Iowa 24, Georgia Tech 14 (final) Orange Bowl

[Buckeye86]

SEC fans really don't think that playing in their backyard is an advantage in bowl games? Seriously?

I would love to see some SEC teams come and play north of the mason dixon line period, but especially during bowl season, and see if that tune changes just a wee bit.

In three of the last five years Florida has played their bowl game in Florida, this year they traveled all the way to Louisiana.

Georgia has played their bowl games in Georgia twice, Louisiana twice, and Florida once in the last five years.

GTFO if you are seriously claiming that isn't an advantage for your teams.

 

[BigWoof31]

SEC fans really don't think that playing in their backyard is an advantage in bowl games? Seriously?

I would love to see some SEC teams come and play north of the mason dixon line period, but especially during bowl season, and see if that tune changes just a wee bit.

You're argument assumes that Iowa was at a disadvantage last night and overcame incredible odds despite the fact that the stadium was 80% hawkeye fans and the weather was more suited to an Iowan fall.

Also - is the crux of your argument that it's tougher to play in areas with inclimate weather or when the fanbase and team doesn't have to travel as far?

Furthermore - this game didn't feature an SEC team. So it might help to temper their inferiority complex a bit.

 

[sepia5]

In their bowl game, Miami had heaters on the sidelines.

And the bowl game was played in Or-[censored]ing-lando. What would have happened had they played that game in Minneapolis?

Woof, to your credit, UGA is one of the few SEC programs that has made an effort to schedule non-regional BCS home-and-homes (home-and-home: I've always thought that was a misnomer) in the past few years. How would you have felt if, in your series with ASU, you played the ASU end of it in Tempe, and your end of it in Glendale?

Better yet, suppose you scheduled a home-and-home with Penn State, to be played in November. PSU's end is played in State College, your end is played in Pittsburgh. You don't think the outcome of your end, played in Pittsburgh, would be affected by things like location, climate, player's comfort level, etc.?

You and Gator are two of the best non-Buckeye posters on here, without question, but this doesn't even seem like a straight-face argument.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Both sides of the argument have merit, at least concerning the Big Ten-SEC argument. Just because a bowl game is played in SEC country doesn't automatically "deneutralize" the venue. Kentucky playing Illinois in Nawlins is no where near a home-field advantage for Kentucky. LSU playing anyone from the Big Ten is. Coqui's above post highlights the extreme (from 2007):

Michigan played Florida in Orlando (about 2 1/2 hours from UF campus)
Ohio State played LSU in New Orleans (45 mins from LSU campus)

Gatorubet and BigWoof get pissed because we Big Ten fans act like that's the norm for bowl season, and it's not. Conversely, Big Ten fans get pissed because bowls games of any real consequence (i.e., BCS bowls and maybe Capitol One Bowl) are played way out of our conference geography. That, coupled with the fact that SEC teams virtually never travel outside the SEC borders to play OOC games.

 

[ochre]

You're argument assumes that Iowa was at a disadvantage last night and overcame incredible odds despite the fact that the stadium was 80% hawkeye fans and the weather was more suited to an Iowan fall.

Also - is the crux of your argument that it's tougher to play in areas with inclimate weather or when the fanbase and team doesn't have to travel as far?

Furthermore - this game didn't feature an SEC team. So it might help to temper their inferiority complex a bit.

You misread the crux, if you think I am saying bad weather makes it tougher to play only for teams that play most/all of their games in decent weather. It makes it tougher for both teams. Where the decided advantage comes in is that teams that play regularly in bad weather areas will develop their systems around that requirement. So I'm not saying northern teams should never play key winter games in southern locales; I'm saying that removes a huge component of what the northern teams have to do to reach that level regularly. Play the BCS championship game in Chicago every other year.

 

[sepia5]

You're argument assumes that Iowa was at a disadvantage last night and overcame incredible odds despite the fact that the stadium was 80% hawkeye fans and the weather was more suited to an Iowan fall.

Iowa and Georgia Tech were both playing out of region, far from home, inside, and in a completely foreign outdoor climate (there's no desert in Georgia, right?). So I don't see how that example fits what we're talking about.

Miami playing Wisconsin in Orlando, or USC playing a Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl, or Penn State playing Florida State in the 2006 Orange Bowl on the other hand . . . .

 

[Wingate1217]

Both sides of the argument have merit, at least concerning the Big Ten-SEC argument. Just because a bowl game is played in SEC country doesn't automatically "deneutralize" the venue. Kentucky playing Illinois in Nawlins is no where near a home-field advantage for Kentucky. LSU playing anyone from the Big Ten is. Coqui's above post highlights the extreme (from 2007):

Michigan played Florida in Orlando (about 2 1/2 hours from UF campus)
Ohio State played LSU in New Orleans (45 mins from LSU campus)

Gatorubet and BigWoof get [censored]ed because we Big Ten fans act like that's the norm for bowl season, and it's not. Conversely, Big Ten fans get [censored]ed because bowls games of any real consequence (i.e., BCS bowls and maybe Capitol One Bowl) are played way out of our conference geography. That, coupled with the fact that SEC teams virtually never travel outside the SEC borders to play OOC games.

Somewhere on this board (I can't remember where) I did an analysis of bowl games. There was a distinct advantage (according to the win-loss records) of games played at home (within a certain mileage from campus) over a neutral site vs. away games.......Now if I can only remember where i posted it. Probably one of the multiple SEC threads we have.....

 

[buckeyesin07]

Don't read too much into it. As a native Atlanta - I've watched the team play for the better part of the season and this wasn't even close to an A effort from the jackets.

A similar argument could be made about UC's effort in the Sugar Bowl. And the implication would be just as ridiculous.

 

[Buckeye86]

I crunched the numbers for the three fan bases involved here.

In the last five years, Ohio State has traveled 8,907 miles to play in their bowl games.

Florida has traveled 3,144 miles (literally 2/3 of which was when they traveled to Glendale in 2006 which was 2,040 miles).

Georgia has traveled 1,839 miles, playing less than 100 miles away from their campus twice.

Travel expenses, familiarity with the area, access to fan bases (shitty fan support not withstanding) ect. are all reasons why this is a huge advantage for SEC schools, particularly, as some have mentioned, when the bowl game is less than 200 miles away from the schools campus, which has happened twice for Georgia and twice for Florida in the past five years.

 

[BB73]

The "Conference Region" argument is asinine.

Playing LSU at the Dome? Hell yes it is a home field advantage.

Playing the Gators in Atlanta? If you lose, then the guys in the mirror is the only excuse for losing, not the fact that the game was in Georgia.

A bowl game in Georgia pitting the Gators versus any Big-10 team is not chock full of Georgia fans rooting for the Gators. It will be filled with Gators and that Big-10 team's fans. The "Region" argument has legs when Miami plays at Miami, or LSU in New Orleans. Should Vandy ever make it to the Sugar Bowl versus - say - Cinci, there will be more Cinci fans in the Dome than Commodores (just like there were more Cinci fans than Gators last week), and the resulting win or loss will have everything to do with the team on the field, and nothing to do with the "region".

I realize you're saying that playing in the other team's region is different than playing in the other team's home town or in a large city nearby.

But to some of us it can appear that you're trying to say that there are almost no negative consequences to the facts of bowl game geography. And simply, when some fans in the Big Ten region think they are hearing that, it makes their heads want to explode. (please notice that I said 'some of us', which doesn't mean that I'm included; and that I said 'it can appear', not that I believe you're actually saying that).

Of the Big Ten's 11 BCS losses, 4 are to USC in Pasadena, and 2 are to LSU in New Orleans (that's over 50% ). The position that a neutral location in all bowl games (or an occasional BCS game in Chicago, Columbus, or Indianapolis) wouldn't improve the Big Ten's record in BCS games is something that fans up in the colder states will never accept. And that doesn't deal with the factor of having to build a team to succeed in bad weather conditions.

As Woof pointed out, you can keep trying to push that rock up the mountain by arguing that the geographical aspects of bowl games aren't a significant factor, but you're probably beating your head against the wall.

 

[martinss01]

crowd support is only 1 part of home field advantage. things like temperature, humidity, and elevation have a significant impact on athletes.

 

[Dryden]

In the last five years, Ohio State has traveled 8,907 miles to play in their bowl games.

Florida has traveled 3,144 miles (literally 2/3 of which was when they traveled to Glendale in 2006 which was 2,040 miles).

Georgia has traveled 1,839 miles, playing less than 100 miles away from their campus twice.

I submit as evidence that in the last two seasons, Michigan has traveled 0 miles combined for their bowl games, and have not lost a bowl game in that time frame.

And SEC backers want to tell me travel distance doesn't factor? Puh-lease.

 

[Mr_Burns]

Iowa and Georgia Tech were both playing out of region, far from home, inside, and in a completely foreign outdoor climate (there's no desert in Georgia, right?). So I don't see how that example fits what we're talking about.

Miami playing Wisconsin in Orlando, or USC playing a Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl, or Penn State playing Florida State in the 2006 Orange Bowl on the other hand . . . .

Sorry to be the jerk that corrects posts, but the game last night was the Orange Bowl, in Florida.

 

[sepia5]

Sorry to be the jerk that corrects posts, but the game last night was the Orange Bowl, in Florida.

Man, I've been watching too much college football this holiday season. It's all starting to run together. Thanks for the rather material correction, Burns.

 

[Mr_Burns]

Man, I've been watching too much college football this holiday season. It's all starting to run together. Thanks for the rather material correction, Burns.

Well in your defense, the Fiesta Bowl put 95% of its viewers to sleep so I don't blame anyone if it seemed like a game hadn't been played in that stadium yet. And from looking at that game thread, most people only remember the game because of the girl playing the cowbell