[Photo: Two men enter, one man leaves]
Too many of Hayes' justifications reference the coaching staff of the respective schools (Florida, LSU). Hayes also doesn't explain his evaluation criteria, but I think when evaluating the relative advantage a stadium provides you measure "objective" criteria (size, crowd, noise, aura)--which is to say the difficulty of playing in a stadium is an advantage independent of the coaching staff or opponent talent level.
Tiger Stadium is just as hard to play in as it ever was, you just face a more talented and better prepared team under Saban (now Les Miles) than you did under Gerry DiNardo. Same goes for his comments on Florida. To quantify home field advantage, you should isolate variables like coaching. I tried to think of it thusly: if you were leading your team on the road against the same coach in every stadium in the conference, which stadiums would be the most hostile?
Hayes says the most-difficult stadium is Jordan-Hare. It's a tough place to play, but I think this is a little high. Obviously I'm biased, but I agree with him UGA has the best facility in the league. But, there's no way Georgia is a more difficult place to play than LSU.
Disclaimer: I've been to every stadium in the SEC at least twice, except for Florida. I rank Ben Hill Griffin based on the impression of some friends (dawg and non-dawg) who have been there in person.
1. LSU: scariest fans, loudest fans, totally intimidating. I sat in the upper deck last time and I thought St. Peter was going to show me to my seat. For my money there are two things in the SEC that always seem to call down crowd thunder. The first is the crowd response to the first four notes of hold that tiger.
Add 90,000 drunk, ornery cajuns, then wait for earth to quake.2. Tennessee: The second loudest thing in the SEC? Splitting the T when the Vols run onto the field. Ok, so the cornpone fight song blaring at you is like aural rape. The structure itself may be an architectural dry heave--a asymmetrical patch work quilt of struts, beams, and low-rent engineering--but when it gets loud it's unbelievable. The flip side is 100,000 yokels clear out like someone let a skunk loose when you beat them 41-14. Seriously, did someone call in a bomb threat? Come back! The game isn't over...
Next time I'm bringing a can of paint. I mean, if we're going to own it we might as well maintain it.
3. Florida: I've heard its a great home advantage--the mullets may absorb some sound, but I understand the crowd is loud, boisterous and thisclose to the action. I heard Ray Goff talk about how Gator fans would throw piss cups on the opposing team. Come to think of it, I'm not sure how Ray knew that unless he was talking about Jacksonville, but I'm sure it is true of the Swamp too. When/if I finally make it there, this is where I expect it to a rank.
Intimidation starts...now
4. Auburn: I've always liked the scoreboard noise meter, and it can get really loud. The overwrought G'n'R "Jungle" stuff is lame, but Jordan-Hare at night is tough place to play. UGA's done well there historically, but it's never been easy. In fairness, they should probably be ranked above Florida, but this just confirms I'm part of the vast conspiracy designed to hold the program down.
5. Georgia: the fans seem to have gotten louder in the last 10 years, but our bowl shape--though aesthetically pleasing and the finest setting in all of college football-- allows too much sound to escape instead of holding sound in like a barking echo chamber.
6. Alabama: Bryant-Denny can get loud; it's a great gameday atmosphere. I always get a chuckle out of how the first few notes of "Sweet Home" can whip the crowd up. I enjoy the pre-game video with clips of the Bear too. The history of the place and the program can even feel oppressive sometimes (unless you're 'man enough' to handle it).
Dig him up. Prop him up. Roll Tide Roll.
7. Arkansas: you owe it to yourself to see a game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. With the expansion, the place collects a respectable crowd, but I think the hidden advantage is because Fayettenam is so far from everywhere else, the visiting crowd is whittled down to just the die-hards. It feels like your looking out at the Roman Coliseum. Plus, 70,000+ fans calling the hawgs is--though perhaps not intimidating--a spectacle to behold. You probably get a different reception if you're Alabama or from Texas, but on my trips I've found Razorbacks to be ridiculously friendly and the town to be quite charming.
8. South Carolina: The stadium looks like an exterminated cockroach, but the interior is nice enough. All in all, it's a respectable facility. The crowd is usually into it for at least the first half, and can occasionally get loud. Check out these gameday photos. If they played college football in Beirut, it would probably be indistinguishable from the SC fairgrounds and Williams-Brice. I hear the campus is nice, but never really cared enough to find out.
Well, at least they've got a new scoreboard.
9. Mississippi: Though we usually manage to play poorly there, I'm pretty certain it has nothing to do with the stadium or the crowd. I've missed playing Ole Miss every year, but only because the return trip to Oxford is one of the best trips in college football. I always thought Vaught-Hemingway was named in partial recognition of Oxford's love affair with alcohol and its literary roots--that, or Ernest Hemingway coached at Ole Miss.
Ole Miss. As intimidating as a Garfield plush doll.
10. Kentucky: this place could be loud, if they cared. It's a pleasant enough place to see a game, but it just has no soul--it is the shape of tepidness and mediocrity. The fans don't seem to feel like the stadium is a special place to them, and it shows. Moderately tougher a night, but still not a big deal. That's because this is a basketball school, you say? I have a pet theory that Kentucky fans don't really like basketball, they just like winning. That's a much longer blog post for another day. If you ever get a chance to see Rupp Arena, however...
11. Mississippi State: Scott Field's recent expansion means it's bigger and louder than the last time the Dawgs were there, but it's no Temple of Doom. Friendly fans who are too in touch with reality to go through the motions of mass delusion of invincibility that characterizes South Carolina fans.
I've got a fever 12. Vanderbilt: structurally it's a nice facility with no bad seats. And there's always plenty of seats for Dawg fans. Seriously, I don't think I've ever been there when Vandy fans outnumbered us. God Bless'em. Rumor has it there's a foghorn when they score a touchdown...
Argue amongst yourselves.
Dawgnoxious
Bureau Chief, Stadium Inspections
Georgia Sports Blog
