s third game of the season: he did the Bengals game on top of the Auburn trip. We had a great time right up until the Pitt offense took the field. For all the big game hype, the Panthers folded like a cheap suit.

With that the season was over, but there was no time to rest. The following weekend we were off to the Galapagos for ten days. We hiked a volcano, swam with sharks and danced with blue footed boobies. It was an amazing trip, but again not restful. Hence a year end review being delivered in May.

Now for a rundown of the 2025 stats:

Games and Teams

Total Games Attended: 7, down 2 from 2024 (although if you include all the games, the number is 9, down 1)

Best Team Seen: Texas A&M (#8) – although who knows how high Notre Dame (#10) could have finished if they had played a bowl game instead of staying home and pouting.

Final AP Top Twenty-Five Teams Seen: In 2024 for I saw four AP Final Top 25 teams. This year it was only two – the previously mentioned Aggies and Fighting Irish.

Worst Team: 3-9 Middle Tennessee State with an honorable mention to FCS dumpster fire, 0-11 St. Francis, who couldn’t even beat my alma mater, Mercyhurst at home. That’s notable because this was the Hurst’s first year jumping up to the FCS. While I amazingly saw no teams in the Bottom Ten, of the 18 teams I saw play this year, only seven managed to have a winning record. Whew.

Best Game Seen: K-State 38 – North Dakota 35, 8/30/25, if only because the plucky Fighting Hawks gave the Power Cats all they could handle.

Worst Game Seen:  Kentucky 10 – Auburn 3, 11/1/2025: I saw bigger blowouts, but this game really had nothing. Hard to believe a SEC, one-score game could have virtually no drama.

Bowl Game Teams Seen: 5 (down 10 from prior year!)

The Players

College Award winners seen: Two, Jeremiyah Love of Notre Dame – Doak Walker as best RB of the country, and KC Concepcion of Texas A&M, who earned the Paul Horung Award as the most versatile player.

All Americans: 5, with 2 consensus – A terrible year

The Stadiums (of 2025 visits)

Best Stadium: Bill Snyder Family Stadium – K-State. A nice looking stadium with a video scoreboard in every corner. Tailgating in the Agronomy lot makes it even better.

Worst Stadium: Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium – MTSU. A standard, inoffensive design, but honestly, the name is the most exciting thing about this box.

Best Game Day Experience: Auburn although Georgia Southern was surprisingly close. Big time, SEC experience with the Tigers– expensive but worth it. It feels exactly like what a game day should feel like.

Easiest Stadium to Get To: UB Stadium – University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. Easy drive from airport with great access to free tailgate lots.

Hardest Stadium to Get To: Scheumann Stadium, Ball State – Muncie, IA. Only an hour away from Indianapolis, getting to Muncie is not the problem. Atrocious signage and unforgiving traffic flow means getting to your lot is a chore.

Best Concessions: Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium – MTSU. The local food truck gave me loaded nachos big enough to comfortably feed a family of four. Unfortunately, I ate them all myself.

Worst Concessions: David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium – Kansas University. Those awful, generic, serve yourself, grab and go concessions. It provides about as much ambiance as a hospital vending machine bullpen. Plus no souvenir cup because everything is in bottles.

Best Souvenir: Free t-shirt, hat, and beer glasses from the original Johnny’s Tavern – KU, Lawrence, KS. Johnny’s was a late night oasis when the previously mentioned Jayhawk concessions left a gaping hole in your stomach.

Worst Souvenir: Scheumann Stadium – Ball State. No souvenir cup and only a t-shirt which means Ball State representation in the man cave will be limited.

Best Cup: A good batch of souvenir cups this year. I like the Auburn simple design, but the bold K-State cup wins the day.

Worst Cup: Buffalo’s slightly generic look is the worst of a very good batch of cups. Shame on Kansas and Ball State for not offering a souvenir cup.

The Costs

Total Season Spend: $6,900 ($4,000 ex mileage) is up from the prior year (~$8k) but only seven official boxes checked. That of course, does not include two Steeler away games: one in Ireland and one in Cincinnati.

Average per Game: ~$1000 (ex-mileage ~$600) about $200 over last year. However, the average for new stadiums only was up at $770 but about the same ex-mileage (~$440). Lots of driving in 2025 and only a few flights.

Most Expensive Ticket: Kentucky vs Auburn – $200 actual (Stubhub) with a $80 face

Cheapest Ticket: Buffalo $4 versus a face value of $24. Thanks to the generosity of my cousin, my ND vs Pitt ticket was free.

Average Ticket Price Paid: $60, down $7 versus 2024. If you average the seven new stadiums, the number is worse, $76 but cheaper than the prior year.

Average Cost on Tickets over Face Value: I paid about the same as face value on average. For official games, it was $16 over face. Not unexpectedly, the total over face value for the two SEC games, Auburn and Missouri was over $150.

Miscellaneous

Miles Driven: ~5,300 vs 5,100 in 2024. It will be far less in 2026.

Miles Flown: ~3,300 (Kansas City and St Louis). Lots more flights in 2026 – hopefully jet fuel drops in the next few months.

Double Game Weekends: One – K-State / Kansas. Although Ball State was wrapped with a Steelers Thursday night game against Cincinnati.

Best Fans: Auburn. Great tailgating, although we had great times at Kansas, K-State, Georgia Southern, and Missouri.

Worst Fans: Ball State. It was the first time a fight rolled into our tailgate tent. Of course, some of the Nine O’clock club would say this made for the best fans.

Most Pleasant Surprise: Georgia Southern. A boatload of traditions and Savanah was a nice spot to visit. The raucous tailgate at Ball State gets an honorable mention for a hilariously good time.

Most Unpleasant Surprise: Four half hour rain delays at MTSU. My wife won big points for waiting out the storm without complaint.

Lesson Learned / Re-affirmed: It is always better to get to a tailgate earlier rather than later. Our group whined about sleep the night before Ball State and we ended up sitting in traffic. The Auburn crew got to the tailgate spot early and everything went smooth as silk. What’s the worst thing about arriving to a tailgate early – you have to drink more beer?!?

My Regular Season Pick Record: 17- 32. Another terrible year. It is official, I suck at picking games.

Conclusion:

Between a heavy travel schedule and frankly, a number of games that just didn’t pan out, the 2025 season was a challenging one. By the numbers, we saw a lot of football, but a lot of it was just average. Some of that was my fault. It is rare that an FCS vs FBS game is a good one and I had three of those on schedule. Additionally, the anticipated big games turned into routs. That can happen, but that’s also the beauty of sports. It is live and unscripted – not unlike the now infamous Ball State Tailgate Town Tussel. Another great memory added to a list that’s way longer than my stadium count, which is really what this is all about.

128 stadiums in and I should be in single digits in terms of stadiums left. However, with North Dakota State and Sacramento State jumping to the FBS, I now have ten to go. With nothing even remotely close to me, it certainly isn’t going to get cheaper. But like I tell my wife, you can’t put a price tag on memories.

Well, that’s what I tell myself. What I tell her is that Branson, Mo is great tourist destination and Missouri State is only a stone’s throw away. And, Fargo, North Dakota is beautiful in August. (You have to lay the groundwork early.)

With that optimism. I leave you with a repost of some of the more notable observations of the 2025 season.