re: What do you think is the toughest SEC venue to play in?

There are ways to scientifically look at this....

Going back since 1992, you can compare each SEC's home winning percentage against ranked opponents to their road winning percentage against ranked opponents:

1. LSU +26.0% at home compared to on the road
2. Florida +19.2%
3. Mississippi St. +17.4%
4. Tennessee +13.5%
5. Texas A&M +13.3%
6. Arkansas +11.5%
7. S. Carolina +9.9%
8. Kentucky +8.1%
9. Auburn +8.0%
10. Ole Miss +6.5%
11. Missouri +5.5%
12. Vanderbilt +4.5%
13. Alabama -2.4%
14. Georgia -11.7%

Since 1992, Alabama and Georgia have actually faired better in games vs. ranked teams on the road than they have at home. My dawgs have been particularly worse at home, with a record of 14-24 against ranked teams (36.8%) compared to a much better 16-17-1 record on the road (48.5%).

There is also an additional way to look at it: Point differential at home compared to on the road in games vs. ranked teams:

1. Arkansas +15.7 pts in games at home compared to on the road
2. Vanderbilt +14.8 pts
3. Auburn +13.8 pts
4. Missouri +13.5 pts
5. Miss. St. +12.4 pts
6. Texas A&M +11.9 pts
7. Ole Miss +10.8 pts
8. LSU +10.1 pts
9. Florida +10.0 pts
10. S. Carolina +6.3 pts
11. Kentucky +4.1 pts
12. Alabama -1.2 pts
13. Tennessee -2.23 pts
14. Georgia -2.4 pts

If you take each of those two categories and divide each team's totals by the #1 team's totals in each category, you'll see how each team stands on a percentile basis. Then take those two percentiles and average them together. This is how it turns out:

1. LSU- 82.1
2. Miss. St.- 72.9
3. Arkansas- 72.1
4. Florida- 68.8
5. Texas A&M- 63.3
6. Auburn- 59.5
7. Vanderbilt- 55.9
8. Missouri- 53.5
9. Ole Miss- 47.0
10. S. Carolina- 39.0
11. Kentucky- 28.6
12. Tennessee- 18.9
13. Alabama- -8.3
14. Georgia- -30.2

This is confirmation of what I've always felt about Georgia: While Athens can't be beat from a full gameday experience, the crowd advantage just isn't there in big games. I've also never been very impressed with the noise level in Tuscaloosa.

And of course, LSU comes out #1 in home field advantage... living up to their reputation.

While this formula does show teams like Mississippi State and Arkansas much tougher to beat when they are at home compared to when they are on the road, it doesn't necessarily mean they are "tough venues". They produce the #2 and #3 advantage, respectively, but that's comparing it to their relative abysmal road record in big games.

I would have ranked the 3 toughest venues as LSU, Florida, and Auburn... and this exercise pretty much confirms my personal belief.

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I'll say Florida

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In all seriousness, catching a game in the swamp with my son is on my bucket list. I've had friends that went and had a phenomenal time.

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I'll be there to offer you some food and beer my friend

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Outstanding!

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Death Valley doesn't scare anybody anymore.

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Yeah. That one win every 10 years or so really took the fear out of MSU.

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I hate LSU, but nobody gets louder for the first half than those drunk cajuns

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You mean the first half of a big SEC game at Night.

2nd half loudness depends on the score...........

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Going back since 1992, you can compare each SEC's home winning percentage against ranked opponents to their road winning percentage against ranked opponents

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There's no way I can take your post seriously.

There's way too many variables that skew those numbers.

Alabama. My guess is they have the highest winning percentage in the SEC at home.

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Death Valley doesn't scare anybody anymore.

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Win there 1 time in 20 years an now you aren't scared.

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THE SINGLE MOST overrated stat in football is home field advantage

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No. Lol. No. Maybe they exist, but I doubt if you can list even one major college football program with a better road record over time than their home record. Being at home is DEFINATELY an advantage.

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Maybe they exist, but I doubt if you can list even one major college football program with a better road record over time than their home record

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No shite. Every major college football program plays at least 2-3 cupcakes at home each year.

Most schools don't get the luxury of playing at Western Kentucky or Kent St.