Iowa 24, Georgia Tech 14 (final) Orange Bowl

[Coqui]

I absolutely agree that it is a home field advantage in some ways. But if a #1 tOSU plays Florida in New Orleans, you get a couple weeks head start buying tickets on us, as we have to win the SECCG before we know if we are going.

Not true. Sure travel agencies start "selling" packages, however, tickets are not available until both sides have been set. Rose Bowl tickets were not available for sale until December 8th. That was 2 1/2 weeks after we knew we were going. It was also a week after the SEC championship game took place.

 

[joefoshow]

I know someone who has already reserved a hotel near the NC site for next year thinking OHIO STATE will be there. He can get it refunded but that is not a bad idea. Also did anyone else see the post-game report of the basketball game that said Iowa is the front runner for the Big Ten next year? I don't know how you would pick Iowa over OHIO STATE for 2010.

 

[Coqui]

I know someone who has already reserved a hotel near the NC site for next year thinking OHIO STATE will be there. He can get it refunded but that is not a bad idea. Also did anyone else see the post-game report of the basketball game that said Iowa is the front runner for the Big Ten next year? I don't know how you would pick Iowa over OHIO STATE for 2010.

My guess would be the difference in how our defense went against Oregon, vs. the way their defense played against Georgia Tech. Stat wise we played well, they played lights out. Nevermind the fact that Oregon isn't as one dimensional as Georgia Tech was.

 

[cincibuck]

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.

The argument makes no mention of 'incredible odds.' It's a road game. Road implies that you are away from a familiar field and your fan base and that you may not be able to expect the same/similar weather conditions, same type of playing surface -- there's a huge difference between the grass at Ross - Ayde and the grass at the Rose Bowl, between Kinnick and the grass in southern states --

Inferiority complex? How about a sense of fair play in games that are supposed to produce the final top ten year in and year out? How about you going out of region on a regular basis?

Southern fans won't travel? Tough shit. Let's let your fan base pick up the travel tab next time, and if they don't show up you can complain about being out of region, just as we do.

A Rose/Fiesta/Orange Bowl trip is usually out of my budget, but a game between an SEC top three team and a Big 10 top three in Chicago, Ann Arbor or the 'shoe? Hey, I'm there.

 

[cincibuck]

That is my point. Vandy does not fit the 'home region advantage' tag. Neither does Florida playing in Atlanta. Gator fans in Orlando and Tampa are over 400 miles from that Gator hating town. "Home Region" is a false defense to a loss to an SEC team unless it is something like LSU at New Orleans or the Gators in Florida.

I absolutely agree that it is a home field advantage in some ways. But if a #1 tOSU plays Florida in New Orleans, you get a couple weeks head start buying tickets on us, as we have to win the SECCG before we know if we are going. Just wondering, how do you think the stadium was split, percentage wise, between LSU fans and Buckeyes in January 2008?

I am not disagreeing with the entirety of the premise that the reality of geography can produce a clear disadvantage to some out of SEC team, just the concept that if a bowl game against an SEC team is held in a city that is from a state having some other SEC member institution, that it automatically confers some kind of advantage on the SEC team in the Bowl.

Don't buy it. Perhaps I misread the scope of the argument and we are actually in agreement. You know how reasonable I am. :p

1. Any argument based on Vandy -- or Indiana -- is irrelevant due to lack of data.

2. Pick any Southern state that hosts a bowl game, better still throw in Texas. So we have La, Fla., Tn, Ga and Texas. Split the tickets 16K a piece between the schools -- that still leaves a significant number of tickets. Of that some go to ticket brokers in the two school's regions. The rest go to businessmen in the bowl's local.

Now, If I were a businessman in Chicago and I had a ticket to watch Alabama play any Northern team in a BCS bowl. You can bet your sweet ass I'm a) not neutral b) not even if it's Michigan or Notre Dame -- I'm rooting for the boys from up North. Now if it's Notre Dame vs Florida/Georgia/LSU/Tennessee/Auburn -- I'm pulling for the SEC, but only because it's Notre Dame.

That's the regional advantage I'm talking about -- the tickets that fall into the hands of businessmen and politicians in bowl sites.

You can talk to me till you're blue in the face about Gator haters and I'm sure that just as there are folks on this site who root against Michigan in all situations, there are a few Atlantans, New Orleanans, Dallasites who would root against gators -- but the overwhelming number will be there to support the team from the old CSA.

As for head start -- you have to presume that there are tickets available -- a businessman or politician is going to take care of his contacts first and those are far more likely to be from the South than the North. And as of next year there's only a week week off set.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

As much as I hate to interrupt a good hijacking; HERE is what Pete Fiutak had to say about the game (emphasis added).

What It All Means: This was a smart, focused, and inspired defensive effort to come up with the tough win over Tech. The big problem wasn?t stopping the offense, the defensive front took care of that, it was putting the game away. Ricky Stanzi was fantastic to start, failing to show any rust after last seeing full-time duty two months ago, but the offense sparkled when the line could open up holes for Brandon Wegher and the speed backs. With so much talent returning, even with the loss of linebackers Pat Angerer and A.J. Edds, the expectations will the through the roof, and as this game proved, Iowa wasn?t just lucky this year in a mediocre conference; it was a great team in a Big Ten that turned out to be fantastic after the bowls

So why are we talking about geography?

 

[Dryden]

So why are we talking about geography?

Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for.

But I do know that, one and one is two,
And if this one could be with you,
What a wonderful world in the S-E-C.