Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium still seats the most with 102,455. Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium is right behind Neyland with a capacity of 101,821.

LSU is also planning an expansion to get to the capacity of 100,000, and the SEC will have four stadiums that seat 100,000-plus in a few years.

All projected numbers have an expansion and/or facelift planned in the future. A Kentucky house bill approved bonding for a Commonwealth Stadium renovation of $110 million in February, but I haven’t seen any projected numbers for seating capacity yet.

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It’s going to take awhile for those concrete and brick monstrosities to summon their storied past. Heading into this season, the usual suspects head the list of SDS’ toughest SEC venues this fall with one program in the Top 5 that could play BCS buster in January with an unbeaten home slate.

5. Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville: Between Reynolds and War Memorial, it’s tough to beat Arkansas away from home no matter what venue. Equipped with one of the country’s best quarterbacks in Tyler Wilson an arguably the SEC’s top 1-2 punch of Knile Davis and Ronnie Wingo in the backfield, the Razorbacks are going to be dominant on offense this season. As many as 80,000 can be heard screaming Woo Pig Sooie on gamedays. The LED “PigScreen” above the end zone is pretty neat and was the largest scoreboard at any stadium in the country when it was built in 2000.

4. Sanford Stadium, Athens: Between the hedges inside Georgia’s 92,700-seat, 82-year old mecca. A preseason East favorite on most accounts, Aaron Murray and Co. should have plenty to bark about at home this fall. They’ll be favored in all seven games behind scarlet and gray-clad fans hungry for an SEC title. The Georgia Dome on championship weekend could be another home game for the Bulldogs if they find success on separate road trips to Columbia, Mo. and Columbia, S.C.

3. Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia, S.C.: A new gargantuan scoreboard. Sandstorm and 2001 blasting out the speakers. A renovated Farmer’s Market and fairgrounds. As far as looks are concerned, the Gamecocks are everything an 11-2 program should be. South Carolina has talent comparable to any team in the country at the necessary skill positions with a Hall of Fame coach on the home sideline. Outside of a road trip to Baton Rouge, all of the Gamecocks’ “swing” games this season are at home, setting up South Carolina nicely for a trip to Atlanta.

2. Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa: The second largest stadium in the SEC will be all amped up after another national championship. Not that the Crimson Tide faithful needed another reason to be any louder. Alabama will likely go 7-0 at Bryant-Denny with a reasonably soft league schedule by SEC standards. What happens away from Tuscaloosa — notably at Arkansas and at LSU — will determine Alabama’s fate.

1. Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge: Eight home games with at least five guaranteed under the lights. That’s a scary proposition for opponents heading down to the Bayou this season. The preseason conference favorites are tough to beat at home and nearly untouchable at night behind the strength of 92,500 fans. South Carolina’s trip to the Honey Badger’s Lair on Oct. 13 could derail the Gamecocks’ national championship hopes. The same goes for the Crimson Tide on Nov. 3. That first Saturday in November likely decides the BCS champion front-runner.

The toughest venues for an SEC road game most always has a top-tier game day experiences associated with it, but even the less tough venues have some incredible game day experiences (look no further than Ole Miss).

Here is a ranking of the toughest venues to play a road game in SEC Football:

12. Vanderbilt Commodores – Vanderbilt Stadium at Dudley Field
11. Ole Miss Rebels – Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium
10. Kentucky Wildcats – Commonwealth Stadium

Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville kicks off our countdown of the toughest (or least tough) SEC road game venues. While the 39,790 capacity crowd might not create a buzz, the game day atmosphere is buzzing because you are in the heart of Music City. I mean, let’s be honest, teams look forward to a road game at Vanderbilt because it will give them a week feeling they are physically more of a dominant team than the Dores, and the impending game with the Dores gives the team a great chance to get out unblemished. The stadium is rarely ever full, with the visiting team having more fans than the home team. Such is life at Vanderbilt…While the tailgating at Ole Miss is superb, the scare factor of the actual game in Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium is minimal. The fans often stay in The Grove for the duration of the game and never make it inside. Therefore, the crowd can be into it at kickoff, but let’s face it – there hasn’t been much to cheer about for a couple of years now in Oxford. It seats 60,580 fans, but the capacity crowds dwindle when you’re under .500…Commonwealth Stadium is home to the Kentucky Wildcats on the gridiron. UK is a beautiful campus with great facilities, but it’s not that tough of a venue to play in on the road. It has the potential to be loud if more football fans would rise up in Lexington and suppress the basketball fans…yeah right.

9. Mississippi State Bulldogs – Davis Wade Stadium
8. Arkansas Razorbacks – Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
7. South Carolina Gamecocks – Williams-Brice Stadium

Davis Wade Stadium is home to the very loud cowbells and the home team Mississippi State Bulldogs. The stadium itself is looking to get a facelift in the near future, with State trying to raise some cash for expansion. The stadium now seats 55,082 people who are not allowed to shake their cowbell at will anymore. It puts a damper on the overall noise level, but nonetheless, it is a great venue to watch a football game. This stadium is becoming more of a home field advantage all the time for the Bulldogs…Razorback Stadium is an Astroturf facility in Fayetteville that is a tough place to play a football game. The Woo Pig Sooie cheer vibrates your inners when 76,000 crazy Hog fans are screaming it. It is a beautiful stadium and becoming a tougher place to play on the road. I think the key is Fayetteville is so far from everything else, only the die-hards stick around…Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia is becoming a tougher venue to play at now, especially with the increased in talent that is on campus. Sandstorm will be blaring again this year, and if the stadium ain’t swaying, the Gamecocks aren’t playing. Fans will be loud and proud in Williams-Brice this season.

6. Tennessee Volunteers – Neyland Stadium
5. Georgia Bulldogs – Sanford Stadium
4. Auburn Tigers – Jordan-Hare Stadium

Neyland Stadium used to be one of the most feared places to play a football game on the road, with the Vol-faithful uncontrollably excited to see their team run out the Power T. However, since the end of the Fulmer heydays, this stadium has not been feared because either everyone has a hard time showing up for the games or they leave before the game is over. Neyland is getting an upgrade as we speak, and it is always a great venue to watch a football game; truly a great setting…Sanford Stadium in the heart of Bulldog country is home to the field “between the hedges”. It is one of the best venues in the country to watch a football game because it screams SEC Football. However, with the Dawgs being vastly suppressed over the last couple of years, the idea of playing at Sanford Stadium is not as daunting as it used to be…Jordan-Hare Stadium on The Plains at Auburn is a loud stadium and truly a tough place to play. It’s surreal before the game when the War Eagle flies before kickoff. It will send chills up anyone’s spine…even you, Harvey Updyke. This is one of the loudest stadiums, with 87,451 crazy fans screaming War Damn Eagle!

3. Alabama Crimson Tide – Bryant-Denny Stadium
2. LSU Tigers – Tiger Stadium
1. Florida Gators – Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Bryant-Denny Stadium just got a facelift, and the newly renovated masterpiece in Tuscaloosa holds some of the best fans in college football who will be screaming “Roll Tide” at you all day long. The atmosphere is always buzzing, and now that it seats over 101,821 fans, it truly sucks to be an away opponent getting the “Rammer-Jammer” cheer rammed down your throats after you get beat. The history and tradition cannot be beat…Tiger Stadium, formally known as Death Valley, is one of the toughest venues to play a road game period, especially at night. LSU has won 77% of their night games since 1960, and I can imagine some of their success comes from their 90,000+ yelling purple and gold clad fans, including those drunk Swamp People…There is not a tougher venue than playing on the road in Gainesville at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. It was later referred to only as The Swamp by Steve Spurrier. The stadium is actually built in a hole, so it’s at a lower level than the elevation in which you enter. The fans are right on top of you – all 88,548 of them. It’s a crazy atmosphere, jorts and all, and it truly is one of the most recognized stadiums in the country. The Florida brand sells itself. Seeing The Swamp on game day should be on everyone’s bucket list. It could be quite possibly the toughest play to play a road game in America.

One issue that prompted the recent impasse between the National Football League and its players was a proposal to expand the regular season from 16 to 18 games. Obviously, the owners believe adding games will increase revenue (and profits). But there’s also a secret confession hidden in this idea. Since the last schedule expansion, from 14 to 16 games, in the 1970s, the NFL relied primarily on franchise expansion to increase inventory. Now, after gorging themselves on marginal pro football markets like Jacksonville, the owners have run out of viable expansion options. But if every existing team added two games to its schedule, that would increase the NFL’s total inventory by the equivalent of four expansion teams — all without having to build a single new stadium.

The SEC operates in a different competitive environment. The SEC can’t expand its schedule because NCAA rules specify a maximum of 12 regular season games. The SEC could add new members, which we’ll get to in a moment. But the most common method of adding inventory in the SEC is stadium expansion. Since 1999 every SEC stadium, save for South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium, has added capacity. The most recent was Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium (to 101,821), now the second largest in the SEC and fifth largest in all of Division I. Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium, last expanded in 2009, is the largest in the conference and fourth in the nation at 102,037.

Unlike the gargantuan NFL stadiums of recent memory — think “Jerry World” and its unsafe temporary seating just outside Dallas — SEC stadium expansion appears to be a rational response to strong consumer demand. Alabama officials noted in 2009 that they’d already received pledges for 27 of 36 new skyboxes — at $500,000 apiece — and had a waiting list of over 13,000 for new or additional season tickets. As long as SEC schools produce thousands of new alumni annually with fond memories of fall football, the demand for live attendance should remain strong.

In contrast, the NFL is now primarily a television and Internet product with a diminishing live attendance component. Indeed, the present impasse is driven by franchise operators who remain wedded to a bloated, outdated stadium model. While the SEC is no stranger to television — the conference earns over $200 million annually from CBS and ESPN — live attendance will continue to drive the bus for the foreseeable future.

More importantly, there’s no obvious method for expanding the television inventory of SEC games. As noted above, the league cannot add to its existing schedule because NCAA bylaws cap all schools at 12 regular season games. It’s highly unlikely the NCAA — which includes many more smaller schools that would not benefit from additional games — will change that rule anytime soon. There’s also no postseason expansion possibilities: The NCAA limits conferences like the SEC to a single championship game and, of course, the post-season bowls.

That leaves expanding the number of schools in the conference itself. There was talk during the last round of conference-expansion musical chairs that Texas A&M might abandon the sinking ship of the Big 12 for the SEC. One could also see the SEC “raiding” the Big East and the ACC for some of its members within the SEC footprint, such as Miami, Clemson, or Georgia Tech. Or one could get radical — as the Big East did when it added Texas Christian — and make a bold move into a new territory, say by adding West Virginia.

But there’s no logical reason to assume expansion would appreciably help the SEC given the current NCAA regulatory environment. The recent conference expansions are based primarily around another NCAA bylaw that requires a conference to have at least 12 football members in order to hold a conference championship game. That’s why the Pac-10 will soon be the Pac-12 and the Big East is willing to venture all the way into Texas to move closer to that magic number of 12.

The SEC pioneered the conference championship game when it added Arkansas and South Carolina as its 11th and 12th members in 1991. As long as the NCAA’s rules remain as-is, there’s really no reason to go beyond 12 members. More members mean more partners who require a share of common revenues like television contracts. Unless you add a school that will significantly increase those common revenues — and I’m not sure even Texas A&M would fit that bill — expansion is just watering down your core product.

This is especially true given the current postseason structure of college football. In basketball, bigger can be better. The Big East, which has 16 basketball members, secured 11 berths in this year’s men’s basketball tournament — 10 of the 34 available at-large berths in addition to the automatic qualifier. That will produce a nice windfall for the conference regardless of how far any one team advances.

But with college football’s Bowl Championship Series, a bigger conference is more likely to hurt than help.  There are no more than four at-large berths available in any given year for the five major bowls, including the BCS Championship Game. In 2009 the SEC only received one of those berths, Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. The SEC faces increasingly strong competition from the non-automatic qualifying conferences for these at-large berths, and expanding the SEC would only work to their opponents’ advantage. After all, while a 14- or 16-member SEC beats up on itself even more heavily, an undefeated WAC team can quietly work its way into a BCS bowl.

Most problematic, a larger SEC lessens the chance of any one team going undefeated — or even winning the conference with just one loss — reducing the likelihood of the conference getting a spot in the big-money BCS Championship Game. Given the SEC’s current streak of five consecutive BCS championship victories, it would be foolish to do anything that might jeopardize the status quo.

Any future SEC expansion should only come about in conjunction with a radical shift in college football’s overall regulatory environment. Hypothetically speaking, if the current “Big Six” BCS conferences moved to separate themselves entirely from the NCAA and establish some sort of independent “College Football League,” with a postseason tournament and possibly longer regular-season schedules, then the SEC might want to rethink its current membership. But as long as stadium demand remains strong and the conference is locked-in to its long term television deals — and the NCAA’s established, if ineffective bureaucracy remains in charge — then 12 remains the perfect number of members for the SEC and other major football conferences.

Previous Articles from S.M. Oliva:

• How College Football Scandals Are Shredding The NCAA Foundational Principle of Amateurism
• The Market For Head Coaches In College Football

The stage has been set for a few weeks and the tickets have been printed. On Saturday we will get to witness the SEC Championship game live from Atlanta as South Carolina will represent the East, and Auburn will represent the west. We have already looked at what the championship game means to the Gamecocks so now we are going to take a look at what it means to the Tigers.

Auburn has gotten accustomed to controversy over the last couple of years. Think back to when Gene Chizik was booed getting off the plane as he was named the new head coach. Allegations about the recruitment of Cam Newton lead to one comedian joking that it was a great weekend for Pro Football with NFL Games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday, and Auburn playing on Friday. And against Georgia a couple of weeks ago, things got a little out of hand and assistant coaches were wrapping themselves around their players’ ankles and being dragged down the field. About the only thing that hasn’t been controversial for Auburn is their record: 12-0.

Newton has lead the Tigers to an undefeated season with his legs and arms, and he has them only one win away from a spot in the BCS Championship Game against Oregon or TCU. It hasn’t been an easy road for them, especially over the last few weeks. Alabama had a 24-0 lead before Auburn turned up the heat and took the Iron Bowl on the sacred ground of Bryant-Denny Stadium and the Tigers rallied to come back and beat Georgia in a wild game a couple of weeks ago. Throw that in with a tough win against South Carolina and squeaking out a win on a last second field goal at Kentucky – you can’t deny that fact that Auburn is tested and deserves a shot at a National Championship.

That is what this championship game means for Auburn. South Carolina doesn’t have much to lose in a contest like this. Let’s be frank, the yard birds are content with just proving to the world that they can make it to the SEC Championship game. If they lose, so what? They will still go to a pretty nice bowl game and I know the difference between a BCS Bowl and the Capital One Bowl is about $12 Million dollars, but still, the Gamecock faithful will be similar to the Cincinnati Reds and just be happy they made it.

Auburn, on the other hand, has everything to lose. And let me put this in the context of right here, right now. The white elephant in the room is Cam Newton. Did he or didn’t he (or, better yet, did his father Cecil) pimp out his football skills to the highest bidder during the off-season? As of this moment right now, it doesn’t matter. Yesterday, the NCAA ruled him an eligible college athlete, and he is a great one at that. He should be the odds on favorite for the Heisman and could very possibly be a first round pick in next years NFL Draft. But if he Auburn stumbles and loses to South Carolina and misses out on the BCS National Championship game, then this has to be considered a failure. Remember, I’m talking about the here and now. Sure, if I would have said that losing a game in the sixth, seventh or eighth week of the year would have made the season a failure, you could have called me crazy. But now that you have gone undefeated and have a chance to play for all the marbles, then losing is absolutely not an option.

And let me play devil’s advocate for a moment and let’s say that Newton is later ruled ineligible. If you are going to have to forfeit a season, would you rather forfeit a 13-1 season or a 14-0 season? I know for me, I would sleep better vacating a perfect season and national championship because I could at least say that we played everybody, we beat everybody, and no matter what the record book says, there is still video proof somewhere that we were the best team in college football during the 2010 season. But if you don’t take care of business against South Carolina on Saturday, it doesn’t matter what happens to your season and your quarterback in the future. It doesn’t matter that you came back in the Iron Bowl. It won’t matter if you beat anybody else in any other bowl game. All that matters is beating Steve Spurrier in the SEC Championship game, and then beating Oregon or TCU or whoever might get the call for the BCS Championship game.

So for the Tigers, the SEC Championship game simply means a trip to the BCS Championship game. Everything else is just like dominos: take down the first one and all the others will fall into place.

Alabama has a chance to beat an undefeated Auburn team, and they could possibly end their national title run with a win in this game – if things play out accordingly in other areas of the BCS. As we all know, it is better to lose early than lose late for BCS purposes – it’s just the system.

Auburn has the best player in the country, and quite possibly the best team in the country, but they will come into Alabama’s house with possibly the most daunting rushing attack ever to play in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Expect Tuscaloosa to start getting their minds right this week, as they take on a lowly Georgia State team. Auburn, on the other hand, is one of the many teams that has a bye week before they play Alabama.

For Auburn, if they lose the Iron Bowl game, they could be out of the national title hunt. We will just have to see how the BCS plays out in regards to that. However, they have a chance to run the table, get to Atlanta undefeated and head into Glendale for the National Title undefeated. Expect Auburn to have a great game plan with two weeks to prepare for the Tide.

So, with this game still two weeks away, the match up has lost a bit of luster, but don’t expect Alabama to just lay down for Auburn. Expect Alabama to start getting hyped this week and win a football game against Georgia State, and come into next week’s game with a clear and focused mind, as they could end Auburn’s magical run.

It has been well documented over the years about the distance from Starkville, Mississippi, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. However, this year when Mississippi State makes the 84 mile trip to play #12 ranked Alabama, Nick Saban and his staff will face a totally different Mississippi State team than years past. The Bulldogs come to town ranked #19 in the nation and on a 6 game winning streak, not to mention they have the same record as the Tide (7-2).

Most years Mississippi State is over-matched talent-wise, but it never fails, State will play Alabama as hard as anyone on their schedule. All time, Alabama leads the series 72-18-3, but the rivalry has been closer lately. In the past 4 years, the series is tied 2-2, with Alabama winning the last two. Besides playing at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Mississippi State carries many advantages into this game. The Bulldogs are coming off a bye week, and Alabama is coming off their second loss of the season that all but eliminated them from any kind of championship this season.

One thing that never changes is the familiarity between these two teams, because Mississippi State has 14 players on their roster from the state of Alabama. One of those players just happens to be starting QB Chris Relf. The 6’4”, 240lb Montgomery, Alabama, native comes into the game throwing for 926 yards passing and 507 yards rushing, for a total of 10 touchdowns on the season. Relf has single-handedly accounted for over 40% of the Mississippi State offense. Dan Mullen has a game film from LSU on how to beat the Crimson Tide with a running quarterback, and Chris Relf is almost exactly like Jordan Jefferson. However, Relf does not throw many interceptions, and that does not bode well for Alabama— as I wrote in an earlier article.

According to Rivals, Relf was only shown interest by Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, and the only SEC team to give him an offer was Mississippi State. As if playing in his home state is not enough motivation, beating his home state team that did not offer him is a huge motivation for Relf. Of course, not only would it be big for Relf, but a win against Alabama would be a landmark win for Dan Mullen and his staff. This weekend will be huge for both teams. Bama will be playing to finish strong going for momentum for next season, and the Bulldogs will be playing for one of their best seasons in a long time.

When Chris Relf goes under center for Mississippi State, it will not be the first time that Alabama fans have had to watch a quality quarterback from Alabama playing for another team. Below is a list of quarterbacks from Alabama that have played out of state:

Tarvaris Jackson – College: Arkansas/Alabama State (2001-2005) Hometown: Montgomery —Jackson is most notably the backup for Brett Favre with the Minnesota Vikings.

Tee Martin – College: Tennessee (1996-1999) Hometown: Mobile —Martin led Tennessee to the National Championship in 1998. Having an Alabama native lead the Volunteers to a Championship was tough for the Alabama Faithful to swallow.

Chris Nickson – College: Vanderbilt (2004-2007) Hometown: Brundidge – Yes it seems odd for him to be on this list, but Alabama fans will tell you the two years he was the starter were not easy wins over the Commodores. In 2006, the Tide won by a field goal and 2007 was no cake walk.

Philip Rivers – College: NC State (2000-2003) Hometown: Decatur — Rivers is considered by many to currently be one of the top five active quarterbacks in the NFL. How this guy ever got out of the state is still baffling to me.

Jamarcus Russell – College: LSU (2003-2006) Hometown: Mobile — Who can forget Russell’s overtime heroics to derail the Tide’s 2005 undefeated season? (Just to note: Russell was even seen wearing some Alabama bling after he was drafted in the NFL)

Chris Smelley – College: South Carolina (2006-2008) Hometown: Tuscaloosa — Smelley makes this list simply because he was from Tuscaloosa. However, he was a highly rated prospect coming out of high school.

Pat White – College: West Virginia (2005-2008) Hometown: Daphne — Watching this guy pile up the yardage for the Mountaineers did make Alabama fans question the John Parker Wilson era at times.

I’m sure I may have missed some other players, but these guys are very notable players to leave the state of Alabama.

Feel free to send in other qualifiers and add to the list of quarterbacks who left the state of Alabama.

Apparently, this is the new mantra for LSU and Coach Les Miles. It joins such favorites in the Les Miles lexicon like “My Damn Strong Football Team” and “Have a Great Day.” The victory against Alabama has made Les a media darling not to be poked fun of, but rather a college football folk hero that should be considered a treasure to the sport. It’s funny how winning alters perception. Another example of this…Would there be an inferno in Toomer’s Corner if Auburn was 6-3? Maybe, but, probably not.

Speaking of Auburn, is it too soon to say LSU is undefeated against teams with eligible players? “Camgate” is starting to cast a long and vile shadow across this year’s SEC season and leaving many to doubt the validity of Auburn’s record. I really don’t want to take away what Auburn has done on the field this year, but all the smoke is too hard to ignore. In Louisiana, the venom is starting to boil over as many realize that LSU is probably undefeated and a BCS title contender if Cam isn’t at Auburn. Many are very anxious to see how quickly this plays out.

However, we can’t change the past and LSU must focus on winning its three remaining games against ULM, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. Finishing 11-1 will put LSU in favorable position for an At-Large BCS invite and a top 5 finish. This would wildly exceed the expectations of many who thought the Bayou Bengals would not win more than seven or eight games this year. As for a shot at the title, at the very minimum, Oregon, Auburn and TCU would have to take a loss for LSU to make the game. Stranger things have happened though…2007 anyone?

For any BCS talk to happen, LSU needs to take care of business this week. Coach Les Miles is preparing his team for the Warhawks’ best shot. ULM is not afraid to go at it with SEC teams and took down Alabama at Bryant-Denny in Saban’s first year. This game will give the Tigers an opportunity to build on the success from last week and get in a groove for the remaining SEC games. It will also mark the return of guard Will Blackwell, who was injured in the UNC game. Blackwell was considered the Tiger’s best and nastiest lineman and it will be interesting to see if he can regain that form in time for Ole Miss and Arkansas. Defensive back, Brandon Taylor is out for the game. Although the Tiger faithful would love to see LSU cover the 34 point spread, the staff will do just enough to keep the game out of reach for the Warhawks. Les Miles will get the starters some work in the first half and then work in some younger players and reward some seldom used back-ups with playing time. Aside from winning, the main focus will be getting some solid work done and keeping the starters healthy.

Nevis-tation. Drake Nevis’ performance against Alabama earned him the Walter Camp award for the best defensive player in the nation last week. Nevis registered seven tackles, one sack, forced a fumble, broke up a pass and generally made life miserable for the Alabama offensive line. Not to be outshined, Kelvin Sheppard earned SEC defensive player of the week honors for his efforts against Alabama, which included seven tackles, a half sack, a fumble recovery and an interception.