Athlon Sports SEC Stadium Rankings: Vols Among Top Five

Athlon Sports asked 12 SEC experts to rank the SEC stadiums and they released their findings on Tuesday.

It comes as no surprise that LSU’s “Death Valley” came in first, receiving 8-of-12 first place votes.

The only other stadium to receive multiple first place votes was Georgia’s Sanford Stadium, but even that wasn’t enough to lift the Bulldogs’ sacred “Between the Hedges” to second place. That honor went to Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, despite not receiving a single first place vote. Sanford Stadium came in third.

 When Tennessee is competing for championships, there’s no better place or home field advantage in the SEC  – Jon Cooper, Saturday Down South

Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium was one of only four stadiums to receive a first place vote (Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium being the other).

CBS’s Tim Brando was the lone voter to place Neyland at the top of his list.

Jon Cooper of Saturday Down South had Neyland Stadium as the 8th best SEC stadium for 2014. He told us “Neyland is an incredible place to watch a football game, but it’s also been quiet as a mouse the last couple of years. When Tennessee is competing for championships, there’s no better place or home field advantage in the SEC.”

The Vols’ home on the river had a cumulative ranking of fourth in the poll.

Bryant-Denny Stadium rounded out the top five.

Here’s the full list of rankings and how each expert voted.

The SEC is full of great stadiums that are rich in tradition. It’s really hard to pick an unbiased favorite (although it’s hard to argue with the atmosphere in Death Valley on a Saturday night in the fall).

This list is pretty consistent with what you usually see, except for Alabama being fifth. Typically they’re battling LSU for the top spot.

Tell us what you think about Athlon Sports’ rankings in the comments below!