SEC Road Games Are More Dangerous Than Ever

What I’m about to tell you isn’t going to blow your mind. It probably won’t even be anything new to you, and you’ll probably say, “Bobby, I already know that. Why am I even reading this?”

That’s actually a good question, one that I hope you’ll be able to answer for yourself someday. And I digress.

Nevertheless, here is my claim: SEC road games are killer.

Yes, I know that since the beginning of the universe, a team would typically have even a slight advantage by default if it was playing on its own turf.

Home field advantage is, and always has been, a very real thing.

But in this year’s SEC, home field advantage could have been the divider between a team’s playoff chances and playing in whatever bowl game they put in Birmingham these days.

This year, you have to be more careful than ever to bring your absolute best on every trip away from home, because if you don’t, it doesn’t matter who you are and who you’re playing. They could beat you.

Just ask Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Georgia, teams who have all seen their playoff chances all but nixed because of at least one bad road defeat.

Alabama and Mississippi State each have one loss, both of which occurred on the road.

For worse or much worse, every SEC team has been quite different outside of their own stadiums.

Take a look at this graphic, which details the differences in every SEC team’s home and road performances, based on records, points per game, points given up, yards per game, yards given up, and turnover margin.

Unless you’re a Vanderbilt or Missouri fan (two exceptions I’ll embellish upon in a moment), your beloved SEC squad shows at least one glaring weakness in its road games.

Take Auburn and Alabama, for example. Each team scores roughly 20 points less and gives up around eight points more in road games. Despite averaging over 500 yards a game at home, each team drops just below 400 yards a game away from home.

Alabama has a negative turnover margin on the road, and Auburn’s defense gives up over 400 yards a game in such contests.

Each team is completely different outside of Tuscaloosa and Auburn. Every team, for that matter, looks rather unfamiliar when it leaves its city limits.

Every team in the SEC has at least one road loss. Except for one.

Now to those two exceptions. First, I consider Vanderbilt to be an exception simply because they’re completely terrible. They lose anywhere.

The real interesting piece to this strange puzzle is Missouri. Did you notice that they are the only SEC team still undefeated on the road?

In a strange twist of fate, the Tigers seem to actually play much better away from home. In road games, they put up more points and yards, their margin of victory drastically improves, they give up fewer yards, and their turnover margin even improves.

But I guess that’s what we should expect from the SEC’s most bizarre team, the one who beat Florida in Gainesville despite only totaling 119 yards of offense.

Oh, and that Missouri team could win the SEC East, which would put them in Atlanta in a couple of weeks. Away from Columbia, Missouri.

To be honest, they probably wouldn’t beat Alabama, Auburn, or the Mississippi schools in its own stadium, but on a neutral field it played on just last year? Who knows?

Just food for thought.

Normally, I wouldn’t even be discussing the “significance” of something that is commonplace in any sort of competition, but this year, it might be the most influential factor in what form the league will take come season’s end.

Look at every major shift (playoff or conference title implications, surprising losses, etc.) this year in the SEC, and you’ll find that in a vast majority of them, the home team emerged victorious.

Alabama’s first loss? On the road against Ole Miss.

Auburn’s first loss? On the road against Mississippi State.

Mississippi State’s first loss? On the road against Alabama.

Ole Miss’s first loss? On the road against LSU.

Georgia’s first loss? On the road against South Carolina.

And those are just a few examples of highly ranked, nationally relevant teams falling because of the advanced difficulty of playing on the road in the Southeastern Conference.

All of these games, in their respective weeks, played pivotal roles in shaping the state of the SEC title race and the College Football Playoff.

Now there are a few exceptions, such as Texas A&M’s win at Auburn, Mississippi State’s win at LSU, and Auburn’s win at Ole Miss. But for the most part, most of the defining wins of the conference this season have gone to the home team.

Mississippi State’s win as the third-ranked team nationally over then second-ranked Auburn propelled them to the top of the polls and cemented their place at the pinnacle.

And then Alabama accomplished the exact same thing with their win over Mississippi State this past weekend. They’re now sitting at the top of the polls.

Don’t go to sleep when you play on the road; it will cost you. Just ask any undefeated SEC team this year.

Do you hear that? Oh, that’s right. There are none left.