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Re: Next: UNI
While having lunch at the computer...the discussion about field advantages reminds me a little about a debate in the sport of cross country about teams which live and train at higher altitudes. There's no question runners from the lowlands who go to a competition at altitude have a disadvantage. Correspondingly, runners from higher alttitude have an advantage when competing at a lower altitude.
(Side note: that's why the SDSU's men's cross country Summit League Title in 2009 at Southern Utah's home course against a favored SUU team was particularly impressive -- same effort by both teams at sea level and SUU would probably quit the conference and join something like the Big Sky. The Jackrabbits won it again in 2010 when the host was Indiana State. Altitude is such a significant factor in track and field that the qualifying standards for various meets are adjusted for altitude -- there are standardized tables with the adjustments.)
Okay, now let's see where I'm going with this....
If one assumes conditions approach the concept of "ideal" in a good indoor stadium with the best turf, then a team having somewhat of an advantage is the team that regularly plays and practices in less than ideal conditions such as natural grass (incidently, I'm not convinced natural grass is inferior to turf, at least not all artificial turf...turf has its own set of problems... unless the grass is exceptionally soft, exceptionally hard, muddy or very uneven). If there is something about an artificial surface that enhances speed, it seems that everyone gets a speed boost including visitors who customarily play football the way it was intended (an outdoor game).
The real kicker is when teams have to visit indoor teams having bad facilities and/or bad artificial turf*. I think there is a distinct home-field advantage in those cases and home win-loss records seem to bear that out. Similarly, I suppose if an outdoor team continually has bad playing conditions on natural turf, that's a home field advantage.
Back to work.
*Might have been one rug ago but seems to me NDSU's surface was living room carpet on cement parking lot.
While having lunch at the computer...the discussion about field advantages reminds me a little about a debate in the sport of cross country about teams which live and train at higher altitudes. There's no question runners from the lowlands who go to a competition at altitude have a disadvantage. Correspondingly, runners from higher alttitude have an advantage when competing at a lower altitude.
(Side note: that's why the SDSU's men's cross country Summit League Title in 2009 at Southern Utah's home course against a favored SUU team was particularly impressive -- same effort by both teams at sea level and SUU would probably quit the conference and join something like the Big Sky. The Jackrabbits won it again in 2010 when the host was Indiana State. Altitude is such a significant factor in track and field that the qualifying standards for various meets are adjusted for altitude -- there are standardized tables with the adjustments.)
Okay, now let's see where I'm going with this....
If one assumes conditions approach the concept of "ideal" in a good indoor stadium with the best turf, then a team having somewhat of an advantage is the team that regularly plays and practices in less than ideal conditions such as natural grass (incidently, I'm not convinced natural grass is inferior to turf, at least not all artificial turf...turf has its own set of problems... unless the grass is exceptionally soft, exceptionally hard, muddy or very uneven). If there is something about an artificial surface that enhances speed, it seems that everyone gets a speed boost including visitors who customarily play football the way it was intended (an outdoor game).
The real kicker is when teams have to visit indoor teams having bad facilities and/or bad artificial turf*. I think there is a distinct home-field advantage in those cases and home win-loss records seem to bear that out. Similarly, I suppose if an outdoor team continually has bad playing conditions on natural turf, that's a home field advantage.
Back to work.
*Might have been one rug ago but seems to me NDSU's surface was living room carpet on cement parking lot.
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