Distance SEC Teams Travel to Bowl Games vs Opponents

by Iowa Hawkeye
(Iowa)

One thing that never seems to be taken into account is the location of the bowl games.

Big Ten schools are always "on the road" for Bowl games.

LSU has played in the Sugar Bowl in Louisiana.
Florida (even this year) often plays bowl games in the state of Florida. In any given year - most of the SEC teams are not far from home.

And from the Big Ten perspective, often the Rose Bowl is literally a home field for the Pac Ten team (USC or UCLA). Certainly not this year.

I’m not saying that this makes the Big Ten better than the SEC – but it does make a difference.

Here are this year's -- 2010 - 2011 Bowl Games SEC teams and the miles the game is from the SEC school vs. their opponent:

Tennessee plays in Nashville: 180 to 512
Georgia plays in Memphis: 452 to 783
South Carolina plays in Atlanta: 215 to 269
Alabama plays in Orlando: 563 to 1,211
Florida plays in Tampa: 131 to 1,108
Mississippi St. plays in Jacksonville: 568 to 996
Arkansas plays in New Orleans: 613 to 910
LSU plays in Arlington, TX: 450 to 188
Kentucky plays in Birmingham, AL: 406 to 754
Auburn plays in Glendale, AZ: 1,777 to 1,224

Only LSU (vs. Texas A&M in Texas) and Auburn (vs. Oregon in Glendale) have further to travel than their opponents and only those two don't have games in "SEC country".

How do you think the SEC would fare if they had to play their bowl games in Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin or Ohio every year?

I think the numbers would be very different.

Home field advantage is always taken into account in the regular season - why not in the bowl season?