Best/Worst SEC college towns

[deliveryman35]

If I had to live in one of these places, my top and bottom three are:

Best
1. Tuscaloosa--where else?
2. Athens
3. Gainesville/Oxford (tie)

Worst
1. Starkville
2. Fayetteville
3. Columbia

 

[derek4tide]

Best
1. Tuscaloosa
2. Oxford
3. Athens
4. Lexington



Worst
1. Aubarn
2. Starkville
3. Baton Rouge
4. Columbia

 

[RammerJammer14]

Hey, I live outside Columbia! Its not all bad. Still haven't found the campus yet though.

 

[Cox036]

Hey, I live outside Columbia! Its not all bad. Still haven't found the campus yet though.

Yeah their campus is really hidden away from everybody. Columbia in itself is a great town.

My list

Athens-Downtown is fun, great setting
T-Town-The proximity b/t the Quad, the stadium and the strip is hard to beat.
Oxford-see above

Worst
Baton ROuge-big city, tigerland is a dump, Great stadium though
Auburn- they have nice stuff but I though it was lacking in a number of departments.
Miss State - does not feel like an SEC campus...

 

[BamaGoose]

Worst

Aubarn- the smell from I-85 is to great to overcome when going into the cow city.

LSU- the stadium is a great place to go to a game but the city is a polluted dump.

Best-

Tuscaloosa- need not say more.

Vandy- the campus I don't know about but the city is pretty good in itself.

 

[Crimson Speed]

From 1st to worse:
Tuscaloosa - Tops
Oxford - Great college setting, not too large, not too small
Gainesville,
Athens

Mid tier:
Nashville - city is bordering on being too large
Columbia - actually, a nice town
Knoxville - nice town, despise the school

Bottom of the rung:
Starkville
Auburn
Baton Rouge - No way to spin this positive, the city is an absolute dump.

 

[BamaLaw]

First of all, I guess we'd have to define "college town." I'm not so sure I would classify Baton Rouge or Nashville as college towns. Both are the capitals of their respective states and are good size cities in their own right. Columbia, though not as large, is also the state capital. I've been there three times for football games and I've yet to even find the campus. Knoxville, also, is a bit large for me to think of it as a college town; however, it probably qualifies. Take out UT and you'd probably realize that it is indeed, primarily a college town.

On the other hand, Athens, Auburn, Fayetteville, Gainesville, Lexington, Oxford, Starkville, and Tuscaloosa are definitely "college towns."

Of those I consider to be "college towns," Of course, I'd pick Tuscaloosa, followed by Athens, Lexington, Oxford, Gainesville. Of all SEC cities, I'd still choose Tuscaloosa first, followed by Nashville, Baton Rouge, Knoxville, Columbia. Regardless Auburn and Starkville would be at the bottom of either list.

 

[CapstoneTider]

For the music scene you would have to put Athens in a category by itself.

:QUARTET:

:hurray::hurray::hurray::hurray::hurray:

 

[BigEasyTider]

I'm going to omit Tuscaloosa simply because I am a homer, though I will say it is one of two great examples of a classic college town in the SEC...

Best

(1) Athens: A classic example of a great college town

(2) Lexington: Always loved the atmosphere and the environment, seems like a great place to spend the ol' college days

(3) Oxford: Honestly a bit too small for my taste, but it has a good bit going for it. It's a very pretty place, and a fairly typical college town. Still, though, I do wish it weren't so small.

Worst

(1) Baton Rouge: To begin with, it is way too big to be a college town, and honestly the city itself is scary as hell. Their murder rate is like three times the national average, and ghettos galore. As for the LSU area, the campus itself is nice, but the surrounding area is not at all. It's ghetto if you go north of the campus, and they should rename Tigerland and make it WhiteTrashland.

(2) Auburn: I really cannot say anything that I like about this place. It's not particularly nice, it is not very big. I suppose if I had to sum it up in one, semi-nice, word, I would say: Quaint. And that's the best term I can find to describe it.

(3) Starkville: Though they do have some nice little restaurants and bars, there is just nothing in this town. It is so ridiculously small, and in a lot of ways, oddly enough, almost doesn't even seem like a college town. You could do worse, but ol' Starkvegas isn't exactly on the list of places to see before you die.

 

[BamaJama17]

Whats so great about Oxford?

 

[derek4tide]

Hey, I live outside Columbia! Its not all bad. Still haven't found the campus yet though.

It is cool to be able to see Hootie and the Blowfish for free at the Horseshoe (do they still do that?). Oh, yeah and Maurice's BBQ is out of this world.

 

[kfo9494]

(3) Starkville: Though they do have some nice little restaurants and bars,.

You must be talking about another Starkville from the one that I go to every other year. You do know that Mississippi State plays in Starkville, Mississippi.

 

[Tug Tide]

About three weeks ago, on the way home from atl, i stopped to visit a HS friend in Auburn. Now I grew up as a passionate Bama fan and until then had never actually seen Auburn, Al for myself. Now that I have, WOW, I mean WOW. Fifteen minutes north of Panama City Beach gets very country, very quick, but Auburn is in another category. I've never seen so many shot up stop signs or mobile-home parks advertised as luxury student residential complexes. Then there is the Tiger on top of the Arbies, that was pretty funny...."Now introducing Arby's Aubie burgers... no wait Aubie, don't jump..." But hey not everywhere can be paradise.

 

[GrayTide]

I will omit TTown since we all know it wins hands down so here are my top 3 and bottom 3. I have been to a game in each of the SEC venues except for Fayetteville, AR.

Best
1. Athens, GA
2. Oxford, MS
3. Knoxville, TN

Worst
1. Nashville, TN
2. Auburn, AL
3. Gainesville, FL

 

[RammerJammer14]

Yeah their campus is really hidden away from everybody. Columbia in itself is a great town.
The campus isn't hidden away, It just doesn't exist. The only parts that I can find are the pool (cause I practice there), the baseball field, Williams-Bryce, and the Colonial Center (b-ball). I have yet to find any actual classrooms, and I have lived here for 13 years. People who attend/have attended the school don't know where half of it is. Kinda scary, really.DT_kass:

 

[RammerJammer14]

It is cool to be able to see Hootie and the Blowfish for free at the Horseshoe (do they still do that?). Oh, yeah and Maurice's BBQ is out of this world.

I know they play at half time, not sure about the horseshoe. If I go to a game (used to go to carolina-bama), I usually hang out with friends at the "fairgrounds" outside the stadium. Maurice's has good BBQ, but I don't care for the place cause its always full of a bunch of KKK guys. I prefer Shealy's. You should try it next time you're here.

 

[Cox036]

Yeah their campus is really hidden away from everybody. Columbia in itself is a great town.
The campus isn't hidden away, It just doesn't exist. The only parts that I can find are the pool (cause I practice there), the baseball field, Williams-Bryce, and the Colonial Center (b-ball). I have yet to find any actual classrooms, and I have lived here for 13 years. People who attend/have attended the school don't know where half of it is. Kinda scary, really.DT_kass:

I had a friend that went to grad school at USCarolina. She gave me a pretty good tour of the place. The "horshoe"(centerpeice of campus), which is hidden off from everybody, is very nice. Columbia's "five points" is also alot of fun.

 

[BigGunn]

Best
1. Tuscaloosa - Loads of fun
2. Athens - Great setting
3. Gainesville - 40,000 women in shorts


Worst
1. Baton Rouge - Toxic waste dump - A bog
2. Starkville - Nothing good to say
3. Auburn - Not a place to raise kids

 

[BamaSC]

I know they play at half time, not sure about the horseshoe. If I go to a game (used to go to carolina-bama), I usually hang out with friends at the "fairgrounds" outside the stadium. Maurice's has good BBQ, but I don't care for the place cause its always full of a bunch of KKK guys. I prefer Shealy's. You should try it next time you're here.

I don't care a whole lot for Columbia (that's why I moved out here to Chapin), but it has its good points. I think I found part of the USC campus (actually got married at the chapel on the Horseshoe). It's a lot like UAB in that you can't tell the transition from downtown to campus.

I also go to a couple of games at Williams-Brice a year. We have a spot at the fairgrounds (at least until they jack the prices WAY up in 2009). I don't get the mustard pork Maurice calls BBQ. If you're ever up in Chapin, Farm Boys is a much better alternative (they have real BBQ and the weird mustard stuff).

That said, I haven't been to every SEC town, but I'd rank them (excluding Bama) as :

Best:
1. Athens
2. Nashville

Worst:
1. Auburn - it's a trailer park
2. Starkville
3. Knoxville
4. Columbia

Haven't been to the rest.

 

[CrimsonJag]

Whats so great about Oxford?

Well, the word is, the women at Ole Miss are hotter than donut grease! :biggrin: