EA Sports rates...Tennessee??! biggest Homefield Advantage

[VThokie22]

Been to Texas A&M, its not that loud. It is loud, but they have more organized cheers and chants than just plain loud noise. Its a great atmosphere but definitely not in the top ten in terms of noise. It should be fairly high on the EA scale because of its tradition and intimidating atmosphere.

[DoubleDeuce]

I remember watching the VT-Miami game last fall and it was a great atmosphere, you could really tell how jacked up people were. And Ron Franklin (ESPN's announcer) definitely knows his stuff, so that's also compelling testimony.

Miami wins a lot at home because they are so much better than the Big East teams they play. Any non-UF or FSU game, there are a lot of empty seats. And they were really booing Berlin at last year's UF game.

[BrianBrockmeyer]

In my opinion, the teams that have the greatest homefield advantage are (in no particular order): Miami, Nebraska, FSU, Florida, Tennessee, LSU, A&M, OSU, and PSU.

It's true that for games against lowly opponents like Temple, the OB will have a few empty seats. This is b/c the OB is located in one of the worst and most rundown areas of Miami (btw- in regards to Miami, is that description redundant?). It's also a good 20 minute rail ride + a 10 minute shuttle ride (in good traffic) from UM's campus in Coral Gables. However, for night games and "big" games, there are very few places that can compare with the OB- that place just turns into a deafening jungle. When Willis McGahee took off on a 70+ yard gain off a screen-pass to set up the go-ahead TD against FSU in 2002, I thought my eardrums were going to burst it was so loud. The stadium was literally rocking back and forth. For those type of games, it is really a great atmosphere and provides great homefield advantage (56 straight, anyone?).

Obviously Nebraska, with its 'Sea of Red", has one of the best homefield advantages, as does The Swamp. The Noles get a nice advantage out of Doak and have had a couple of pretty respectable home winning streaks. You can't ignore Tennessee with 100,000+ screaming along to Rocky Top. LSU's 'Death Valley' and A&M, home to the 12th Man, should also be rated highly in the game. Normally, Happy Valley is a very loud and tough place to play, but many people forget this because PSU has been so bad these past few years that Beaver Stadium hasn't really mattered. I've never been to Lane Stadium, so I can't speak to how much it helps VT, but they did spank Miami there last year. Then again, they've also lost to some crummy teams at home over the past couple of years, too.