Annual Away Games Ranked

[Bayside44]

I remember NCSU having what seemed like limitless parking on all those fairground lawns. Closer you got the nicer it was but not really an issue.

Duke hotels will be available - the weekend before is Notre Dame and that's their travel game for fans coming home.

I wouldn't do this - but for Maryland - if you want a new and clean hotel (and like tourist and business travel hellhole restaurants) and are driving one could stay at National Harbor and shoot up 295 for the game.

 

[Marroniac]

The only thing you might have missed is odds of someone acting like a drunken fool at Liberty = 100%

That’s me!

1st game of the season is always awesome. Add in we’ve got new uniforms and it’s DeVito’s first start as “the man”. Looking forward to it.

 

[TexanMark]

NC St like SU has taken several lots recently for buildings. I just wanted to give out a warning. I parked off Westchase? at some corporate building and I heard those are now permit lots. Likely, you are right it won't be as bad as you think.

 

[Bayside44]

NC St like SU has taken several lots recently for buildings. I just wanted to give out a warning. I parked off Westchase? at some corporate building and I heard those are now permit lots. Likely, you are right it won't be as bad as you think.

2018 Football Parking Map - NC State University Athletics

2018 Football Parking Map

gopack.com

I was with some locals at that one, want to say the group just rolled up in that orange area.

FWIW this parking map is about as un-college as it gets.

 

[TexanMark]

2018 Football Parking Map - NC State University Athletics

2018 Football Parking Map

gopack.com

I was with some locals at that one, want to say the group just rolled up in that orange area.

FWIW this parking map is about as un-college as it gets.

The Orange Lot you refer to is Permit.

I think the green shaded ones are cash lots

NC State Football

www.seats3d.com

All I know is traffic on a Thursday is going to suck. I would arrive by 4pm and set up in a grassy lot off BlueRidge Rd. There is a huge water tower and we tailgated there back in 2013.

Another option is to arrive at 3-4pm and park at the Backyard Bistro Lot.

 

[CuseGrad94]

TexanMark, I really enjoyed your article. Great job!!

 

[Townie72]

Just for "eye test" purposes, I think Maryland is head and shoulders the best trip. College Park is a dump, but the fact that the weather will be warm, DC is very easy for anyone to get to, and it's a nationally televised game to transition us into the biggest Dome game of this generation. I put it #1. But I like your methodology overall.

College Park is a dump?

Versus where?

It's no garden spot, but a "dump"?

 

[Townie72]

flying into Balt instead of DC was much cheaper for me for all the games I looked at going to.

BWI will almost always be cheaper than DCA (Reagan) or IAD (Dulles). And it is served by budget carriers Southwest and Spirit.

But you can check that by using the airport code WAS which will give you flight listing for all three DC area airports.

Both DCA and IAD are served by the DC Metro. There's rail transportation from BWI also, but it's not the METRO.

BWI is closest to the University of Maryland campus. IAD is a long way away.

Just about everything in Baltimore (hotels, meals, etc.) is less expensive than in DC. Although there are some exceptions. The closer you are to the Inner Harbor, the safer. Even a few blocks north makes a big difference.

Downtown Bethesda would be an ideal spot. It's close to College Park, it has a slew of all sorts of restaurants and bars, it's walkable and reasonably safe, and you have easy Metro access to everything downtown. Metro from Bethesda to College Park is a bit of a hike. Friendship Heights, one Metro stop south of Bethesda, is OK but lacks the variety of eateries and watering holes that downtown Bethesda offers.

Caddie's on Cordell bar in Bethesda is a Terp stonghold, but a great, place for beer before or after. It's on the edge of being a dive bar. You will not be under-dressed in your game attire.

 

[Eric15]

College Park is a dump?

Versus where?

Versus the majority of other college towns of the flagship state school of all the other 50 states.

 

[Townie72]

Versus the majority of other college towns of the flagship state school of all the other 50 states.

Have you been to Morgantown, WVA?
New Brunswick, NJ?

 

[HOFCeluck]

Morgantown is a pretty nice college town.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Morgantown is a pretty nice college town.

I've heard that to be true, if you can get past the chesterfield conflagrations.

 

[Hoo's That]

flying into Balt instead of DC was much cheaper for me for all the games I looked at going to.

Baltimore (BWI) is one of Southwest's big hubs. They have their own terminal (Terminal A) there.

 

[Eric15]

Have you been to Morgantown, WVA?
New Brunswick, NJ?

Morgantown is fine -- it has breweries, and is very scenic with mountains and a river (I'm not trying to sound like John Denver).

But yes I agree that New Brunswick sucks also. College Park just has no charm whatsoever.

 

[TexanMark]

Morgantown is fine -- it has breweries, and is very scenic with mountains and a river (I'm not trying to sound like John Denver).

But yes I agree that New Brunswick sucks also. College Park just has no charm whatsoever.

But the beauty is you can stay somewhere else in the Metro. My son lives literally on U Street so I will be there. An interesting street: Gentrified but still has an edge. Quite a few bums but they generally don't bother anyone. The creepiest McDonald's Restaurant ever (don't judge--I was thirsty and got an iced tea to go). Customers having conversations with themselves and a very disinterested staff made getting an iced tea a 10 min wait after ordering.

Food is way better in Manhattan than DC. DC is expensive everywhere (save for McDonald's, etc...) but doesn't have many other low/moderate cost mom and pop options like NYC can offer.

 

[Eric15]

But the beauty is you can stay somewhere else in the Metro.

Hey, I had Maryland as the best away game for a lot of reasons including the proximity to DC. You had it 5th.

 

[TexanMark]

Hey, I had Maryland as the best away game for a lot of reasons including the proximity to DC. You had it 5th.

My gonculator had it 5th. Totally scientific. Maryland obviously gets an unofficial bump for the importance of the game.

 

[Townie72]

Morgantown is fine -- it has breweries, and is very scenic with mountains and a river (I'm not trying to sound like John Denver).

But yes I agree that New Brunswick sucks also. College Park just has no charm whatsoever.

I'm flabbergasted that someone would say College Park is a dump and not see that Morgantown is just grimey. It's like Cumberland, Maryland or Wheeling, but with a University. Ever been to Star City?

And no one is going to mistake Syracuse, NY for Charlottesville, VA either.

 

[Townie72]

But the beauty is you can stay somewhere else in the Metro. My son lives literally on U Street so I will be there. An interesting street: Gentrified but still has an edge. Quite a few bums but they generally don't bother anyone. The creepiest McDonald's Restaurant ever (don't judge--I was thirsty and got an iced tea to go). Customers having conversations with themselves and a very disinterested staff made getting an iced tea a 10 min wait after ordering.

Food is way better in Manhattan than DC. DC is expensive everywhere (save for McDonald's, etc...) but doesn't have many other low/moderate cost mom and pop options like NYC can offer.

Well, the U Street Corridor is much, much better than it was 20 years ago when it was pretty much a drug market controlled by "The U Street Gang or Posse" and the scene of many murders.

But out-of-towners need to be careful as there are still armed robberies and muggings in this area. And if you get a little disoriented at night and start to wander towards N. Capitol Street, things could get exciting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/homicides-in-dc-how-to-use-the-interactive-map/2012/10/16/e4d9682c-178e-11e2-8792-cf5305eddf60_story.html

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Morgantown is fine -- it has breweries, and is very scenic with mountains and a river (I'm not trying to sound like John Denver).

I thought this was ironic as "Country Roads" was inspired by a location in Maryland not more than probably 30 miles from College Park.

 

[creatorsgam]

And no one is going to mistake Syracuse, NY for Charlottesville, VA either.

Aaaaaaaaaand there it is.

 

[CA Monk]

My gonculator had it 5th. Totally scientific. Maryland obviously gets an unofficial bump for the importance of the game.

Gonculator? Really? As in the one in Hogan’s Heroes? Wow, never thought I’d see that reference. Ever. If indeed that is the reference.
FWIW: Son and I flying on SWA to IAD and then Metro to DC where will visit for a few days and stay at a Capital Hilton. Metro to the game. Well at least near the game, then hoof it. Got 50 yd line tix for $11. I know 3rd deck, but I like a birds eye view. I’ll probably sit in the SU section at some point.
Then fly to Cuse for Clemson.

 

[Townie72]

Aaaaaaaaaand there it is.

Try not to hyperventilate. Salt City is much nicer than Morgantown.

And College Park is a middle class housing area and not a "dump", All those streets off of US 1 are smaller, well-maintained houses built in the 1940's and 1950's.

 

[TexanMark]

Gonculator? Really? As in the one in Hogan’s Heroes? Wow, never thought I’d see that reference. Ever. If indeed that is the reference.
FWIW: Son and I flying on SWA to IAD and then Metro to DC where will visit for a few days and stay at a Capital Hilton. Metro to the game. Well at least near the game, then hoof it. Got 50 yd line tix for $11. I know 3rd deck, but I like a birds eye view. I’ll probably sit in the SU section at some point.
Then fly to Cuse for Clemson.

Gonculator as best as I can tell originated in the military among aviators. Basically it means to take a bunch of objective and subjective metrics: stir it around in your head and come up with an answer or course of action.

Had an old Operations Officer (who was Mark Richt's BIL) and big-time FSU fan (and lesser known FB player) use that term a lot.

 

[Bayside44]

I thought this was ironic as "Country Roads" was inspired by a location in Maryland not more than probably 30 miles from College Park.

You can get out in it pretty quick from suburbia MD / VA to WV fun stuff.