Ohio State Star Caleb Downs Accuses Texas A&M of Manufacturing An Unfair Advantage

The conversations in today's sports world are filled with rivalries and debates and discussing who is better than who, with the NBA G.O.A.T. debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James and talk of how long it will take Patrick Mahomes to reach the legend status of Tom Brady, assuming he gets there, are amongst the hottest of topics.

In the college football world, one of the biggest questions posed is which conference truly rules the sport, the Big 10 or the Southeastern Conference?

One star Big 10 player gave his take between the two in terms of gameday environment volume, and Texas A&M fans might want to sit down for his answer.

Caleb Downs Accused A&M of "Pumping Noise" into Kyle Field

In his Downs 2 Business podcast with his brother, Josh, Ohio State Buckeyes safety Caleb Downs put in his two cents on the debate when it came to stadium volume on Saturdays, and to say the Buckeye was skeptical about the 12th Man would be an understatement.

"Playing at Texas A&M my freshman year, that game was the loudest that I had ever been at," Downs reminisced, calling back to a 2023 road trip to Aggieland while he was with the Alabama Crimson Tide. "And Auburn, that kind of reminded me of Oregon last year, I will say that it was very similar, but that Texas A&M game, they were pumping noise into the stadium."

Even when his brother tried to counter by giving the six-digit crowd their due and saying it really is "just that loud," Caleb wasn't having any of it, and likened them to the Penn State game last year in Happy Valley.

"I was literally sitting on the sideline, and I could feel noise coming from under the stadium," Caleb said. "Penn State's environment was okay. I mean, it got lit for one minute because they had that pick six, but the rest of the game I was on the sideline just like, 'ehh.'"

It is possible for noise to be so loud from the roar of a stadium that it can register seismic activity, which is likely what the All-American was feeling during that game in October 2023, where the Tide held off a late charge from A&M to win 26-20 and included Downs intercepting then-A&M quarterback Max Johnson.

Kyle Field has long been hailed as one of the most intimidating environments to play at in college football, with the stadium turning in a crowd of over 100,000 on the regular, similar to Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, where Downs spends most of his Saturdays during the fall.

Visiting fans and players have had no problem admitting to how loud the stadium gets during the heat of battle, and even legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban has gone on record saying that Kyle Field is the toughest SEC environment.

Whether it's delusion or the future first-round draft pick is trying to hide his true feelings of the stadium's environment, many will be quick to dispute his claim and affirm that the noise is legitimate.