Power Ranking the 5 Toughest SEC Football Road Environments
In the SEC, every week is a battle—especially if you're away from home.
The conference is home to eight of the 20 largest college football stadiums in the country, according to FoxSports.com, including Kyle Field at Texas A&M, LSU's Tiger Stadium and Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Bigger isn't always better, though. Which five stadiums create the most hostile environments? Based on size, fan enthusiasm and home success, our list is in this slideshow.
Best of the Rest
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While every stadium has its moments, not all can be hostile all of the time.
Here are the stadiums that just missed the top five, in order:
- 6. Kyle Field, Texas A&M
- 7. Williams-Brice Stadium, South Carolina
- 8. Sanford Stadium, Georgia
- 9. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Ole Miss
- 10. Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Arkansas
- 11. Faurot Field, Missouri
- 12. Davis Wade Stadium, Mississippi State
- 13. Commonwealth Stadium, Kentucky
- 14. Vanderbilt Stadium, Vanderbilt
5. Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn
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Jordan-Hare Stadium isn't the biggest stadium in the SEC, but what it lacks in quantity it far exceeds in quality.
The 87,451-seat venue located in the heart of Auburn's campus in East Alabama has a large lower bowl that keeps noise down low. It also has one of the best tailgating scenes in all of college football and is a tough test for opposing teams.
The Tigers have dropped just one home game over the last two seasons. That loss—in 2014 to Texas A&M—featured one of the wildest, most insane second halves in recent college football history, one that included a massive Auburn comeback followed by two late Tiger turnovers to end it.
When Auburn gets momentum in games, the team feeds off the crowd, and it creates one of the craziest atmospheres in the sport.
4. Neyland Stadium, Tennessee
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Tennessee fans took things to the next level against Florida in 2014 when the famous checkerboard end zones were extended to the stands for "Checker Neyland."
Sitting on the banks of the Tennessee River, the 102,455-seat behemoth rises straight up from the edge of Tennessee's Knoxville campus, creating one of the loudest atmospheres in the country.
Fans clad in orange and white are packed in tight in the cozy confines of Neyland, and they have been desperate for a winner ever since the SEC East title year of 2007. Head coach Butch Jones has brought back the magic to a point, leading the program to a bowl game in 2014 for the first time since 2010, and he has the Vols on the brink of jumping back into SEC East relevancy.
When that happens, the noise inside Neyland will be next-level.
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3. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Florida
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Ben Hill Griffin Stadium hasn't exactly lived up to the hype over the final two seasons of the Will Muschamp era, but that was more due to an anemic offense rather than a product of the atmosphere inside The Swamp.
When at its peak, the sound reverberates inside the 88,548-seat concrete walls as well as any venue in the country. With essentially one grandstand on each sideline and fans virtually on top of the bench, if an opponent makes a mistake, the orange and blue-clad locals will let him know about it early and often.
"There is no better place than 'The Swamp,'" ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso said, according to Florida's website. "That opening on the big screen with the alligators, it's the best ever. When the Gators run out of the tunnel, it is absolutely the moment of moments in college football."
The tailgating scene is one of the SEC's best, and the town of Gainesville always provides a good time.
2. Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama
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It helps to be a consistent winner like head coach Nick Saban has become since getting hired to lead the Alabama Crimson Tide prior to the 2007 season, but even during the down years, Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa was still one of the toughest places to play in the country.
Recently expanded to hold 101,821 fans, Saban has only dropped six home games—three of which were during the 7-6 season of 2007, his first year with the Tide.
The fans at Bryant-Denny expect excellence from their team, and in return, Saban expects them to stick around and be loud for a full four quarters. As a result, the atmosphere inside Bryant-Denny has become one of the SEC's best.
1. Tiger Stadium, LSU
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It doesn't matter if you're an LSU fan or not, if you haven't been to a Saturday night game in Death Valley at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, you haven't experienced the best college football has to offer.
When the sun finds its home in the western sky, and the lights come on at LSU, it's different.
The 102,321-seat college football cathedral with a massive lower bowl keeps sound in better than any other venue in the SEC, and a full afternoon of "prep time" for the locals keeps the decibels high from kickoff until the final gun.
According to LSU's website, the Tigers are 62-9 at home under head coach Les Miles, and even in down years—like last year—they still found a way to top Ole Miss and take eventual SEC champion Alabama to overtime.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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