re: What do SEC fans think about each conference member's state?

One more thing about the state of Texas: INSANE high school football stadiums

Yep, the beaches are whiter and nicer the farther east you go from MS-AL-FL. The barrier islands affect the water off the coast of MS. Ship Island has a nice beach and clear water on the S side.

It always amuses me that most people impugned MS (which is fine with me). This is a great place to live. And our strategy of keeping that a secret has worked wonderfully well. We don’t really want too many people moving here to mess that up.


I enjoy the topography of most all the states I have been to. There is a lot of beauty around, great people, food and generally plenty of fun to be had. What is the point of being negative? Enjoy the good things and don’t dwell on the bad.

So, basically this post is about traffic (which I agree).

I lived in Atl. for 14 1/2 years & can agree that the traffic is bad.
Don’t get me started on Kemp (except, per the media, he did shut Trump down).

People could say that whole winter thing where people got stuck on the road (I had some coworkers caught in it).
But 1 - you CAN’T drive on ice; & 2 - who can actually predict the weather? (When I lived up north (Connecticut), the 11PM news weatherman COULD NOT PREDICT the heavy rains we had @ 7AM the next morning (only 8 hours away).)

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Missouri: Who are we?

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Actually pretty accurate and not necessarily a slam. I've lived here all my life, and we probably have a more disparate, varied identity depending on which part of the state you are referring to, than any other state. We're not really north, south, east, or west as a whole. Extreme southeastern is definitely mid-South, KC is more western/plains, StL is somewhat similar to a Cincinnati, and north of CoMo is (unfortunately) similar to Iowa. IMHO, Columbia is the jewel and somewhat similar to Athens, GA (although definitely not Southern).

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I lived for 25 years about 1hour south of Abilene TX

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Why? Is someone holding you hostage?

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I plan my trips on I-20 so I don’t ever have to stop for gas at Marshall after stopping there once.

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Yeah, them Baws in Marshall don't like the gays. You must've gotten lost looking for Austin.

I've said it before but to reiterate Norman, Oklahoma: the Cultural Center of the Universe.

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Atlanta doesn’t suck. Now, if you want to talk about the traffic, …

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Anybody who says "Atlanta sucks" hasn't spent any time in Atlanta.

As others have said, the fact you've only traveled to one away game in one of these states means you've probably spent very very little time at all in any of them. Certainly not enough to have anything other than at best a heavily misinformed opinion of any of them. May as well be a Canadian who has never left Canada offering an opinion on these places.


I think a better way of looking at each SEC state is on a city by city and area by area basis rather than taking a blanket view of each state as a whole. In the spirit of the OP, however, here's my slightly less blanketed opinion of each:

Arkansas: haven't spent any real time there but have driven across the entirety of state three or four times (once with a detour through NW Arkansas) headed out West. The entire stretch from about the Little Rock area practically all the way to the Oklahoma border is anywhere from scenic to quite beautiful in areas. Little Rock relatively speaking is somewhat impressive and the drive from I-40 up to Fayetteville is quite beautiful. The Fayetteville metro area itself is quite nice although my initial impression is that it didn't feel as big as its official size of roughly 600,000. Granted, I didn't explore the entire area. Eastern Arkansas, on the other hand, seemed depressing as hell. Basically an extension of the Mississippi Delta

Florida: Have visited the state several times including a few Orlando/Tampa area trips along with a Miami trip. My brother and SIL lived in the Jacksonville/Augustine area for several years which is the one larger Florida city/metro I could see myself living in. Went to a Bama/UF game at the Swamp surrounded by UF fans and was treated fantastically. Was a much friendlier gameday experience than expected under the circumstances which taught me not to judge a fanbase off internet rumors. My family owned a condo in the Destin area all throughout my childhood. Destin is probably my favorite beach anywhere.

Georgia: Atlanta is a world class city with a lot to do and obviously has many nice areas as well as plenty of scary areas but traffic is a nightmare and that alone would make the area a difficult place for me to live. I've spent a decent bit of time with a couple of UGA friends and a best friend (who grew up in my Alabama hometown but moved to Griffin, GA for middle and high school) in Athens which is a cool college town. Haven't really spent any time in other parts of the state but know Savannah is really nice as well. The northern part of the state has some very pretty areas. Main knock on Georgia (the state) is that there are vast rural parts of the state that are every bit as redneck as say for example Alabama if not more so yet Georgians have some of the most elitiest, 'our s### doesn't stink because of Atlanta' attitudes of any residents in any state I've ever been around. Overall, a good state but the elitist attitude is annoying and in more than a few cases unwarranted.

Kentucky: Another state I've passed thru a couple of times without really spending any real time in. Not that the state necessarily has an overly negative reputation as a state overall or from a natural beauty standpoint because it doesn't, but the state is underrated especially for its natural beauty in my opinion

Louisiana: For all the crap we sling at each other on here and the crap slung LSU fans way, it's difficult not to admire the fun loving attitude and hosting abilities of Louisianans in general and LSU fans in particular. Nobody cooks better food or throws a better party than Louisianans or in the case of LSU fans does a better job of including visiting fans in the local tailgating scene on gameday. If you're a non-Alabama fan its even better but even as an Alabama fan you're treated well as long as you keep a relatively low profile and you play along with ribbing. As fun as the people are and as good as they are at throwing a party, state leaders are equally as bad at running the state. Outside of maybe the Atchafalaya Basin b/w Lafayette and BR, the landscape is at best painfully boring and ugly and at worst a cesspool from a natural beauty standpoint. The only redeeming quality is the fishing which is outstanding. I have family on the Northshore which may be the only tiny corner of the entire state that's actually an above average place to live compared to the rest of the SEC footprint.

Mississippi: Other than the casinos and a few specific areas like Ocean Springs, Oxford, and a handful of Jackson and the Memphis area's nicer suburbs, it's the most depressing, uninspiring state across the board. Very little natural beauty or high growth (or even non-stagnant growth) areas or cities or metro areas of any size either from an economic or population standpoint. On the bright side, however, the people are arguably the nicest, most down to earth fans and citizens overall of any SEC state in my opinion

Oklahoma: Another state I've only passed through a few times on my way somewhere else that I can't really speak much on. I was fairly impressed with both the Tulsa and OKC metro areas though. Outside of small stretches of the state near the Tulsa area and a small area of isolated hills/small mountans (Wichita Mtns) of southwestern OK, it's a mindnumbingly flat, treeless, and boring state from a natural beauty standpoint. OU fans seem to be pretty cool overall though.

South Carolina - Another state I've only really ever passed through on the way somewhere else. From almost everything I've heard, Charleston and many of the coastal areas are nice as is the Columbia area to a lesser degree. I've passed thru the Greenville area the most and it may be the strangest metro area from the standpoint of it being a far far bigger metro area than it would appear when you're passing thru it on I-85. I would like to attend a game in Columbia though as it seems to have one of the better in stadium atmospheres in the entire conference.

Tennessee: Can't really argue with the OP too much here. Other than the Memphis metro area which hasn't ever impressed me, the state as a whole is one of the better and certainly one of the prettier states in the conference. I'm not sure if I could've stomached spending too much time around the Fulmer era UT fanbase but UT fans seemed to have been humbled by their long post Fulmer walk in the wilderness so it seems it would be a different experience nowadays. The UT campus itself as well as the tailgating scene is kinda meh but the in game atmosphere which is admittedly quite impressive isn't. The state as a whole might be my favorite if I had to choose to live in a different state with the Nashville area being the most likely larger city I would move to if I had to live inland away from the Gulf Coast.

Texas: Haven't spent much time in the state but the times I have I was impressed with Houston, particularly The Woodlands area. Same with the DFW area which I've passed thru a handful of times on my way somewhere else. Spent a few days in the Keller area which is very nice. The Dallas/Ft Worth area is impressive overall. Only real knocks on Texas overall is that Texans have the same "my s### doesn't stink because I'm a Texan attitude that Georgia people have about Atlanta and the state of Georgia. Not unfriendly at all per se but definitely feel special based solely on where they live. Can't completely blame Texans though because the state has a lot going for it and plenty to be proud of. Personally, I couldn't handle a lot of the vast mind numblingly flat and treeless stretches of northern and western Texas especially the panhandle..