SEC Football: Ranking Each Program's Facilities

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14. Vanderbilt Commodores

Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports

Vanderbilt Stadium had a new field installed last season, but it still needs some work to rise to SEC standards. A new locker room and team meeting room are being built at the McGugin Center, and an indoor practice facility will be ready by 2014. Unfortunately, the Commodores’ stadium is the smallest and probably the visually appealing in the league, and the facilities just aren’t up to par with the big boys. But hey, I hear the Vandy library system facilities are second to none.

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13. Kentucky Wildcats

J. Glover-Wikimedia Commons

The Nutter Training Facility has been Kentucky’s football home since 1987. New practice fields were added in 2005, and the complex is highlighted by a 9,000-square foot weight room and new locker room. The Nutter Field House includes a 100-yard practice field, and Commonwealth Stadium has a new locker room complex as well as new video boards and audio system. Kentucky’s downfall is the simple fact that the athletic complex is more than 25-years old, which is ancient by SEC standards.

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12. South Carolina Gamecocks

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Williams-Brice Stadium is the highlight of the Gamecocks’ facilities and is one of the better venues in the conference at a capacity of 80,250. The weight room is new and spacious, and the Gamecocks have also recently redone the locker room – both of which are housed at the stadium. The rest of the facilities, however, are lagging slightly. South Carolina only has a 50-yard indoor practice facility, and the coaches’ offices are badly in need of renovation. But the Gamecocks’ success on the field has proven that winning doesn’t require state-of-the-art everything.

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11. Ole Miss Rebels

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The Rebels' all-in-one indoor practice facility is one of the more underrated ones in the country. Everything that the players need is right there: the weight room, the locker room and the coaches’ offices, which overlook the indoor practice field. There’s also a tunnel that takes the players directly into Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, which is pretty cool. The stadium itself has seen several upgrades and expansions in recent years, boosting the Rebels’ gameday appeal for recruits, alumni and fans.

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10. Missouri Tigers

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Memorial Stadium will have a noticeably new look this season, including a renovated west press box/luxury suite tower, as well as a change to the historical hill beyond the north end zone. A $16 million expansion and renovation project opens this summer. The Mizzou Athletics Training Complex, which opened in 2008 at a cost of $16 million, registers at over 101,000 square feet of total space and is a one-stop shop for Tigers football players. The locker room has eight 30-inch HD televisions, and its lounge features a 65-inch TV and gaming consoles. Another lounge down the hall has a TV, pool tables and comfy couches. Mizzou also has a $200 million master plan for improvements to all of its athletic facilities.

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9. Mississippi State Bulldogs

Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

The Bulldogs moved into the brand new Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex this year, a $25 million building with approximately 80,000 square feet of space. The facility includes a new weight room, locker room, training room and coaches’ offices. Located immediately north and adjacent to the Palmeiro Center, the complex overlooks the football practice fields. Mississippi State is also planning to continue the upgrades to Scott Field, which has steadily improved over the last 10 years. The $80 million project, dubbed the 2014 Davis Wade expansion, will add 5,000 to 7,000 new seats.

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8. Texas A&M Aggies

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What the Aggies have now is first-rate, and they’re in the process of doing some renovations to the football complex. The Bright Football Complex includes the locker room, athletic training room, rehabilitation complex, meeting rooms, coaches’ offices, players’ lounge and academic center under one roof. A&M football players are conveniently located near all kinds of student-athlete support right at the south end of Kyle Field. The Aggies could easily move toward the top of the list when those renovations are complete, along with the expansion of Kyle Field to 102,500 capacity, making it the biggest stadium in the SEC.

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7. Arkansas Razorbacks

Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports

The Hogs already had some of the best facilities in the league, but the football operations just moved into an impressive new $35 million Fred W. Smith Center. The facility includes new locker facilities, football offices, training and hydrotherapy areas, along with new meeting rooms and equipment room. It adjoins the indoor practice facility, which also includes the weight room. The Smith center is part of an estimated $40 million project that also includes two outdoor practice fields atop a 225-space parking deck at Razorback Road and Meadow Street just south of Razorback Stadium. Arkansas already had a full indoor practice facility, and Razorback Stadium has seen some of the greatest improvements of any venue in the conference in recent years.

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6. Florida Gators

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The Gators’ football facilities were spruced up considerably a few years ago under Urban Meyer, and are located right there at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (The Swamp), which was most recently improved in 2012. The James W. “Bill” Heavener Football Complex was built to “wow” recruits and fans as they come through the front door, and “wow” it does. The sparkling entrance to the football offices features loads of trophies and memorabilia. The new weight room was the crown jewel of the new facility, upgrading from less than 10,000 square feet to close to 25,000 square feet. Right off the atrium is the 4,000 square-foot Gator Room, which includes seating capacity for up to 200 people and a state-of-the-art audio and visual system, including a 20-foot HD projection screen. But Florida doesn’t have an indoor practice facility, and the practice fields aren’t very close to the stadium.

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5. Auburn Tigers

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The Tigers opened a new $16.5 million, 92,000-square foot indoor practice facility in 2012 that includes a 100-yard field. And the school just released renderings to a potential expansion of Jordan-Hare Stadium, which is already one of the best venues in college football. Auburn previously had a smaller building that housed a 40-yard field and could only be used for smaller workouts. The new facility connects to the main athletic building and student academic center with everything centrally located for the players. The main complex is older, built in 1989, but it’s been renovated multiple times and now is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment. In addition to a spruced-up locker room and weight room, players have access to a training room that includes the latest in sports medicine equipment, a Jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam room. There is also a 5,035-square foot museum off the main lobby that showcases the memorabilia of Auburn’s traditions and achievements.

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4. Georgia Bulldogs

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There’s no question Sanford Stadium is one of the best in the country. A $40 million expansion and renovation of Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall was completed in 2012, and the new facilities are as fine as any in the country. It boasts a new weight room, new football offices, and updates to the administration offices and the main exhibition area. The team meeting rooms and lounges are as nice as they come, and the weight room and hydrotherapy center are the perfect setting for work and recovery. Georgia doesn’t have a full indoor practice facility, but the Bulldogs do have a 30-yard indoor field that allows them to warm up. The locker room has a commons area that features televisions, massage centers, computer stations and video game stations. It’s the nicest Dawg house in the country, without a doubt.

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3. Tennessee Volunteers

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Not only has Neyland Stadium gotten a multi-million dollar facelift over the past few years, but the Vols recently moved into the brand new $45 million, 145,000-square foot Anderson Training Center. Tennessee already had an indoor practice facility, but their new digs include everything from a MMA fighting cage, to a restaurant, to cell phone recharging stations in the players’ dressing cubicles in the locker room. It also features a 22,000-square foot, multi-level weight room, a new hydrotherapy area and an updated football hall of fame. Furthermore, the Anderson Training Center provides athletes direct access to both the 120-yard indoor football field and Haslam Field, Tennessee's two outdoor football practice fields. Good Ol’ Rocky Top… woooo!

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2. LSU Tigers

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LSU’s Football Operations Center is an all-in-one complex that includes the locker room, weight room, training room, video operations center and the coaches’ offices. The name itself is impressive, and a life-size bronze statue of a Bengal tiger greets visitors to the complex. Built in 2006, it also has a full indoor practice field and is conveniently located right across the street from the fear-inducing Tiger Stadium, which is soon to be expanded to an even more frightening capacity. The entrance, or atrium, of this crown jewel includes a towering trophy case displaying the program’s achievements, and the practice fields are all right there behind the building. The locker room boasts plasma TVs in all directions, and the players’ lounge has a 70-inch TV, Xbox gaming consoles, a pool table, a foosball table and computers with internet access. Anyone would be impressed with what LSU has going on down in the Bayou.

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1. Alabama Crimson Tide

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With the recent overhaul of the athletic complex and several recent upgrades and expansions to Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama is the unquestioned king of facilities in the SEC. It seems that every other school is looking up at the Crimson Tide in every relevant way. Everything you need is right there at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility, including a full indoor practice complex. The Tide have a brand new weight room, a hydrotherapy center with waterfalls, a players’ lounge with a full arcade (no quarters required), lockers with a safe for personal belongings and, yes, a climate-controlled room for players’ shoes. The kicker? All of this is located a mere two blocks or so from the towering 100,000-plus stadium. You can’t do it any better than the Crimson Tide, and they know it.