I came on here to say Holy Cross. (Maybe other Catholic schools like Marquette also? Catholics love footvall!)

Clemson is my other suggestion.

I wouldn't focus on the size of the stadium, but instead how integrated it is into the school culture. If a stadium seats 5K, but the school only has 5K and it's regularly filled, that suggests that it's the vibe OP's son is looking for.

Davidson home football stadium capacity is tiny at 5,000. Most high schools have bigger stadiums.

Basketball is the big sport at a lot of schools - and a ton of fun. Could shift thinking to include bball schools?

Davidson home football attendance is very small.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Davidson? Does anyone have first-hand experience with turnout on game days there? (Football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse)

Very little merit at Davidson but the games are a blast. Lots of community folks attend, too. We love going to games when we visit, particularly during family weekend.

Absolutely nothing like an SEC game day experience, though, which is what the OP's kid wants.

Anonymous wrote:What about Davidson? Does anyone have first-hand experience with turnout on game days there? (Football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse)

Very little merit at Davidson but the games are a blast. Lots of community folks attend, too. We love going to games when we visit, particularly during family weekend.

Holy Cross would be the best fit as their home attendance is always in the top 10 of div1aa. HC has a large stadium about 25,000 with multiple large tailgating fields adjacent to their stadium. They annually schedule games against schools from div1a like Syracuse, UConn, Army, Boston College. Holy Cross just signed away football games with Navy and Northwestern great locations for their Washington and Chicago alumni clubs. Can’t think of another LAC with that strength of schedule except Colgate but Colgate home attendance averages in 3000 range. Bucknelll attendance is horrible. This year Holy Cross plays Georgetown at Boston’s Fenway Park and it will probably sell out 25000- 30000. No selective LAC comes close to HC football attendance. Finally one great piece of trivia, Holy Cross is undefeated against UGA bulldogs all-time series 3-0 for all games played in the 1930s maybe time to schedule the dawgs again,

There are no LACs with football cultures that rival the big state schools.

Mid-sized private universities are a better shot, and may be what you are looking for.

The problem is, most such schools are lottery schools (Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern). Given that you cited Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell, and Franklin and Marshall in the original post, it sounds like your DC does not have a strong shot at these schools.

Syracuse, SMU, Miami, maybe USC -- those schools could provide some benefits of LACs (smaller classes, better services) AND have big football.

Anonymous wrote:Just go to a university. People like this who go to a liberal arts college annoy everyone else, who couldn’t give two craps about football- no offense.

+1!

I think some of the HBCUs draw well for football games.

The entire premise of this thread is an oxymoron. OP, just let your son go to a large state school, which is clearly what he wants. My kids have all had fabulous experiences at state schools - both academically and socially.

Villanova?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Duke, Tulane and Vandy. Midsized privates in competitive conferences.

Here’s the complete list for my kid:

Stanford
Northwestern
Duke
Notre Dame
Michigan
Vanderbilt
USC
Wake
Tulane
SMU

What about this list makes you think your kid has any interest in a LAC?

I would add UVA to the list. It is relatively smaller, as far as state flagships go.

What about Davidson? Does anyone have first-hand experience with turnout on game days there? (Football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We visited Bucknell the day of a football game and parked right outside the stadium. You would never have known a game was going on at the time. According to our guide (daughter of family friend), no one attends the games.

I am a Bucknell graduate from the early 1990's and we didn't go to the games. We didn't even go on parents weekend. So, nothing has changed.

Based on what the PP said, Holy Cross would be a much better environment than Bucknell. Furman has an average attendance of a little of 10,000. Both are probably still not what you want.

I think you may want to consider attending a large state school with a strong college of arts and sciences. Essentially, a liberal arts college within a larger university.

Multiple B1G schools pull more than 10K fans for women's basketball, for crying out loud. That's nothing for football. It's not what this kid wants.

Guess you didn’t even read my post.