Texas A&M Has The Worst Home Field Advantage in the SEC
By Ty Duffy
Texas A&M has a vaunted reputation as a difficult place to play. Kyle Field has the “12th man.” The stadium holds 102,733 people. Some of them yell at midnight. It gets loud. UCLA QB Josh Rosen was ridiculed for dismissing concerns about the loudness of the stadium ahead of their game this weekend.
Here’s the thing. It’s all a mirage. Texas A&M has the worst home field advantage in the SEC. Here is a table of the winning percentage differentials home vs. road in the SEC. LSU, South Carolina, and Georgia play much better at home. Texas A&M? Not so much.
LSU: .250
South Carolina: .250
Georgia: .246
Ole Miss: .187
Mississippi State: .187
Kentucky: .125
Florida: .103
Arkansas: .098
Auburn: .063
Tennessee: .062
Vanderbilt: .062
Alabama: .000
Missouri: -.063
Texas A&M: -.247
The Aggies are 6-9 at home in the SEC under Kevin Sumlin, while going 11-6 on the road. That has been trending downward. They have lost five of their past seven SEC games at Kyle Field.
Texas A&M’s win over Mississippi State last season was notable. It was the Aggies’ first home win over an SEC team that finished the season above .500 under Sumlin. The Aggies have beaten five such SEC teams on the road.
How does that Kyle Field crowd factor in during tight ball games? Texas A&M is 1-6 in one-score SEC games at home and 6-1 in one-score SEC games away from home.
Perhaps Kevin Sumlin just chokes at home. Maybe Aggie players lose the plot trying to match their own fans’ intensity. It could be the Aggies are just warriors on the road. Whatever the cause, in games that matter, Kyle Field provides Texas A&M no discernible advantage. They have played significantly worse there since joining the SEC.