Among other data that Phil Steele embeds in his 328 pages of single spaced type is a rating for the strength of playing at each school’s home field. In essence, it’s the number of points that each home crowd is worth.
I’m glad the guys at RazorBloggers Network took the trouble to put the data in a handy chart:
| Rank | School | Home Field Edge | 2007 Avg Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 5.25 | 90,388 |
| 2 | LSU | 5.25 | 92,619 |
| 3 | Georgia | 4.75 | 92,746 |
| 4 | Auburn | 4.50 | 84,689 |
| 5 | Tennessee | 4.50 | 103,918 |
| 6 | Arkansas | 4.25 | 66,033 |
| 7 | South Carolina | 4.00 | 78,467 |
| 8 | Alabama | 4.00 | 92,138 |
| 9 | Kentucky | 3.50 | 68,824 |
| 10 | Ole Miss | 3.25 | 49,704 |
| 11 | Mississippi State | 3.00 | 49,296 |
| 12 | Vanderbilt | 2.25 | 34,629 |
It would be nice to see a breakdown of LSU’s home edge during the day versus night. And I guess those Tennessee fans need to work a little harder. First in the conference in attendance (by a wide margin), but tied for fourth in home field edge isn’t that impressive.
At least Vandy’s number isn’t negative.
Get The Picture 
I’m kinda surprised at Carolina being so low. While I’ve not been to many visitors stadiums Carolina is still a tough place play. The seats are always packed and they have people standing 3 or 4 rows deep on those “ramps”. It gets loud in that place when the chickens are playing tough. I was in the upper deck in ’04 and when Carolina went up 16-0 the whole thing started swaying. I guess considering that they lose a lot of close games (moral victories) at home is why they’re not as high as I would have thought.
However I’m still not convinced that Gainsville is a tougher place to play than Baton Rouge.
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Throw out the Zooker years (something I’m sure many Gator fans wish they could do) and Florida’s home mark is outstanding. IIRC, Spurrier only had five home losses in his twelve years of coaching Florida football.
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I’m surprised we are ahead of Auburn. That stadium is usually rocking a lot louder than ours for a typical daylight game.
But, F*ck Auburn.
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Is this based on actual wins/losses or just what Phil perceives as a good home crowd? I like how juiced our crowd can get, but we seem to have at least one head-slapping home loss per year and yet are one of the best road teams in the SEC.
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Dean-
I’ve been to The Cockroach two times, and yeah…it was nuts.
Then I’ve watched USC home games late in the season, and the place sounds like a library. So there’s that.
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I hear what you’re saying Senator but to go by wins and losses doesn’t tell the whole story. It seems even in down years (the real) Death Valley is the most intimidating place to play in the SEC. I’ve never been there so I’m going off of hearsay from friends who have been there and how it appears on TV. How many other stadiums have registered an earthquake on a seismograph due to the noise?
DNN,
I’ve had the “privilege” of attending many a football contests at the cockroach in my time. Ah, the benefits of living in South Carolina. Anyway unless the cocks are getting blown out or playing a cupcake then it’s usually a very loud place. Also I’ve heard a lot of coaches say Williams-Brice is one of the tougher environments to play in. Whatever that’s worth.
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dean, I could be wrong, but I don’t think Steele is trying to measure intimidation with this. I think he’s trying to quantify the value of the home field based on wins, losses and points scored.
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No, you’re right Senator. I don’t think he is either. He’s going strictly by the numbers, which is what someone in his position should do. However in this open forum I’m getting away from the numbers and moving more into perception. To me the intimidation factor, which cannot be measured, is a huge factor in home field edge. The players feed off the energy of the crowed. Take the ’04 LSU and UT games for both sides of that coin.
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I have never been to the Swamp, but I have been to Death Valley and Neyland. I hate to admit it, but they get a lot louder than we do.
Sanford Stadium could be much more intimidating if the end zones were closer. We could put seat right up to the touch lines and let the students use them. Crappy view, but the students don’t care and no one to tell them to sit down.
In fact, I propose we take all the seats out so everyone has to stand for the whole game. Then only real fans come and the posers stay at home and watch on TV.
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