Road games:
Cal (football/basketball)
Stanford (football/baseball/basketball)
San Jose State (football)
Portland State (football)
Hawaii (football)
Weber State (football)
Nevada (football/basketball)
Southern Utah (football)
Montana (football)
Boise State (football)
Northern Arizona (football)
University of San Diego (football)
Fresno State (football)
Saint Mary's (baseball/basketball tournament)

Best: Hawaii because it is Hawaii. But best regular opponent is Montana. Hands down best game day atmosphere. The fans are friendly and invite you in to their tailgates, city/surrounding area is 150% about the team, and it gets LOUD in Wa-Griz.

Worst: Fresno State. Self-explanatory.

Montana.

I figured best because, well, it was your honeymoon! Hawaii tops my list. San Diego is second with Colorado State and Boise sharing the bronze medal

In my only trip to Fresno for a game. . . The two guys behind me said that they just got out of prison and would I please move quicker forward which I did. The Fresno’s, the backos, the Stockton’s, modesto, they could all get back into the mix if they had easy transportation to the Bay where the jobs are. Therese are not stupid people they just need jobs. That’s why I think that the bullet train will be a great thing. Sorry, a little off message but need to be said IMO.

Hahaha. ;)

I've been to Aggie games at SDSU, Sac, Nevada, and Stanford and I vote Reno as the best experience at least for football. Their gameday traditions/pageantry were quite something and the tailgaters were friendly. And of course there's plenty of entertainment to be had in town.

Wow, what an impressive list ! Is St. Mary's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere ? I did a hotel search and couldn't find anything within 5 miles ! Nothing even in the city itself. Of course there's always the possibility of small inns that don't pay to advertise on the likes of hotels.com.

I thought USD had a beautiful campus when I visited. That entrance is a killer walk, but small potatoes compared to the uphill trail behind the soccer practice area/dorms. It's kind of funny their bball arena is named after Jenny Craig when I don't remember seeing any overweight students. If I had to hike around there to class everyday I'd be thin too.

Just for fun I looked for hotels near Stanford. There's one for $895 a night. Thank you Bay Area inflation !

Have you guys visited CSU Bakersfield, New Mexico, or University of Utah campuses ? Why ? No particular reason :D. I'm thinking Bakersfield is probably not a destination and remember someone on here saying Albuquerque isn't either. Bakersfield has a fairly new baseball field, but from photos I've seen it just kind of looks like a dressed up version of "The John" in Sacramento.

Moraga, no hotels, probably no motels either. Try Walnut Creek or Concord. One main u shaped road in and out, then over a hill. ... in Bakersfield Santa Barbara isn't a long drive.

Is Fresno that bad? I believe FS inspired the notorious Bulldog gang, a one of a kind deal.

Saint Mary's isn't "in the middle of nowhere" but it is a little off the beaten path. ML, is correct, there are no motels/hotels in Moraga or Orinda. Closest one I can think of is the Lafayette Park Hotel, but that one is pricey. If you live in the Sac area you can easily drive there and back in a day. Hour-plus drive depending on traffic and where you are located.

Utah is a beautiful campus. It's up the hill from downtown and has really nice views of the entire Salt Lake region.

Haven't been to New Mexico, but Bako is...well...Bako.

@movielover, you are correct about FS.

Well that just goes to further my idea that you have to be out of the way to be in the WCC. Make it tougher for the publicly educated riffraff to find them ? USF is on top of a hill, right ? I wonder if Gonzaga will have to leave now that Southwest Airlines provides regular service to Spokane ? Lol.

Well, this has been very informative thank you. Utah sounds great, albeit not so great in March, except for skiiing.

The biggest school in the WCC is also the newest member, BYU. They dwarf all the other conference schools in terms of enrollment. You don't see too many Catholic schools with large student bodies. Even Notre Dame only has 12,000 students.

You'd think Catholic schools would be bigger given they are pro growth O:) ... GoAgs, if you are in the Moraga area, it might be worth it to stop for a drink at Casa Orinda, cool bar from the ranch days right next to the freeway.

I'll steal 6th's list and edit since we've been on numerous trips:

Road games:
Cal (football)
Cal Poly (football)
Irvine (basketball)
Long Beach State (basketball)
Pacific (basketball)
Stanford (football/basketball)
San Jose State (football)
Portland State (football)
Weber State (football)
Nevada (football)
Montana (football)
Boise State (football)
Northern Arizona (football)
University of San Diego (football)
Fresno State (football)
Saint Mary's (football '01)
J Street Tech (football/basketball)

Best: Montana. If you can make it to Missoula, GO. Like 6th said, great crowd, atmosphere, and small town charm tied in with a community who is ALL-IN and rabid supporters for the Griz. It's the biggest big-time of western FCS schools. San Diego (because San Diego) and Boise (similar reasons as Montana but to a lesser or different degree) follow.

Worst: Fresno. Don't go, just don't.

I'm toying with the idea of going to ND State in 2019 -> that would be a great game day experience, I'm sure. Doubt we'll make it since we have U-San Diego on the road that season, and we'll be there. Southern Utah is on my list, just for the national parks. Northern Arizona would be a good one for an extended trip -> Grand Canyon, Sedona, Flagstaff. I'm thinking the game day there is pretty bland. Reno is okay -> the fact that my wife wins on the slot about 99% of the time we go, makes it bearable.

Gameday in Flagstaff is bland - the only saving grace was a whole pig being cooked up on a rotating spit through the duration of the pregame tailgate.

Yes, the NAU Association of General Contractors student chapter didn't mess around.

Nope, that they did not.

Though I've been back since then I remember a much different Fresno from my childhood (lived there in the early- mid 80's.) The economic downturn must have really done a number on it.

Back when the Fresno Grizzlies were affiliated with the Giants we used to get a lot of Fresnecks at River Cats games. Now that it's the Astros they don't care. I remember a college baseball game with two super annoying FSU fans.

One was a woman who was chanting constantly during every pitch when the bulldogs were at bat. It was "You see the ball, bud. You see it, You see it. You hit it. You hit the ball, bud" When one batter struck out looking I glared at her and said, "He didn't see it !" Then she shut up- because it was the third out.

There was this mid- late 20's loser who rode some rooter bus to Sacramento + had no affiliation to the team was schmoozing the student athletes' parents like he was a part of the team. I always make a point of keeping a respectful distance from the parents of student athletes. Treat them like any other fan. Talk about the game ypu're watching. If they want to tell you about their kid, listen, but only ask questions related to what they're telling you. Anything more is creepy, and this guy was creepy. Then he said something really stupid.

He asked why Hispanic student- athletes have Spanish warm- up songs because "Irish players don't listen to Irish songs". Well, that was the slightly more PC version of what he said.

If it were up to me I'd say no one should have warm- up/ walk- up music in college sports. There's no room for egos, and a lot of these kids pick egotistical- sounding rap songs. Plus if you're not a professional what business do you have making other people listen to your music ?

Alost went to Boise in June. Had to cancel due to illness. It was disappointing.

I believe SMC has a new baseball field and athletics complex... deep baseball history. I saw it from the outside.

Haha, you went there :D.

In the case of BYU you'd think its affiliation's practice of avoiding alcohol and stimulants would lead to lower enrollments since the would- be. parents would meet while completely sober. Ok, I went there >:O

I'd say the tuition keeps the enrollment lower at the other WCC schools. Also it seems like they're just smaller campuses in general.

Thanks for the tip by the way !

I was at the TCU game in 2006, pretty cool game-day experience.

It had more character when they had a tiny dark on campus pub, and a falling down bar in town. Both gone.

@movielover You are correct, they moved the baseball field to the north to accommodate the new Alioto Student Rec Center. The field is beautiful but they do not have permanent seats or a press box...yet. Also, no lights. ML, I still have yet to go to one dry Christian Brothers event. Hell, the Christian Brothers' regional headquarters is a winery in Napa!

As for the size of the schools, it had more to do with their mission than anything else. Classes are extremely small and you get a lot of one-on-one attention.

How about we schedule a game with a school in Texas? I'd love to tailgate at one of those games!

That would require skills, money, or both that we have yet to demonstrate.

I think I saw a fan site last year that proposed our UC Davis Aggies playing Rice University in football. (Search terms added.)

I saw Davis play at Evans Diamond (Cal Baseball) before I went to an A's game later that night. I like Evans. hmmm I haven't seen the new SMC baseball field, but my brother played a hs game at the old one (our private hs school was in Orinda).

One year I went to a womens soccer game at SMC. It wasn't anything special and the field wasn't that impressive, but it was the very first Aggie event that sports calendar yr ('10?)?
You can get to the St Marys campus by taking BART to Lafayette station and taking a bus. Moraga is a small quiet suburb and in a little canyon. Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill (15 mins) are better bets. Most of Moraga is high income residential and with a large retired population.
I've seen many of the venues in question, but not for games against the Ags.

You don’t know that BYU is an acronym for breed’em young university? That was the joke when I was at Utah State.

Alioto Rec Center ? Don't tell me former Aggie pitcher Joe Alioto (2000) donated a bunch of money to SMC ?! :D I'm sure lots of Aggies from the D2 era didn't care for the old Guisto Field. The Gaels would often slaughter them there, whereas the home games were usually closer during the years I followed baseball.

I take public transit most places so BaseballatDobbins' directions were quite helpful. That trip to Moraga from Sacramento looks like this :

Take Amtrak to Richmond (a little less than 2 hours)and board BART. Transfer somewhere (I forget where. Ashby?). Ride it to Lafayette and take the bus + I'm sure there's some walking too. Probably close to a 4hr trip depending on connection timing.

I can see why it doesn't have hotels. While an owner would make money off all the visiting sports fans, they'd have very little business in the summer, especially now that there's no football.

When your trip has that many moving parts it's a good idea to know where you can get overnight accommodations just in case. That's the reason for my interest in the hotels. Also it's fun to just stay somewhere different.

By contrast here's the trip to Santa Clara :

Anyone made it out to Eugene? Worth the trip ?

Oh, I thought BYU was "Bring your Umbrella". >:O

My cousin must not have been at the UNR game you attended. She and friends made a big poster that read,
"@*!# Hawaii !". She was not an A student there.

Transfer at MacArthur station to catch the train going towards Pittsburg / Bay Point. Take the 6 from Orinda or Lafayette: https://countyconnection.com/routes/6/
At night when school is in session (not summer), you can also take the 250 from Bart as well. https://countyconnection.com/routes/250/
If I had known about the Gael shuttle 250, I probably would have gone to more Gael basketball games as I lived in the Oakland Hills and could have taken the bus late. Like you, I take mostly transit for games. If you are looking at the Dec 9th Wms BB game at SMC, it is a 1pm game, so you should be able to do a day trip via BART and Capital Corridor no sweat.

EDIT: Also, walking, sure, but SMC is much more compact than Cal or Davis. There are some small hills, but nothing too difficult so not much walking at all to McKeon Pavilion from the main entrance. I've done it before its about 5-10 mins at most. My HS had academic and athletic events there and it also hosts west coast college fairs at the college so I'm pretty familiar with it.

It's named after the former mayor of San Francisco who was a Saint Mary's alum.