When the lights go out at Bryant-Denny Stadium and the Crimson Tide travels to a Saturday matchup at a different university, students are left to find ways to spend their away game weekends.
Trent Clark, a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering, said an away game day for him consists of gathering and cooking with friends.
Though he said he enjoys hanging out with friends for away games, Clark prefers home games.
“Nothing compares to a home game in T-Town. All the traditions, all the tailgating, just the energy of being at Bryant-Denny, that’s much better,” Clark said.
Annika Brooks, a senior majoring in English, said she usually watches away games at home but goes out to watch more high profile games like Alabama vs. Georgia.
Despite enjoying home games more, Brooks does think away games create a more relaxed environment for the entire city.
“Tuscaloosa is less crowded, especially if the away game is in a city that’s within close proximity to here because a lot of times people go,” Brooks said.
Hayden Datema, a freshman majoring in marketing, said that though he usually just hangs out with friends for away games, he does notice that a lot of upperclassmen attend the games if they’re in nearby cities.
For now, Datema said he treats most away games as a “kind of hang out” and takes them less seriously than home games.
“I sleep in later than I usually would for a game day and then I wake up and kind of hang around and see where the day takes me,” Datema said. “It really just depends on what my friends are doing.”
Like Clark, he says that nothing truly compares to the thrill of watching a game live at Bryant-Denny Stadium and being able to enjoy all of the campus traditions that come with it.
“There’s nothing wrong with away games, but home games are definitely more fun because you can feel involved,” Datema said. “You can go out and do things rather than away games, where you just kind of watch everything on TV.”
