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Kirk Herbstreit: Two B1G schools have the top student sections in the country
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Kirk Herbstreit has been to a lot of places over the years.
The ESPN college football analyst has been on College GameDay for 20 years, which means that he’s pretty much seen it all from student sections. On top of that, he played at Ohio State from 1989-93.
That makes him a solid evaluator of what a good student section is.
So when he was asked about which student section is the best of them all, he rolled with two B1G schools:
Have always felt Penn State has the best student section. With Wisconsin a close 2nd. https://t.co/ZNKrxHeeuB
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) July 5, 2016
That might surprise some who feel that Herbstreit is biased toward Ohio State (he’s not). But Herbstreit has had plenty of experiences with Penn State and Wisconsin.
Even though GameDay hasn’t been to Happy Valley in the post-Joe Paterno era, the Lions still own the second-largest stadium capacity in the country. Penn State fans are obviously a passionate bunch, and the atmosphere at Beaver Stadium is second-to-none.
As for Wisconsin, the Badger student section was responsible for one of Herbstreit’s scariest memories as a player. He was infamously pelted with tomatoes during a game at Camp Randall Stadium. Maybe, just maybe, that helped Wisconsin stay near the top of his list for the last 25 years. The Badgers also own one of the best traditions in college football. “Jump Around” is still a must-see event at every Badger home game.
Herbstreit will inevitably catch flack from fans of powerhouse programs like Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State. As always, his mentions will be loaded.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.