how big of a "home field advantage" do they really have???
found this bit of info on one of the sites that I frequent ... interesting info/numbers:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>We've heard a lot about LSU's "Death Valley" and how it's The Most Intimidating Place To Play In College FootballTM, right?
I understand that it's loud and there's something to say for that. But Tiger Stadium isn't the visitor killer that people think. And it certainly hasn't been that menacing for visitin SEC teams. Here are some numbers comparing DV against UGA's Sanford Stadium (never listed as a threatening place to play, and rightly so):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
LSU home record - '93 - '03 (including this year's 3 home games)
46-23 including a 26-11 record from '98 - present
(Remember 1998 when UGA came into "Death Valley" with a rookie QB against the #6 Tigers at night and won?)
That's an overall winning % of .667 from '93 to the present (and .703 from '98 to the present)
UGA home record - '93 - '03 (including this year's 2 home games)
45-18 including a 27-6 record from '98 - present
(Remember 1999 when LSU came into unheralded Sanford Stadium and lost?)
That's an overall winning % of .714 from '93 to the present (and .818 [!] from '98 to the present)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So it would seem to me that Sanford Stadium is just as menacing if not more menacing based on these numbers than the vaunted Tiger Stadium. LSU is no more dangerous than Sanford. Hell, Georgia has a 10 game home winning streak vs LSU's 4. And Sanford isn't one of the loudest places to play as Tiger Stadium is usually described (though Sanford is larger than DV now).
The truth is, there are a lot more dangerous places to play in the SEC (Like FU and UT, for instance) and LSU's field gets a lot of (maybe too much) hype. That's not even mentioning places like Ann Arbor, Ohio Stadium, the OB, Neyland, Norman, Florida Field, and FSU - all places that have had long home winning streaks in recent memory.
I'm not saying that LSU doesn't have a good home record in DV. 67% isn't a bad record over the past 10 years. And according to the LSU website, "Since that first game in Tiger Stadium, LSU has gone on to post a 329-136-18 (.700) overall mark." Pretty good record. But also according to the site, "Since 1960, LSU is 182-61-4 (.745) at night in Tiger Stadium compared to a 14-20-3 (.419) record during the day over that span." Saturday's game is at 3:30 eastern (2:30 central).
The LSU/UGA game is not going to be at night - which is when LSU really says DV gets wild. The game will be a close one, but UGA won't be scared by "Death Valley". <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
