LSU’s Tiger Stadium was voted as the toughest road environment for visiting teams in ESPN’s weekly college football poll of the FBS head coaches #1QFor128.
LSU’s Death Valley received 21 percent of the votes, more than doubling second-place Texas A&M, which received 9 percent of the votes in the poll, conducted by ESPN’s Brett McMurphy.
Behind LSU and Texas A&M was Oregon (6 percent) and a tie for fourth-place between Oklahoma and Wisconsin, with 5 percent each. Five schools finished tied for sixth with 4 percent each: Alabama, Clemson, Iowa, Ohio State and Virginia Tech.
Coming in at 11th place was Auburn, Tennessee and West Virginia at 3 percent each, and Florida, Penn State and South Carolina, at 2 percent each.
In all, 35 schools received votes.
The coaches from the Power 5 conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12) overwhelming voted LSU as the toughest visiting stadium environment at 21 percent. SEC rival Alabama was tied for second among Power 5 coaches along with Clemson, Oregon and Wisconsin at 7 percent each.
The coaches from the Group of 5 conferences (American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Sun Belt) chose LSU by a slim margin over Texas A&M, 22 to 16 percent. Ohio State, Oregon and Tennessee tied for third among the Group of 5 coaches with 6 percent each.
While the biggest stadiums from the more traditional programs received the majority of the votes, there were some unique answers from the coaches. Among the surprising schools that received at least one vote were: New Mexico State, Northwest Missouri State, Pittsburg (Kansas) State, Montana, Tennessee State and North Dakota State.
Of the 128 FBS coaches, 99 participated in this week’s poll.
What is the toughest road environment to play in?
LSU 21 percent
Texas A&M 9 percent
Oregon 6 percent
Oklahoma 5 percent
Wisconsin 5 percent
Alabama 4 percent
Clemson 4 percent
Iowa 4 percent
Ohio State 4 percent
Virginia Tech 4 percent
Auburn 3 percent
Tennessee 3 percent
West Virginia 3 percent
Florida 2 percent
Penn State 2 percent
South Carolina 2 percent
Schools that received 1 percent: Arizona, Arkansas, BYU, Kansas State, Marshall, Montana, Navy, Nebraska, New Mexico State, North Dakota State, Notre Dame, Northwest Missouri State, Oklahoma State, Pittsburg (Kan.) State, Syracuse, Tennessee State, Texas Tech, Utah, West Virginia.
Who the Power 5 coaches voted for
LSU 21 percent
Alabama 7 percent
Clemson 7 percent
Oregon 7 percent
Wisconsin 7 percent
Auburn 4 percent
Iowa 4 percent
Oklahoma 4 percent
Virginia Tech 4 percent
West Virginia 4 percent
Who the Group of 5 coaches voted for
LSU 22 percent
Texas A&M 16 percent
Ohio State 6 percent
Oregon 6 percent
Tennessee 6 percent
Iowa 4 percent
Oklahoma 4 percent
Virginia Tech 4 percent