Boone Pickens Stadium Absent from EA Sports’ Top 25 ‘Toughest Places to Play’

The Cowboys have lost just five games in Boone Pickens Stadium across the past five seasons, but that wasn’t enough for EA Sports to put the Pokes’ home field on its ‘Toughest Places to Play’ list.

EA Sports released its 25 toughest stadiums to play in on Tuesday in part of its rollout for the highly anticipated video game releasing next month. The list in total wasn’t all that kind with the new-look Big 12, as Utah was the only Big 12 program to make the list, coming in at No. 18.

The Cowboys across the past five seasons are 27-5 at home with a +353 point differential. OSU’s 0.844 home winning percentage in that stretch is better than 15 schools that ended up making EA Sports’ list. Here is a look at the list with records from the past five seasons included:

How’d EA Sports get to these 25?

“The Development Team worked to compile a list of the Top 25 Toughest Places to Play, factoring in historical stats such as home winning %, home game attendance, active home winning streaks, team prestige, and more,” EA stated in a blog.

In fairness to the folks at EA Sports, it’s a tough list to make and one where you’re going to draw the ire of many fanbases. It’s also tough because you don’t want it to turn into a pseudo-Top 25 ranking, where the good teams fill the top spots because they are good at football but might not necessarily have the best atmospheres.

Texas A&M at the top will get a lot of attention at No. 1, but I don’t have a major issue with it. A&M has a 0.617 overall win percentage across the past five years but a 0.781 win percentage at home in that time. A&M went 6-1 at home last season despite finishing the year 7-6. So, that homefield advantage had to count for something there.

Wisconsin, to me, stands out as a perhaps undeserving member of the EA’s top 10. Camp Randall Stadium holds nearly 80,000, which is great. ‘Jump Around’ is also an elite tradition, but it’s a tradition that is probably carrying Wisconsin to this spot in the rankings because the Badgers are just 8-6 at home the past two seasons. So, opposing teams haven’t had all too hard a time playing there. But again, it can’t be a list of just the best teams in college football because what would be the point? Wisconsin is in a transition phase with Luke Fickell, so maybe the Badgers can fortify Camp Randall in the coming seasons.

As is customary, a lot of love was shown to the SEC. There were four SEC schools in the top five and a dozen on the list in total.

I actually think Florida could’ve been a bit higher on the list. The Gators have a 0.571 win percentage across the past five seasons but have won 80% of their games in The Swamp.

SEC schools that made less sense include South Carolina at No. 15, as the Gamecocks haven’t even won 60% of their home games in the past five seasons. Arkansas has barely won 50% of its, and the cowbells are cool at Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs getting in over OSU seems silly.

If things like ‘Jump Around’ and cowbells are getting teams on this list, why aren’t tight sidelines, paddles and actually winning football games?

On3’s Andy Staples did his own list, and he had Boone Pickens Stadium at No. 10, calling the Cowboys cathedral a “glaring omission” from EA Sports’ list. The numbers back up Staples’ claim, but the biggest thing going against BPS is probably the fact that the Cowboys lost to South Alabama by 26 there last season. Aside from that, the only losses OSU has suffered at home in the past five seasons came against West Virginia (2022), Texas (OT in 2020), Baylor (2019) and Oklahoma (2019).

This is all fun and games (literally), and won’t have a baring on much of anything. But perhaps it’ll give the rowdy folk in Boone Pickens Stadium an extra chip on their shoulders heading into the Cowboys’ 2024 season.