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What's the toughest place to play on the road in the SEC? Players weighed in and the answer won't surprise you.
It's not easy to go on the road and beat a Southeastern Conference school in its own stadium.
Nor is it easy to get SEC players to pick the toughest road environment they've faced in the conference, as AL.com learned last week at SEC Media Days. AL.com posed the question to more than a dozen SEC players -- similar to this survey done on how players plan to use cost-of-attendance stipends -- but there was a lot of dodging and hedging when answering the question. Multiple players answered the question by naming a few schools rather than one.
When cutting through all of the non-answers, there was one school that stood above the rest: Alabama.
Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium narrowly edged out LSU's Tiger Stadium and South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium as the toughest road environment in the SEC in the player survey.
What makes Alabama stand out?
"Just having the whole crowd 'Roll Tide, Roll' when that song (Sweet Home Alabama) comes on, and when they get a big play how loud they get," said Ole Miss senior defensive back Mike Hilton. "It's a fun atmosphere."
Said Mississippi State senior defensive lineman Ryan Brown: "The fans make them crazy, the music and just the atmosphere of it is crazy."
Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Texas A&M all also got at least one vote as the toughest road environment. The SEC schools without a mention from a player were Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Mississippi State was a popular pick among the Vanderbilt contingent in Hoover. Both running back Ralph Webb and linebacker Nigel Bowden singled out Davis-Wade Stadium as the toughest in the SEC.
"The cowbells...they actually get to you," said Bowden. "The crowd knows how to get under your skin."
South Carolina was the top option for Georgia offensive lineman John Theus. Multiple players mentioned how loud the stadium gets when "Sandstorm" is played.
"No matter what's going on, they are loud and ready to go," Theus said.
Missouri defensive back Kenya Dennis echoed that statement saying the atmosphere at both South Carolina and Texas A&M caused "a lot of false starts with our offense."
Some other player opinions:
"Tennessee is the loudest stadium I've been in," said South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore.
"The loudest we faced was Georgia in 2013," said Missouri offensive lineman Evan Boehm. "I give all the credit to their fans and their faithful. It was loud during warmups and it got even louder during the games. It was crazy."
"The toughest game was playing at Mississippi State," said Vanderbilt running back Ralph Webb. "Those cowbells ringing, they are loud."
Continue reading...
It's not easy to go on the road and beat a Southeastern Conference school in its own stadium.
Nor is it easy to get SEC players to pick the toughest road environment they've faced in the conference, as AL.com learned last week at SEC Media Days. AL.com posed the question to more than a dozen SEC players -- similar to this survey done on how players plan to use cost-of-attendance stipends -- but there was a lot of dodging and hedging when answering the question. Multiple players answered the question by naming a few schools rather than one.
When cutting through all of the non-answers, there was one school that stood above the rest: Alabama.
Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium narrowly edged out LSU's Tiger Stadium and South Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium as the toughest road environment in the SEC in the player survey.
What makes Alabama stand out?
"Just having the whole crowd 'Roll Tide, Roll' when that song (Sweet Home Alabama) comes on, and when they get a big play how loud they get," said Ole Miss senior defensive back Mike Hilton. "It's a fun atmosphere."
Said Mississippi State senior defensive lineman Ryan Brown: "The fans make them crazy, the music and just the atmosphere of it is crazy."
Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Texas A&M all also got at least one vote as the toughest road environment. The SEC schools without a mention from a player were Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Mississippi State was a popular pick among the Vanderbilt contingent in Hoover. Both running back Ralph Webb and linebacker Nigel Bowden singled out Davis-Wade Stadium as the toughest in the SEC.
"The cowbells...they actually get to you," said Bowden. "The crowd knows how to get under your skin."
South Carolina was the top option for Georgia offensive lineman John Theus. Multiple players mentioned how loud the stadium gets when "Sandstorm" is played.
"No matter what's going on, they are loud and ready to go," Theus said.
Missouri defensive back Kenya Dennis echoed that statement saying the atmosphere at both South Carolina and Texas A&M caused "a lot of false starts with our offense."
Some other player opinions:
"Tennessee is the loudest stadium I've been in," said South Carolina linebacker Skai Moore.
"The loudest we faced was Georgia in 2013," said Missouri offensive lineman Evan Boehm. "I give all the credit to their fans and their faithful. It was loud during warmups and it got even louder during the games. It was crazy."
"The toughest game was playing at Mississippi State," said Vanderbilt running back Ralph Webb. "Those cowbells ringing, they are loud."
Continue reading...
. Alabama has easily had 50% of that stadium the last few times we've played there.
