BOL Round Table

OP speaks the truth. I don't know if our guys get a bigger charge out of going into enemy territory or what, but it does seem like we play with more energy on the road.

Op is right

Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but on TV night games at Bryant-Denny appear less well lit than other stadiums. Anyone else notice this? It's like our stadium lights are on a dimmer.

I agree with what you're saying but I also tend to agree with the OP here some, although I'd probably that has more to do with who we're playing & the circumstances surrounding each particular game, as opposed to it purely being a home vs away thing.

Also, & I don't have any data to back what I'm saying up, as it relates to this, but my hunch is that what MBP just said about Coach Saban possibly coaching more conservative, when we're at home, may also play into us sometimes appearing to not playing as focused at home, sometimes. May not be the case at all but I know that some old school coaches/managers were brought up believing that you play for the tie when you're at home & you play for the win when you're on the road.

When you're on the road you've definitely got at least one more factor playing against you, the crowd, which can probably lead to your players wanting to "make a statement" & therefore being a little more focused all week, along with having far less distractions on the actual game weekend, as well. That said, I have a hard time thinking that we wouldn't have brought our A game for the Michigan game, no matter what, as it was the first game of the season.

I do worry that this weeks game, with the way things played out last week & our defense probably hearing our coaches tell them all week that this was the first true test that they'd get from a top of the line passing game (that people were already questioning whether they could stop it), along with it being on the road, & with it being Mississippi State that we're playing this week (who, traditionally, you don't think of as a team that should worry us at all), especially at home, coupled with us playing LSU on the road next week, that this game has sort of fallen into what you'd consider as being a potential trap game. Hopefully them being ranked right outside the top 10 & being undefeated, however, will outweigh all of those other factors.

the thing all these MSU fans need to understand is that Bama was plying Tennessee in Knoxville and MSU was playing Tennessee at Home. MSU gave up 31 points to Tennessee at home. We gave up 13 points to Tennessee in Knoxville.