Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gator Nation get props at SEC Media Days
· Yahoo Sports
Missouri football head coach Eliah Drinkwitz gave props to Gator Nation and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium during his appearance at the SEC Media Days on Monday.
A nine-game schedule in the SEC means some teams are going to play in several hostile environments each season. Whether that's taken into account when the College Football Playoff Committee makes its pick is unknown, but Drinkwitz noted Florida's impact on last year's 12-team field.
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“We don’t get credit for the environments that we play in,” Drinkwitz said. “We were told that Texas was downgraded for their bad loss versus Florida. Guys, Florida had a bunch of players drafted. But have you been to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium? It’s one of the top 15 stadiums in the world. In the world. If you have a ranking of top 15 stadiums in the world, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is gonna be one of them.”
Coach Drinkwitz is right.
USA TODAY recently placed Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at No. 2 on its list of the best SEC stadiums, and Florida sits at No. 14 in the corresponding program rankings. Even if Florida is in a valley and not a peak, the Gators brand, the Chomp and "Won't Back Down" before the fourth quarter make BHG one of the toughest places to play in the sport.
"The Gators don’t back down at The Swamp," Blake Toppenmeyer wrote. "Consider last season: Florida went 4-2 at home, including an upset of Texas, and 0-6 away from The Swamp. The past 10 years, Florida has a .754 home winning clip, compared to .391 in road or neutral games. Florida fans singing Tom Petty in unison before the fourth quarter is peak college football."
EA Sports also agrees. The resurrection of the College Football video game franchise has come with new-gen mechanics, such as stadium prestige affecting how the user and computer-controlled teams perform. The tougher the environment, the tougher it is to complete a pass or successfully call an audible. Ben Hill Griffin ranks No. 7 on EA Sports' toughest places to play ranking at launch of the most recent title in the series.
If opposing coaches, gamers, and the media are all in agreement, it's safe to say Florida has an elite gameday atmosphere heading into the 2026 fall season.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gator Nation get props at SEC Media Days