So, 247Sports ranks its ten toughest places to play in 2019, and I’m a little confused. In some places, it sounds like it’s all about the venue, while in others, it’s about the quality of the team. Georgia, for example, is second. Alabama, though, is six spots lower, at eight.
I mention those two because it’s apparent that the quality of the team is what drives their rankings. Here’s the blurb about Sanford Stadium:
Why it’ll be tough: The Bulldogs have won 13 straight between the hedges since a 1-point loss to Georgia Tech left a sour mark on Kirby Smart’s first season in 2016. Taking care of business at Sanford Stadium has led to a pair of SEC East titles, a College Football Playoff berth and ample momentum heading into Jake Fromm’s junior campaign — which could be his best at Georgia. The Bulldogs’ average margin of victory in Athens during Fromm’s tenure is 28.1 points per game, which ranks among the most impressive point differentials nationally over the past two seasons. One caveat to that number? Only one of those wins came against a Top 25 team (Mississippi State). This year’s slate includes bouts with nationally-ranked Notre Dame and Texas A&M, so this unblemished mark will be put to the test.
Outside of the standard “between the hedges” reference, there’s no mention of the setting or the crowd. And, honestly, while there have been times I’ve been at a home game when the crowd has been intimidating as hell — I’ll put the last five minutes of the 2013 LSU game up against any home crowd in the country in that regard — as a 60-minute, week in, week out experience, it’s been good more than consistently overwhelming.
What do you guys think?
Get The Picture 
Sanford can be intimidating when the crowd wants it to be. LSU 2013, Clemson 2014, Miss State 2017, and any time Auburn comes to Athens recently are some games that come to mind. I have a feeling Ian Book isn’t going to be able to hear himself think in September.
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The high ranking is flattering, but the rational is lacking.
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Judging the difficulty of a venue should be about the venue, not the quality of the team housed within. In the 1990s no one wanted to play Nebraska because Nebraska was the best team in the country. The home field was nice, sure, but it wasn’t inherently challenging the way others are. The same thing with Georgia today IMO. Sanford is a nice venue for sure, but take an average team and have them play games there and I don’t think anyone is too concerned.
Tiger Stadium, Williams Brice, Jordan-Hare, Stark Vegas, Neyland… all of those are more difficult places to play IMO.
Of course, if you add the quality of the team into the mix, Bama, Georgia, etc certainly rise to the top, but it’s due to them being better teams.
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I would say Williams Brice maybe adds the most advantage to an otherwise underwhelming team.
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Absolutely agree. Shitty SoCar can be a difficult out at that dump. That says a lot about a venue, IMO.
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We’ve had our ‘intimidating crowd’ moments but I’ve never heard Sanford mentioned in the context of ‘tough venues’. It’s a tough place to play when the team is tough. During the CMR years I believe for a few years we got mentioned as a successful team at away games. In any case, I’m okay with having a tough team over a tough crowd.
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As far as crowd noise and difficulty to play in , I would put Sanford in as fairly pedestrian. We have our spots as you mentioned(blackout Auburn comes to mind) but we are not that loud when compared to Auburn, Clemson , LSU or Tennessee.
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See, I don’t find Auburn intimidating at all. Surprised so many people mention it. We’ve never really had trouble there outside of when they had pretty good teams – heck UT won there last season.
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Sanford can be intimidating when we want it to be, but until the country club crowd stops yelling at me to sit down when I’m trying to stand up and get loud, I will never consider it a consistently intimidating venue.
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As a student, I sat on the tracks. We were a tough crowd. We’d throw miscreants down to the street just for the sport of it. Now days, I don’t think teams worry about coming to Sanford the way they do, say, Baton Rouge at night
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Yep.
I’d put LSU at the top, especially at night. Doesn’t matter if they have a good or bad team, playing there is tough due to all the drunk coon asses.
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LSU is definitely #1, in my opinion. Those people give it to you inside and outside the stadium.
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I could agree Sanford is Top 5 in night games, but maybe not Top 10 in day games. Think Auburn is Top 5 when they are allowed to cheat and run piped in music up until the snap (which is illegal but that doesn’t seem to be an issue for The Barn or the SEC.) LSU and Bama are the toughest by far when the game means something to them, imo.
BTW, hearing some rumblings about ND being at night. Certainly hope so, but don’t know how that happens contractually unless there has been some horse trading between CBS and the WWL.
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CBS gets one night game a year – it is not chiseled in stone that it has to be Bama-LSU (my recollection is they’ve shown Florida @ Tennessee and @LSU at night, but its been awhile). Given that Bama has won 8 straight, it is hard for the networks to keep pimping it as the “game of the century (this week)” and put it on primetime national broadcast TV. If you are CBS, seems to me it would be a lot easier to put a national brand on vs. a Top-5 team in primetime, particularly when you don’t get the opportunity to put that national brand on your network very often…
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Actually CBS is not in the mix since its a non conference game. CBS gets SEC games. WWL will get this game.
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Huh? CBS has dibs on all games where the SEC team is the home team, regardless of whether it is in or out of conference. Notre Dame was on CBS when they played at Tennessee a decade or so ago; CBS has also shown Georgia-Georgia Tech and Florida-FSU games in the past from SEC stadiums….
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You are right, CBS gets first pick for any game where the SEC is at home, but is has to be in their 3:30 time slot with two exceptions (as I recall), one is a day/night double header, and the other is a noon/3:30 telecast. You may also be right about that night broadcast being flexible, I just assumed it was a set weekend. If so, I think CBS takes the UGA/ND over LSU/Bama (although I think that will be very competitive this season.)
Another possibility is they work a trade with Mickey and give ESPN first pick(s) or two this season and try to get two night slots so they can have have both of these games at night.
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Hard to be intimidating when you are standing in line at the restroom or the concession stand.
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Word
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We can get pretty loud when we want to, but I wouldn’t put us up there with the most intimidating environments. But I brought a USCjr fan to a game in ’03, and he remarked how he could see Sanford as a tough place to play. Our spot on this list is mostly due to the quality of the team.
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It’s improving, but a ways to go. If you know the words to “Hail” people will look at you like your from another planet. Bump that up against a place like the Barn where folks sing the fight song.
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What Paul said.
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Maybe if we played our biggest rival at home every now and then? [ducks all the incoming debris thrown in my direction]
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They play Auburn in Athens every other year.
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I would think someone must have looked at whether or not teams have overperformed at home over the years. However, based solely on anecdotal evidence, I don’t think the venue itself matters much, if at all. I would expect that 9 times out of 10, the better team wins regardless of venue, and in toss-ups there would be a very slight advantage to the home team, like they win 53% of the time instead of the expected 50%.
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As much as I want to, I just can’t think of Sanford as one of the most intimidating places to play. That said, I’m not sure I can think of 10 other places that would strike me as more so. Death Valley is obviously #1 and any list that doesn’t have it there is null and void. But past that I suppose there’s a case to be made that all the others are variable. Some Georgia fans say Williams-Brice but I think that’s just residual stockholm-syndrome from when Spurrier was there and they were scared of losing up there. I’ve been to Willy-B and other than just being miserably hot in early September, there’s nothing that stands out about it. I don’t think blaring techno over the loudspeakers counts as an intimidation factor, more of an annoyance.
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I
ve been to every SEC stadium except A&M. Without question for me the home crowd for LSU 2013 in the closing minutes Ill match against anyone anywhere. There was another home game that stood out for me. CMR`s first home win 2002? The night the goal posts went down and the after game celebration was epic.LikeLike
i dont recall the field being rushed or goal posts down during richts tenure. i believe donnan’s final year against tennessee is the last time that happened.
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You’re thinking of UT in 2000. That was Jim Donnan’s last year.
The first home win for Mark Richt was in 2001 vs Arkansas State, in 2002 it was vs Clemson; but neither had the energy or chaos of that game in 2000. None have since then IMO. Auburn 2007 is close, the aforementioned ’13 LSU game was bonkers. But UT in ’00 was worse than bonkers.
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That was the 2000 game vs Tennessee. Jim Donnan still the coach. I did something that night I’m not proud of.
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UGA fans like to travel hundreds of miles to come to games then sit quietly and not make any noise save for a few polite comments about the band at halftime. I leave games hoarse and can’t talk the next day, but am constantly underwhelmed at how over half refuse to yell at the appropriate times.
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Co-sign. I berated people at the ’16 UNC game. I had been “into the Gaffer’s brew” but “that’s beside the point.”
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Good on ya. Honestly, I don’t understand why they even come to games
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Spence, normally I would agree with you but maybe you weren’t at the Notre Dame game in 2017. We Dawgs fan brought it that night. Even the TV announcers mentioned how loud we were.
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Bryant Denny Stadium is not intimidating anymore because the fans are jaded with winning. But the players and coaches on the field still are. At least I hope this the case is for LSU, because we need them ti knock Bama out of our way so we can face Dabo for the Natty.
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I prefer for the Dawgs to handle their own problems, thanks.
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Yeah, I don’t know why some of our fans are intimidated by Bama. I respect them, they are obviously very good, but 3 of the last four games with them were decided on the last play (and the other was played in a fricking monsoon where we had no home field advantage as fans would have drowned had they opened their mouths.) I will say Tusky is still one of the biggest home field advantages in CFB for all their big games played there.
I do dread the next match up there, for all their idiot fans running off at the mouth, the true Bama fans know we are their biggest threat. I think we may be slightly better than them this season staring out, but the best team doesn’t always win. The 2017 title game is a good example of that, it was stolen from us, period. I am glad we will see them on a neutral field this year, if they make it through the West.
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Sanford Stadium isn’t that place. It’s like DKR-Memorial Stadium or Michigan Stadium. A little too Country Club in too many sections.
That said, it can rock when it needs to.
I didn’t think LSU was that big of a deal last year. I don’t think the venue made any difference in the outcome as much as the lack of preparation & motivation of the team by our staff. The one venue that impressed me over the years as difficult is Auburn because of the volume and commitment to support the team. I realized this when the house was full and loud for my first visit in 1998 and they were on their way to 3-8 and had fired Bowden. Our stadium would not be close to full if we were 3-8.
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What makes a venue “intimidating” is driven by three things: (1) sustained quality of home team; (2) acoustics; and (3) proximity of stands to field. (Crazy sound/video is part of acoustics, IMO). Because of the way it was built, Sanford Stadium lacks good acoustics and the seats are very far away from the field. Those are facts, and it means that no matter how rowdy the crowd is, the only thing that is going to make Sanford Stadium “intimidating” is our team repeatedly kicking ass and taking names…
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Agreed! Sanford is just not designed to be as loud. The proximity of the seats to the field is the biggest difference I’ve noticed when visiting other stadiums. LSU and Clemson student sections are very close to field. Our stadium also lacks depth. I remember the first time I visited Jordan Hare and how steep the stairs were. The more depth/height of the stadium seating, the better the acoustics.
I wasn’t particularly impressed with the noise at LSU last year, but Clemson in 2013 was the loudest game I’ve ever been to.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think there might also be regulations at the conference level that dictates how loud your music can be, certain light effects, etc? I remember at Death Valley for the Clemson game, they had strobe lights going when Georgia was on offense that damn near gave me a seizure. Talk about distracting. I doubt that would ever be permitted in Sanford.
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I’d say having night games and friendly tailgating rules helps. God forbid they sold beer at the game.
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Anybody ever been to Autzen? Supposedly it’s one of the loudest stadiums in the country despite a capacity of just 54,000.
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Couple of things stand out to me:
1. By and large, our fans are nowhere near as tribal about football as any other fanbases of teams in the top half of the SEC. As a grown man, I’m mostly fine with this, as I think it’s silly how fans of Bama, Auburn, A&M, Tennessee, Florida, LSU, etc., wear their team’s gear four days/week regardless of what time of the year it is, just daring you to say some shit about their team. But the flipside is that those folks are hell on fall Saturdays. Living in Austin, I’d say the comparison with Michigan and Texas fans is fairly apt, in that all three fanbases are generally pretty well off and regard this as more of a weekend outing and license to do some day-drinking with friends, as opposed to the existential imperative that many Bama/LSU/Auburn fans still see football as. That said, the Horns have been a little more success-starved of late, so their fans are finding their balls.
Sanford’s slope barely registers as an incline compared to a lot of SEC venues. Probably a good thing if you’ve had a few, but doesn’t do much to keep the noise in the building.
Although it seems like the job description of a stadium programming director would inspire a lot of creativity (i.e., “make this place lit for 93,000 people”), our staff seems to resort to a lot of lame gimmicks that deaden the energy in the building. At some point, we’ve gotta blow Taps over “Seven Nation Army’s” cold, dead body.
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Not intimidating at all. It is not set up to be loud because the way that the stadium is built. Go to Clemson or UT and it is so steep it feels like you are going to fall onto the field when you stand up. And dang, Neyland is loud.
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Part of the reason Sanford Stadium isn’t loud is that the fans aren’t keyed up playing cupcake after cupcake. Yes, it gets cranked up for Clemson, Auburn, LSU, etc. but not so much for a majority of the home opponents. Better competition = more competitive game = more fan involvement = louder stadium.
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Sorry Brad, typing that 500 word load of dog squeeze ain’t cuttin’ it…unless you’re reporting from your past experiences in those stadiums, don’t do it…coaches know that the numero uno issue at home games is to WIN/defend your turf… no matter the sport, it’s not gauged on the visitors ranking, beat ’em all…2007 App. state v.s. meeshigan, who was ranked in that one…
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I think of it as one of the best venues in college football. Notre Dame was fantastic too, although Athens crushes South Bend. Intimidating or toughest to play in is another thing altogether. The team no longer intimidates but the Swamp creates one of the greater home field advantages that I have seen. Death Valley (Baton Rouge of course) and Neyland follow closely.
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I’ve been to all SEC venues except for Kyle Field and BH Griffin, and most of them multiple times for big games. Loudest stadiums, in order:
Auburn
LSU
South Carolina
Tennessee
Georgia
MSU
Arkansas
Alabama
Kentucky
Ole Miss
Vanderbilt
Missouri
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UGA has had moments. As a whole, pedestrian is a pretty good word. See the Atlanta United the past 2 years for a consistently great home crowd. From a home crowd standpoint, I been to better games at Clemson, Knoxville and Auburn. I wish our fans in Athens could match and surpass any of those at some point beside the spring game.
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Like others have said Sanford can go head-to-head with any venue in the country at it’s best (2013 LSU for example) but it’s not consistently one of the most intimidating venues. I haven’t been to very many venues but Auburn was insanely loud in 2017. I couldn’t hear myself think so I’d agree with the other folks who have them listed among the loudest venues.
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