🏈 Home Field Advantage in the SEC

[reger60]

Some casual discussion for a bye week...

My wife and I got into a very interesting conversation tonight regarding home field advantage in the SEC. (Assuming that you believe that there is such a thing as a home field advantage), which teams seem to rely the heaviest on home field advantage?

We were pretty much in agreement that LSU, Auburn and Tennessee were the teams that used home field advantage to their benefit and/or, to one degree or another, considered playing at home to be a critical component to their success.

We also agreed that traditionally Bama and Georgia, because their fan bases are very much willing to travel, rely very little on home field advantage to make any difference in close games.

Any thoughts?

 

[Southern Bama]

I think all coaches and teams rely on the home crowd to participate...to disrupt offenses and to just stay fired up as a motivator...certainly not just an SEC thing. Without question...LSU has the loudest fan base at home.

 

[Kozlowski]

Florida Field = the loudest Ive been too


and Ive been to LSU several times

 

[Southern Bama]

Florida Field = the loudest Ive been too


and Ive been to LSU several times

Never been to Gainesville.....I suspect it is quite rowdy.

 

[TidePride50]

MSUs Scott Field packed with a cowbell in every hand is about the loudest I have ever heard. Last Saturday was as loud as any stadium I have ever heard. I wish our stadium was louder, to be as big as it is, it's also one of the quietest.

 

[TerryP]

MSUs Scott Field packed with a cowbell in every hand is about the loudest I have ever heard. Last Saturday was as loud as any stadium I have ever heard. I wish our stadium was louder, to be as big as it is, it's also one of the quietest.

One thing I don't think our stadium gets a fair shake on is the noise level. Granted, when we are playing a team like Mississippi State, it doesn't get that loud.

But, when games actually mean something the stadium can rock.

Teams that don't have any home field advantage—or very little? In the West the two Mississippi schools. Arkansas is a weird one. They have a better winning record (SEC games) when they play in Little Rock than they do in Fayetteville—by a large margin in terms of win percentage.

Vandy—that could go unsaid. South Carolina and Kentucky can, but only if the team is in the game at half. If not, both stadiums empty pretty quickly. I was honestly shocked many Gamecock fans stuck around in 2001.

Got to go with Koz on this one. UF in '99 was LOUD.

 

[alagator]

Got to go with Koz on this one. UF in '99 was LOUD.

Florida Field is ear-hurting loud when it reaches its peak.

A lot of it has to do with rabid fans, but structural engineering plays a factor too.

First, the first row of the sideline structure is so close you can have a conversation (if you can hear each other) with the players as they sit on their actual bench.

In fact, when just out of grad school and working in my first job, several of us took some of our New York Advertising guys in town up to a game. We just picked up tickets on the street. The guy I was ushering and I happened to get Row 1 seats on about the 40 right behind the LSU bench. A guy next to us literally leaned over the wall and listened in as the LSU OL coach gave some in-game adjustments to his troops.

And at times it was so loud my guest and I literally could not hear each other speak. Really.

Second, the structure is very steep. You can be on the top row of the lower/primary structure and be closer to the playing field than about half-way up the lower bowl at Bryant-Denny. It is almost like an echo chamber, especially with the closed in North End-Zone and the newer row of skyboxes atop the West stands.

Now that Bryant-Denny has upper decks on both sides and soon to have both end-zones enclosed, it will share that echo chamber effect. Florida Field, despite a few thousand less capacity, will make up for the lower numbers by the in-close proximity of the seats - meaning less volume for the sound to disperse.

Bryant-Denny has a symmetrical beauty hard to find elsewhere. Florida Field has some lovely quirks, but does not have the pure eye appeal. I do have a problem with Bryant-Denny pushing the fans so far from the field, hell you could sit on Row 1 on the 50 and be a lengthy punt away from the action - not to mention too low to see any action over the players standing on the sideline. Actually, about the first ten rows on the side of the field are pretty much worthless tickets in Tuscaloosa.

 

[BamaDelta]

Another thought on this - why have we played better on the road this year and last (exception Arkansas game this year)?

I look at next season, and I don't freak out as much as I should. (I'm sure I will as the time gets closer though. ) Why? We just seem more focused and deliberate on the road.