While Oklahoma's Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium was arguably the toughest place to play for many a year in the Big 12, it finds itself one of many in SEC Country.
Back in the 1940s and '50s, visiting teams used to refer to what Sooner fans now affectionately call the Palace on the Prairie as the "Snake Pit" because opponents rarely left town with a win when they came to play Oklahoma in Norman.
USA Today college football columnist Blake Toppmeyer, a self-proclaimed expert on SEC football venues because, he says, he has covered games at every SEC stadium, recently published a ranking of the SEC stadiums he considers the toughest places to play. He rated Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium as the toughest road environment in the SEC.
Eight stops later, he ranked Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at No. 9 on the list.
"Oklahoma's stadium fits neatly into the SEC tapestry," Toppmeyer wrote, "and the Sooner Schooner cruising the field paints a scene fit for the nation's premier football conference. With a capacity of 80,126, the 'Palace on the Prairie' doesn't match the SEC's top colossuses, but it holds its own."
OU in midst of best SEC atmospheres
It's not a coincidence that four of the five best SEC home-field environments, according to Toppmeyer (LSU, Tennessee, Texas and Alabama), all exceed 100,000 in capacity and Georgia is at 93,000. Florida seats 88,548, but as Toppmeyer quoted former Florida head coach and alum Steve Spurrier, "Only Gators get out alive from The Swamp."
It terms of pure seating size, Oklahoma ranks ninth in the SEC and 18th in the country.
In conjunction with the release of its College Football 26 video game, EA Sports listed 11 SEC stadiums in a ranking of the 26 toughest places to play in college football. Five out of the SEC ranked in the top 10, including Oklahoma at No. 8 just behind Florida.
It has been said that in the south, football is a religion, and Sunday is holy day. That being the case, Toppmeyer wrote, "Come holy day, tens of thousands of believers gather at SEC cathedrals far and wide -- a hundred-thousand strong at some venues -- and they'll scream bloody murder when the quarterback goes behind center. They'll scream other things, too, that aren't fit to print. Some of those stadiums will even tremble among the roar and the vigor."
Oklahoma has won 144 of 159 regularly scheduled games played at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium since the start of the 1999 season. That's a .906 winning percentage, which has to be one of the best home records in the country among Power Four teams over that time span. Oh, and by the way, all 159 of those games were sellouts.
The Sooners may only be ninth-best in the SEC in terms of home environment and home-field advantage, but the Palace on the Prairie still poses a mighty challenge for any visiting team no matter what conference or national standing. Just ask Alabama, ranked No. 7 in the country and in strong contention for a spot in the College Football Playoff, when the Crimson Tide came to Norman last fall.
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