College and Pro Football Weekends?
 

Last weekend I went to Dallas and saw both a college football game SMU on Saturday and a pro game the Cowboys on Sunday.
My son loved it and I would like to plan a few trips which we can see both a college and pro football game in the same weekend for next year. What other areas have both pro and college football teams and the stadiums are relatively close to each other?
Thanks !!

I would guess that most cities with NFL teams would also have a local college team. Just in the south, you could do New Orleans (Saints/Tulane), Houston (Texans/Rice or UH), Nashville (Titans/Vandy), Miami (Dolphins/UMiami), Atlanta (Falcons/GA Tech), etc.

Football weekends are an event here in the Midwest! You can always do Detroit, with either Michigan State or the evil U of M, and then the Lions in their new stadium. I recommend MSU simply because the campus in the fall is beautiful! Ann Arbor IS a neat town, but the U of M campus doesn't compare (in my admittedly biased opinion).

Wisconsin is an option too! University of Wisconsin and then the Packers. To many, the experience at Lambeau is phenomenal!

(Assuming you want major college football, since every NFL city has numerous lower division football teams).

Seattle--Seahawks, Washington Huskies
San Francisco/Oakland--49ers/Raiders, Cal Bears, Stanford Cardinal
San Diego--Chargers, SDSU Aztecs
Denver--Broncos, U Colorado Buffaloes 30 miles away
Atlanta--Falcons, Georgia Tech yellow Jackets
Miami--Dolphins, U Miami Hurricanes
Washington DC--Redskins, U Maryland Terrapins close by
Bsoton/Foxboro--Patriots, Boston College Golden Eagles and a host of smaller programs in the vicinity
Philadelphia--Eagles, Temple Owls
Minneapolis--Vikings, U MN Golden Gophers
Chicago--Bears, Northwestern Wildcats (and Notre Dame is an easy drive)
Kansas City--Chiefs, U Kansas Jayhawks 20 minutes from KC
Houston--Texans, Rice Owls, U Houston Cougars
Dallas--Cowboys, SMU Mustangs
Indianapolis--Colts, U Indiana Hoosiers are 45 minutes away
Detroit--Lions, U Michigan and MSU are reasonable drive
Nashville--Tennessee Titans, Vandy Commodores
Cincinati--Bengals, Cincy Bearcats, U Kentucky
New Orleans--Saints, Tulane Green Wave, LSU is a reasonable drive

How about Tampa for the Bucs and University of South Florida (just accepted into the Big East!)And University of Florida is just two hours away.

Thanks so much for all of your great responses! I will ascertain which venues are relatively close to each other and if public transportation is available. Of course that depends on next years football schedules as well.
If you had to pick lets say a top 5 must see college football venues, which would you recommend?

Consider a trip to combining the Nebraska Cornhuskers with the Kansas City Chiefs. Lincoln is a 3 1/2 hour drive from KC. You can't beat Memorial Stadium and the sea of red in Lincoln. It is truly a wonderful and unique experience. Most sports commentators agree that Husker fans are the best in the nation & Lincoln is their favorite destination. This combo would be a blast!

You mean the top 5 college football venues in or close to NFL cities?

I'd say the most classic, memorable, storied and exciting college football stadiums are: Michigan (Ann Arbor), Notre Dame, Ohio State (Columbus), U Tennessee Neyland Field (Knoxville), U Florida (Gainesville), Nebraska (Lincoln), Wisconsin Camp Randall Stadium (Madison), Oregon Autzen Stadium (Eugene), with nods to Texas A&M, Georgia, FSU and Alabama.
Unfortunately most of these are in college towns far removed from NFL cities.


To meet your criteria I would select 1)Seattle; Safeco Field (Seahawks) is beautiful and state of the art, and the University of Washington's Husky Stadium has unbeatable, picturesque views of Lake Washington.
2) A Bears game in the brand new (but very controversial) Soldier Field on Lake Michigan, coupled with a Notre Dame game in South Bend (if you can find tickets). ND offers a supremely classic football experience, and it's easy to arrange roundtrip bus shuttles from downtown Chicago on game days.
3) Lions game in Pontiac MI (Detroit) coupled with a game in "The Big House" at the University of Michigan. One of the 3 or 4 most storied stadiums in college football.

Pittsburgh Steelers, University of Pittsburgh, and some good high school football

Last year we did saturday night in death valley (LSU) and sunday in the Superdome (Saints). Of course sometimes you could say what the Saints are playing is not football. GEAUX TIGERS

University fo Georgia is only about an hour/hour and a half from Atlanta depending on traffic so you have a choice of seeing either Tech or Georgia if you go with the Falcons.

In Seattle, Safeco Field is the baseball field...where the Mariners play. Seahawk Stadium is pretty much right next door, and obviously thats where the football is played:)

It's already been mentioned so I'll help with the specifics at one location that I think has many of the others beat as far as transportation goes...you could legitimately do a Chicago Bears/Northwestern or Notre Dame trip relying on public transportation only. Fly into O'hare or Midway and take the CTA (midway - orange line, O'hare-blue line) downtown to your hotel base. Take the South Shore Line to South Bend to see Notre Dame. It is a little over 2 hours each way but hey...sit back and relax...you're not driving. Details at www.nictd.com (that's Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District). Tickets for ND will be hard to come by at face value. Or catch a Northwestern game up in Evanston by taking the Red and Purple lines on the CTA. It's probably about 45 minutes each way. Details at www.rtachicago.com (that's Regional Transportation Authority). Tickets for Northwestern should be much easier to come by. Soldier Field is close to downtown served by many transportation modes. I would try to find a weekend in September or early October as wheather here in Chicago is still pretty good at that time. Good luck.

Next weekend (Nov. 15-16th) you could do the OSU - Purdue game in Columbus followed by the Cleveland Browns - Arizona Cardinals in Cleveland on Sunday. Done that daily double many times myself when I lived in Columbus.

In San Diego, the Chargers and the SDSU Aztecs both play in Qualcomm Stadium. Access to the Stadium is relatively easy via the San Diego Trolley.

This month (November), the Aztecs play Air Force on Saturday 22nd and the Chargers play the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday 23rd.

Notre Dame-Chicago Bears: Been to many college/pro football games and have never seen an atmosphere like South Bend on a Saturday morning/afternoon. Met a lot of people that were going to the Bears game the next day.

Another option would be Pitt Panthers-Pittsburgh Steelers. Same stadium. Steeler tickets are hard to come by, but Panther tickets can be purchased from a scalper for under $15.

Thanks for all your great suggestions!!So many possibilities for next year. We have gone to 12 different mlb stadiums, 6 different pro football arenas and a college game so far this year! I am looking forward to coinciding your suggestions for both college and pro football and possibly basketball, hockey and baseball extended weekends for next year.
It looks like our best bet for starters would be Chicago for both the Bears and Notre Dame and then Atlanta depending on the schedules next year. Keep the suggestions coming!
Thanks Again!