Re-Ranking the Toughest Places to Play With EA Sports' Own Criteria

By Brett Daniels

EA Sports will bring back the College Football game after a long 10-year drought. As the release date in late July draws closer, EA is releasing information here and there to keep the conversation going. Recently they published a list of the Top 25 toughest places to play according to how they will appear in the game. To say this caused a firestorm on X/Twitter would be an understatement. Almost every fanbase was offended by their placement or the placement of one or more of their rivals on the list.

On their website, EA Sports states that the development team considered “factoring in historical stats such as home winning %, home game attendance, active home winning streaks, team prestige, and more” when assembling the rankings. This concept was apparently lost on some of the commenters who focused on “loudest” or “most hostile” only while other commenters cited home win-loss records without context or single-game instances where a stadium was electric.

Using the criteria set forth by the EA Development Team I attempted to come up with my own Top 10 toughest places to play. It was harder than you might think! How far back do you go for historical stats? What if a team has an inflated home winning percentage because they don’t play many ranked teams at home? How do you quantify a fanbase or stadium atmosphere?

Here is how I used those criteria to determine my Top 10:

· Home winning percentage: 2014-2023 seasons considered. What Nebraska or Miami did at home in the ‘80’s is irrelevant today. Overall percentage considered. More weight is given to beating ranked teams at home.

· Home attendance/Crowd Involvement: Number of sellouts, noise level generated by fans.

· Team Prestige: Overall team performance over the last 10 seasons.

1. Clemson

Memorial Stadium (81,500)

Death Valley in Clemson, South Carolina is the toughest place to go in as a visitor and walk out with a win. The Tigers have a 65-3 overall record at home the last 10 seasons with a perfect 12-0 record against teams ranked in the Top 25. The atmosphere in the stadium is raucous, especially for night games. The traditional entrance down the hill after touching Howard’s Rock sends the 81,500 crowd into a frenzy.

2. Alabama

Bryant-Denny Stadium (101,821)

The Crimson Tide have been almost unbeatable at home over the last ten seasons with a 64-3 overall record including a 15-3 mark against ranked teams. With 3 National Championships since 2014, it’s been tough to beat the Tide anywhere. The only knock against Alabama is a tendency for the fans to show up late and leave early against lesser opponents. This became such an issue that Nick Saban called out the Alabama fan base . If you are the visiting team playing in Bryant-Denny the odds are you are going to hear the “Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer” cheer at the end of the game signifying a Tide win.

3. Georgia

Sanford Stadium (92,746)

Sanford Stadium has been a house of horrors for visiting teams over the last 10 seasons. The Bulldogs are 56-6 overall and 13-3 against ranked teams. Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the Dawgs have only lost one game “Between the Hedges” and in the process won two National Championships. The Calling of the Dawgs at the beginning of the game and Krypton fanfare beginning the 4 ^th quarter keep the crowd at a fever pitch.

4. LSU

Tiger Stadium (102,321)

The Tigers of LSU who also call Death Valley home a just a notch below Clemson when it comes to toughest places to play. The atmosphere in Baton Rouge is one of the best you will find anywhere in sports, especially for night games. Where the Bayou Bengals fall a little short is the on-the-field product. A 53-12 overall home record is solid, and a 12-5 ledger against ranked teams shows that LSU is a tough out at home. Unfortunately, you can’t lose to Troy at home and be considered for the top spot in this list.

5. Ohio State

Ohio Stadium (102,780)

Based purely on record, the Buckeyes should be higher on this list. 61-5 overall and a 13-4 record against ranked teams is better than or equal to the teams ranked ahead of them. Where Ohio State falls a little short of the other teams is in crowd involvement and atmosphere. The Shoe can and does get loud but overall, it doesn’t seem like the crowd affects the visiting team at the same level as Clemson or Georgia.

6. Notre Dame (80,795)-The Irish have always had one of the best home atmospheres in College Football. Touchdown Jesus, the Gold Dome, Rudy, and the Four Horsemen are all an integral part of the history of the game. The on-the-field product has been good as well, with Notre Dame sporting a 52-11 overall record and 11-4 against ranked teams. There are two main reasons that the Irish aren’t higher on this list: you cannot lose to Marshall at home, and you cannot let opposing fans take over your stadium (UGA ’17, Ohio St ’23).

7. Oklahoma

Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (86,112)

Oklahoma has been a tough place to play for a long time with the Sooners logging a 55-7 overall record but only a 7-3 record against ranked teams. This averages out to one ranked opponent at home per season which is well below the six teams listed ahead of the Sooners on this list. The atmosphere is good with the Sooner Schooner making an appearance at the beginning of the game and after every score as well as strong crowd involvement.

8. Tennessee

Neyland Stadium (101,915)

-Rocky Top has always been viewed as an intimidating environment for opposing teams and fans. When the Vols are good, it is as tough of an environment as you will find in college football. The problem is the Vols haven’t been consistently good over the last ten seasons which has led to a 47-24 overall home record and a 9-12 mark against ranked opponents. The 2019 losses to Georgia State and BYU to start the season also take some of the shine off Neyland Stadium as an intimidating environment.

9. Penn State

Beaver Stadium (106,572)

Beaver Stadium is one of the largest and loudest stadiums in college football. The Nittany Lions have a reputation for being a tough team to beat at home as evidenced by their 54-14 overall record, the record against ranked opponents is 7-7 with the majority of the seven wins over teams ranked 20-25. The knock on Penn State and Coach James Franklin is that they can’t win the “big one” and this is supported by the record against ranked teams.

10. Oregon

Autzen Stadium (54,000)

Autzen Stadium is one of the loudest stadiums in the country despite having a crowd half the size of most of the other teams on this list. The roof on either side helps to trap noise in and direct it toward the field. The Ducks have been good at home with a 55-8 overall record and an 8-4 record against ranked teams.

First 3 Out:

Auburn

Against Alabama, Georgia, and LSU the Tigers are a different team at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Weird voodoo seems to happen against these three teams as evidenced by “The Prayer at Jordan-Hare” and “The Kick Six” which happened in a three-week period in 2013. On the flip side of that Auburn, also lost at home to New Mexico State in 2023.

Utah

Rice-Eccles Stadium is a little smaller than most of the stadiums on this list. The Utes have enjoyed a strong home field advantage over the years with a 49-12 record (7-7 vs ranked)

Florida

the Swamp used to be an intimidating place for opponents to play, however that hasn’t been the case the last several seasons. Florida has a 50-15 record at home since 2014 but only 5-4 against ranked teams.

After researching all of these teams and places to play I still can't figure out how EA arrived at Texas A&M at the toughest place to play.