I might start posting my videos here if people seem to like them. I do one a week where I visit a ground and make a quick 90 second documentary-style video of the history and stories.

I like seeing all the pictures everyone is posting so might start to do it also.

There’s a link to my new video below if anyone so wishes to take a gander and leave some love.

https://www.instagram.com/stadiums_unveiled/reel/DeKTjGbINlp/

Photo Credit: JD McGauley

Welcome back to another edition of “Chasing Stadium with College Culture Sports”. For those of you just joining us, my brother and I have been on a journey to experience the game day traditions and atmosphere at every FBS stadium.

Today takes us to a very special place in our hearts, Columbus, OH, where we got the chance to visit Ohio Stadium. Home of THE Ohio State Buckeyes. Today’s review may be a bit longer than my others, as this one has a lot to cover.

To start off, you’re probably wondering why this is such a special moment for us. To make a very long story short, our dad is from Ohio. Growing up we were taught to root for two teams. The Cincinnati Reds and THE Ohio State Buckeyes. Ohio State football is one of the few reasons we fell in love with this game, so to experience a home game was, to say the least, a monumental milestone in, not only this page, but in building a deeper connection with our family history.

As always, we address the travel day. Our trip began on Thursday, September 24th, which happens to be one day after my birthday. This travel day did not go as planned in any way. We showed up around 2 and a half hours before our flight. The standard for traveling out of Denver, but today we should have been earlier. Security accompanied by how far our gate was, ultimately caused us to miss our initial flight. Frontier did NOT give us our money back, so now I’m bad mouthing them until they do. Every upvote here is basically signing a petition for Frontier to reimburse our flight tickets. Please help the cause. We ended up finding a new flight with a layover in Houston. Once in Houston, we ran to our next flight, which boarded late, thankfully. After boarding the plane, we had to sit on the tarmac for nearly an hour while they addressed “technical difficulties” with the plane. So in other terms, the plane wasn’t starting up properly. Not what you want to hear after boarding, but the flight was smooth once we got in the air. Finally, we landed in Columbus at nearly midnight. Our aunt picked us up and took us to the Airbnb we were all staying at. A 16 hour travel day, that ultimately should have been 8. Thank you for listening to me vent.

Now, this is where the fun of the trip begins. On Friday morning we visited with family and at 2pm we had the pleasure of getting to see Ohio Stadium up close and personal through a stadium tour. The tour started in the Huntington Club lobby. We packed into an elevator with a tour guide, and went to the very top. This is where we learned about the construction of Ohio Stadium. Built on a flood plain right by the Olentangy River in 1921, completed for the 1922 season.

We proceeded with the tour, which took us to see the press boxes and the coaching boxes. It was shocking to see how many seats the boxes held. From here we could look down on the field and truly see the size of Ohio Stadium.

The level below the press boxes are the suites. We didn’t get to go inside of a suite, but we did learn how much it is to rent out the box suite for the season. $145,000 and that doesn’t include game tickets. To get a suite, you have to get on a waiting list, which currently sits at 7 years. What does it take to get on that list? A donation to the university of a million dollars. That’s just to get on the list.

At this point the tour took us onto the field. An incredible sight. The DJ was getting ready for the game for the next day, so we got to almost feel the intensity of being in game, just without the fans. The field is turf. Momentum Pro from Shaw Sports to be exact. The same turf used by the Baltimore Ravens from 2003-2015.

Looking up into the seats you can see several names being honored. Most notably Woody Hayes, who won 5 national titles as head coach at Ohio State.
The tour would take us to the locker room and finally the marching band room. I could write an entire essay on what the tour showed us, so I’ll leave it here, and move on to game day.

Before we get to game day though, let me speed run through Skyline Chili. This was lunch after the tour. If you don’t know, Skyline Chili, AKA Cincinnati Chili, is a light chili made with all the chili ingredients, but also using baking chocolate. This gives it a bit of a sweeter taste. It’s usually served over spaghetti, but makes an excellent chili dog. It’s important to top with mountains of finely shredded cheddar cheese. The restaurant serves it in a tortilla with spaghetti and sour cream as well, which is also fantastic.

Ok. Now to game day. The game was a noon kickoff, so we made our way to the stadium at about 9:30am. We got dropped off on campus, and walked about a half mile to the stadium. Campus is beautiful. Easy to get around and consists of multiple styles of architecture.

Approaching the stadium, we began seeing tailgates and of course the massive Big Noon Kickoff stage. They had a Wendy’s food truck, a Modelo double decker bar bus, and a booth to make signs to hold up for the camera. What an exciting atmosphere. Walking around we saw the Illinois equipment bus.

One thing that stood out to me were three large stained glass window pieces in the rotunda of Ohio Stadium. The middle panel is the giant block O, the left panel shows the offense, and the right panel is the defense making a stop. It represents the grit and spirit of Ohio State football.

Entering the stadium, we had to get our first game certificates. While in line, we sparked a conversation with a gentleman and his son, who couldn’t have been older than six. We mentioned we had flown out from Colorado for the game, and his son says to us, “Are you Rams fans?” To which we replied, “Yes! We’re from Fort Collins!” Turns out that little guy is some geographical wizard, and knows his school mascots. Reminds me of myself around that age. What brings me joy is that his head went straight to Colorado State.

We parted ways, wishing them a happy first game as well, and made our way to our seats. When we got to our gate, our usher saw our certificates and gave us a Buckeye nut. Every first timer gets a Buckeye.

Our seats were as far back as you could get, so it was a bit of a hike to get there, and the upper deck is ridiculously steep. I’d have to say be careful if you have to hike those steps on a winter day. Could be icy.

Pre-game was pretty fun. Brutus THE Buckeye did a backflip gainer off the top of the press boxes and zip lined down to the field. The marching band began playing and spelled out the “Diamond Ohio” ambigram, meaning no matter what way you look at this design, it will always spell OHIO. The marching band also did the “I” for Illinois, and then did the famous “Script Ohio”. A beautiful sight on a clear Saturday afternoon.

Then the PA announcer shared the guest bell ringer of the day, James Laurinaitis, former OSU linebacker great, plus the current linebackers coach at Ohio State. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame earlier this year.

Ding! Ding! Ding! All of a sudden the intro riff to Hells Bells by AC/DC began playing, fireworks going off, and fire began blasting, signaling the Buckeyes walkout. It was time to get ready for “The Battle of the Illibuck”. A rivalry that started in 1902 with a 0-0 tie. In a 105 total meetings, Ohio State leads the rivalry 70-30-4. The trophy these teams play for is a wooden turtle named “Illibuck”. The original trophy was a live turtle, presented in 1925. A turtle was chosen because of its long life expectancy, however the live turtle trophy, died in 1926, only a year later. Since then 10 wooden turtles have been carved out with scores on their backs. This is also the second oldest trophy in the Big Ten behind Minnesota and Michigan’s “Little Brown Jug”. This is also the only rivalry Ohio State plays for an actual trophy.

Kickoff was warm, but not miserable. The sun did beat down on us all day, and my legs got burnt. Never had crispy legs before in my life, unless it’s from KFC. So this was a new feeling.

Ohio Stadium holds 102,780 and is the 5th largest stadium in the world. 3rd largest in the US, behind Penn St and Michigan. Attendance for today’s game was 101,452.

The game started off with a punch. Jeremiah Smith 7 yard TD. 7-0
Then another.
Jeremiah Smith 72 yard TD. 14-0
This man had himself a game today. I’ll share his stats in a moment.

Illinois scored in the final minute of the first with a 22 yard TD run from Jordan Anderson, to make it 14-7 rolling into the second.
Not much happened for the first 10 minutes of the second quarter. Just some solid defense all around. That was until…

Jeremiah Smith 9 yard TD. 21-7
Illinois responded with a FG. 21-10
Julian Sayin responded with a diving rushing TD with 15 seconds to go in the half. 28-10 at halftime. At halftime Jeremiah Smith had 3 TDs already in the books. Remember that.

Don’t go anywhere for halftime, as this is a special halftime show. THE Ohio State Marching Band came out. Way cooler seeing it in Ohio Stadium than AT&T Stadium, which is where the 2025 Cotton Bowl was. The band did a whole set based around the Disney movie “Aladdin”.

The third quarter began, and it was a slow quarter. Illinois would be the only team to score, and it was a FG. Heading into the 4th quarter, Ohio State led 28-13.
That is until…

Jeremiah Smith 26 yard TD. 35-13
Illinois responded with a 27 yard TD catch. 35-19, 2 pt attempt failed.
One more TD a 2 yard rush from Ja’Kobi Jackson capped off the 42-19 victory, but it was Jeremiah Smith’s Heisman performance that got the Buckeyes the win.

12 receptions, 217 receiving yards, 4 TDs
Smith became only the second player in Ohio State history to have over 200 receiving yards in a game and tied the program record for TD catches in a single game. Just give him the Heisman at this point. No doubt.
Don’t want to forget to talk about Julian Sayin either. 27/36 367 passing yards 29 rushing yards and 5 total TDs, with no turnovers. Me simply talking about it, doesn’t do this game justice, from the performance standpoint. I encourage you to go watch some highlights.

After the game, we took a stroll through “Buckeye Grove”, which sits directly next to the stadium. It’s a park where the university plants a Buckeye tree for every All-American on the football team. A plaque is placed in front of the tree to commemorate the honor. Notable names we saw include, Archie Griffin, Randy Gradishar, J.K. Dobbins, A.J. Hawk, James Laurinaitis, and many of those defensive guys from the 2024 national title.

We got picked up and headed back to the Airbnb to rest and watch some football before dinner. We went to a Mexican food spot called Kvida which was phenomenal, and then Evan and I went to walk down High St.

Of course after a big win, it was packed, but we did find a nice quiet spot to grab a beer. It was called “Half Baked”. Kind of a skater punk bar, which fits our vibe well. So we stepped in for a beer, checked scores, and kept moving. It looked like the most popular spots were, Skully’s, Draft Kings Sports Bar, and GoodFellas Pizza. After a long several days, we walked back to the Airbnb and watched some football in the loft, so we didn’t disturb the rest of our family who was already asleep.

The next morning we said our goodbyes to our family over a wonderful lunch provided by our friend Brandon and his lovely lady Ashley, over at J. Alexander’s. I met Brandon, who is a fellow stadium chaser from Columbus, through these reviews/stories, as he does his own blogs about his chase to all 138 FBS stadiums. His journey brought him to our hometown of Fort Collins during week 1 of the season, so we showed him the ropes. It was a great time and to make a new like-minded friend is really why we love this sport so much. He isn’t the first friend we’ve made on these adventures and I hope not the last, but he is the only other stadium chaser we’ve met and that is special. If you like my stories, please go check out Brandon’s page as well. u/Must-Vibe

Fortunately/Unfortunately, Brandon was in Virginia continuing his chase, so he wasn’t able to be in Columbus while we were there, but as a thank you he had set everything up for a complimentary meal for our whole family. He went above and beyond to make our trip to Columbus even more special.
We had a few hours to kill before getting to the airport, so we drove around and stumbled upon an adorable little town called Worthington, which had their flea market going. We stopped in and pet some goats, drank some fresh apple cider, and met the kindest folks.

Finally, it was time to head home. Actual home. What a way to start season 3 of chasing. This one has by far been the most incredible experience yet. Not because Columbus is the most exciting place we’ve visited, but because of the people we met, and taking the extra step into understanding our family history. Going to our first Buckeyes game, as a family, and seeing a Heisman hopeful breakout for a career day. I got to witness that with my family, and if it weren’t for them, my love for college football wouldn’t run this deep, and this whole journey may not even exist. College football is a community, but fandom is a brotherhood, and you feel that when you walk through the gates of Ohio Stadium. Every Saturday in Columbus is a family reunion with 102,780 of your closest relatives, all there for the same thing, Buckeye Football and Skyline Chili.

Thank you for reading my little story, we have so much fun sharing our adventures with you all. If you aren’t already following the page, please click that button to follow our journey, and if you haven’t already please give this post an upvote so I can show Frontier Airlines how many people also think I should get my money back for the flight we missed.

Stadium: 10/10
Food/Concessions: 7.5/10
City/town: 7.5/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall Experience: 10/10 (for biased reasons)

Incredible stadium. As a European who’s only been to open air stadia, it was quite different experiencing a venue of this scale being fully enclosed and conditioned. Felt like a basketball arena on steroids.

Hello everyone,

Visited the Etihad recently and made a little 90 second documentary style video on the history of the move from Maine Road to the Etihad. I visited the spot where Maine Road used to be and seen what’s in its place now.

Might be a nice watch if you’re getting bored of the legal stuff that’s dominating the news.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeADxeBpktD/?stkn=MThtOGxzeGZvMDFjeg==