There's no place like home for LSU football. Tiger Stadium is electric; 100k fans under the lights make Death Valley one of the marquee atmospheres in college football. But what happens when the energy is muted?
It was no myth that LSU came out slow and sluggish in their season opener against Mississippi State. Monday, more than a week after the loss, Tigers coach Ed Orgeron admitted that the changes in capacity and pregame activities affected his team.
"The home game at LSU, we're so dependent on the Tiger Walk and the energy, that it was difficult to match. Obviously, it's always going to be difficult to match," he said.
The boost teams get from the home crowd is part of the home-field advantage, and while teams can pump in sound noise, it's not quite the same. At Vanderbilt the Commodores did just that, to no affect.
"I got a little worried because we didn't practice crowd noise all week, which we usually do going to play an away game," coach Orgeron said. " But they could only play, I think it's 75 decibels loud when we're out there, which is not very loud."
Without fans, the home-field advantage is stunted. But on the road, teams are accustomed to playing without fans there to give them a jolt. Playing on the road is more familiar in that aspect right now. Perhaps LSU can find a rhythm there.
The Tigers play five of their first seven away from Tiger Stadium including their first ever trip to Missouri Saturday.
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