Bo and SECPN

[StPaulHusker]

The location of a game does not matter, there is no such thing as home field advantage, and playing a game in another team's home stadium or region has no bearing on the outcomes of games, ever.

 

Good to know.

vs UCLA at Memorial Stadium: lost 41-21

 

vs Michigan State at Memorial Stadium: lost 41-28

 

vs Iowa at Memorial Stadium: lost 38-13

 

I'm not saying that it never, ever matters but more times than not, the better team just wins no matter where the game is played.

[NUinID]

Bo is definitely right on his assessment here. While the SEC may still be the top conference overall, that gap has diminished in the past few seasons. Here are some key reasons the SEC bias is problematic.

 

1. When the polls come out at the beginning of the year with many SEC teams ranked high, when a non-SEC team loses in the non-conference season, the SEC teams poll status is elevated further. By the time conference season begins, the SEC is in a situation where they have 6 or 7 teams in the top 15, and thus every week there is a big matchup of top 15 teams. When one team goes on a roll and beats 2 other top-15 teams, they suddenly rise drastically in the polls as Ole Miss or MSU has. It's kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy where only a great SEC team can beat another great SEC team.

 

2. The SEC is always given the benefit of the doubt. Case in point....had Texas A&M lost the same type of games while in the BIg 12 (prior to getting destroyed by Alabama), they would have fallen out of the top 25, and would not have hung around. Missouri is another example where, by joining the SEC, they are suddenly a part of point 1 above, and found themselves last year in the top 5 late in the season. They are the same damn team that they were in the Big 12, but because they joined the SEC, they must now suddenly be better?? Its hard to explain that just a month ago, A&M was ranked in the top 5 given the way they are playing.

 

3. Georgia is a great example of SEC bias. While I agree Georgia has played better ball the last week or two, they lost to South Carolina earlier in the season at a time when everyone assumed South Carolina was great. But South Carolina lost to Missouri, who lost to Indiana....aren't they in the Big Ten? And didn't NU, another Big Ten team, beat Georgia earlier in 2014? Yet prior to NU's loss to MSU, a 1-loss Georgia was still ranked several spots ahead of NU.

 

So in the end, is the SEC a good conference...yes....but that doesn't justify the SEC bias in the number of teams ranked, as well as the position/seeding of the rankings. Assuming two SEC teams don't make the top 4 teams in the playoffs, there will be more opportunity for a non-SEC team to knockout the SEC team in the playoff, and things can go back to normal where the media doesn't assume an SEC should win the NCAAF championship every year.

excellent post I agree with everything you say

[Redux]

2011 Nebraska overcomes largest defecit ever to beat tOSU in Lincoln. Comeback probably doesnt happen in Columbus.

 

Its not a Nebraska exclusive or even a recent trend. Better teams win alot of the time. Upsets happen, even on the road. But come the hell on. Home field advantage has been arou d forever.

[deedsker]

If home field advantage doesn't exist, let's pay off everyone to play 12 games at home. No advantage for Nebraska and I can watch Nebraska at home every weekend. Win, win for everyone.

[VA Husker Fan]

I'm one hell of a cook and I'll gladly come to your house and make a meal for you and 20 of your friends. You'll like it, it'll be pretty good, and good times will be had by all.

 

But if you and your friends came to my home, it'd be better. I would have my range, my oven, my grill, I'd know the hot spots on the grill, the cold spots on the oven, which burner is just a little hotter than the others, exactly where all the pots and pans and sieves are, everything to hand. I'd have my entire spice cabinet, not what you had available or I was able to procure at your local markets, I'd have my knives, boards, prep cart, recipe stand and all my sauce bases to hand. I'd intrinsically know where they are without thinking, and things would just flow much more smoothly. Overall, I'd turn out a better product.

 

A stove is a stove, an oven is an oven, a knife is a knife. But my stove, my oven, my knives are easier for me to use.

 

It's my home kitchen advantage.

That's true for Miami, for the most part. For the other games, where a bowl is close by, that's like going to your neighbor's kitchen and cooking there. It's just as unfamiliar to you as a kitchen 1000 miles away.

 

And skipping that analogy, the big difference between bowls or neutral sites and real home games is that they don't sell 95% of the tickets to the home team. Tickets are split between the teams, with some sold to the locals. Sure, more of the locals tend to root for the nearer team, but teams like Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Ohio St seem to have a really good showing in bowl games, at least the big ones. Even playing against Miami in the Orange Bowl. It's nowhere close to playing in Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge. Their home advantage is considerably dulled in Atlanta and Houston, and even New Orleans to some extent. Not gone, but dulled.

[NUinID]

 

I'm one hell of a cook and I'll gladly come to your house and make a meal for you and 20 of your friends. You'll like it, it'll be pretty good, and good times will be had by all.

 

But if you and your friends came to my home, it'd be better. I would have my range, my oven, my grill, I'd know the hot spots on the grill, the cold spots on the oven, which burner is just a little hotter than the others, exactly where all the pots and pans and sieves are, everything to hand. I'd have my entire spice cabinet, not what you had available or I was able to procure at your local markets, I'd have my knives, boards, prep cart, recipe stand and all my sauce bases to hand. I'd intrinsically know where they are without thinking, and things would just flow much more smoothly. Overall, I'd turn out a better product.

 

A stove is a stove, an oven is an oven, a knife is a knife. But my stove, my oven, my knives are easier for me to use.

 

It's my home kitchen advantage.

That's true for Miami, for the most part. For the other games, where a bowl is close by, that's like going to your neighbor's kitchen and cooking there. It's just as unfamiliar to you as a kitchen 1000 miles away.

 

And skipping that analogy, the big difference between bowls or neutral sites and real home games is that they don't sell 95% of the tickets to the home team. Tickets are split between the teams, with some sold to the locals. Sure, more of the locals tend to root for the nearer team, but teams like Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Ohio St seem to have a really good showing in bowl games, at least the big ones. Even playing against Miami in the Orange Bowl. It's nowhere close to playing in Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge. Their home advantage is considerably dulled in Atlanta and Houston, and even New Orleans to some extent. Not gone, but dulled.

 

If you believe that than you were either to young or didn't watch Nebraska play Clemson in the 82 OB. The stadium was about 80% orange. I was at the game. Or the 89 OB when the stadium was 90% Miami fans and they are using their fog machines and the PA announcer is doing cheers just like a home game.

[NUpolo8]

The location of a game does not matter, there is no such thing as home field advantage, and playing a game in another team's home stadium or region has no bearing on the outcomes of games, ever.

 

Good to know.

Advanced stats flesh out that it doesn't matter as much as some might think. It's an overrated factor that doesn't mean anything. Like "clutch"

[QMany]

Do you have a link to these stats? I'd like to read it. Vegas seems to think home field advantage matters.

[FrankWheeler]

Do you have a link to these stats? I'd like to read it. Vegas seems to think home field advantage matters.

 

We have google guise!

 

http://www.fromtherumbleseat.com/2014/7/14/5890675/intro-to-football-analytics-home-field-advantage-in-college-football

 

• In the 2008-2013 seasons home teams outscored their conference opponents by 3.3 points. This falls in line with the accepted advantage of 3 or 3.5 points

[knapplc]

Some articles by people who have researched home field advantage in various sports. It's a mixed bag.

 

http://www.significancemagazine.org/details/webexclusive/999747/why-do-home-teams-win.html

 

http://thepowerrank.com/2011/01/14/homefield-advantage-in-the-nfl/

 

http://www.seldomusedreserve.com/?p=3644

 

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700178641/Home-field-advantage-is-no-myth.html?pg=all

 

http://www.cfbtn.com/2009/08/myth-of-home-field-advantage.html

[VA Husker Fan]

 

 

I'm one hell of a cook and I'll gladly come to your house and make a meal for you and 20 of your friends. You'll like it, it'll be pretty good, and good times will be had by all.

 

But if you and your friends came to my home, it'd be better. I would have my range, my oven, my grill, I'd know the hot spots on the grill, the cold spots on the oven, which burner is just a little hotter than the others, exactly where all the pots and pans and sieves are, everything to hand. I'd have my entire spice cabinet, not what you had available or I was able to procure at your local markets, I'd have my knives, boards, prep cart, recipe stand and all my sauce bases to hand. I'd intrinsically know where they are without thinking, and things would just flow much more smoothly. Overall, I'd turn out a better product.

 

A stove is a stove, an oven is an oven, a knife is a knife. But my stove, my oven, my knives are easier for me to use.

 

It's my home kitchen advantage.

That's true for Miami, for the most part. For the other games, where a bowl is close by, that's like going to your neighbor's kitchen and cooking there. It's just as unfamiliar to you as a kitchen 1000 miles away.

 

And skipping that analogy, the big difference between bowls or neutral sites and real home games is that they don't sell 95% of the tickets to the home team. Tickets are split between the teams, with some sold to the locals. Sure, more of the locals tend to root for the nearer team, but teams like Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Ohio St seem to have a really good showing in bowl games, at least the big ones. Even playing against Miami in the Orange Bowl. It's nowhere close to playing in Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge. Their home advantage is considerably dulled in Atlanta and Houston, and even New Orleans to some extent. Not gone, but dulled.

 

If you believe that than you were either to young or didn't watch Nebraska play Clemson in the 82 OB. The stadium was about 80% orange. I was at the game. Or the 89 OB when the stadium was 90% Miami fans and they are using their fog machines and the PA announcer is doing cheers just like a home game.

 

 

I already acknowledged that Miami had a nearly complete home game advantage in the orange bowls. Read my post before claiming I didn't.

 

Yep, and that's not 95% is it, so I didn't claim anything unbelievable. http://www.huskermax.com/games/1981/OBrecap.html says we sold 12,500 tickets out of 72,000 so I'm not saying you did either, but certainly some of those were neutral and Nebraska fans aren't limited to buying tickets directly from the school.

 

I guess I need to be more specific in pointing out how this isn't a home game for teams like Clemson.

 

- They aren't playing on their home field. The turf is probably different, the lights are different, communications systems are different, and so on.

- Different locker room. Different weight room. Different practice facility for pre-game.

- Different hotel room before the game.

- They may still have the majority of fans, maybe by far, but usually not the same number of rowdy students, rather more of the wealthier alums who can afford the trip and bowl ticket prices, and generally are less vocal.

- They do have an advantage of playing in weather more like their home, but for bowl games we have time to go down there and acclimate some.

 

A few advantages, nothing a focused, well-conditioned team shouldn't be able to overcome.

[Abdullah the Butcher]

http://247sports.com/Bolt/ESPNs-Fowler-responds-to-SEC-bias-criticism-32245907

 

[ZRod]

http://247sports.com/Bolt/ESPNs-Fowler-responds-to-SEC-bias-criticism-32245907

 

Better charge that phone.

 

 

Fowler is right, however ESPN did have an axe to grind against the Big ten when they went to fox with the network, and Delaney didn't help things too much.

[Husker66]

2011 Nebraska overcomes largest defecit ever to beat tOSU in Lincoln. Comeback probably doesnt happen in Columbus.

 

Its not a Nebraska exclusive or even a recent trend. Better teams win alot of the time. Upsets happen, even on the road. But come the hell on. Home field advantage has been arou d forever.

didn't Braxton Miller go out of that game in second quarter, we were getting spanked, then he's gone, bad back up comes in starts throwing into the stands? that was a different team with Miller gone. i'm not trying to rain on the party, i see this comment from time t time and it hits me funny. I never really considered that game an upset/comeback as they weren't remotely full strength by any stretch with out Miller. Miller stays in, I think we get whooped cause that's where that game was headed..

 

oh and back to the main point...I hope this comes full circle and the B1G and Big 12 come into prominence and EScraPN is stuckwith a crappy SEC..long shot but id laugh. this is the most vivid example of biased press coverage...but lets face it, college football has become sooo money focused does any of this surprise us? fox owns 49% or 51% whatever of the B1G...

[Hedley Lamarr]

Solution:

 

8 team playoff consisting of all power 5 conference champions and 3 at large bids