Quote from: mikefln on November 19, 2024, 03:01:22 PM

Quote from: Pat Coleman on November 18, 2024, 03:00:32 PMThe analytics -- Logan Hansen, now, not the NPI -- show there is a home field advantage, even in D-III.

I do not doubt that there is a home field advantage in D3.  My argument is that the reasoning is different at this level. 

There are places that get great crowds and atmosphere (St John and Wabash immediately come to mind), but it is still a far cry from the noise and intimidation of playing in front of 50k+ opposing fans making noise to disturb your rhythm.   Plus there are no flights with jetlag.

What cause home field advantage in D3 is long bus trips and leaving before 7am.  I do not have any evidence and I wouldn't even know where to look for it.  Yet I argue, D3 home field advantage show up when you have 3 hour+ bus rides and leaving before 7am.  Every hour on a bus after 3 hours, the home field advantage goes up.  Every hour you leave campus before 7am, home field advantage goes up.

So in this scenario where the Oakland section of Pittsburgh  being roughly 30 minutes from Washington PA for a 1pm game, it lacks those 2 issues.

Again, I do not think the PAC should get an exception since they played a closed schedule.

What exception are they receiving?

Saw Westminster play a few weeks ago against W&J and what struck me was not their roster size, but rather the fact that a quarter of that roster were players from Florida.  Don't see many DIII schools recruiting the sunshine state that heavily.  Seems like a smart way to reform a roster would be to get those just-a-level-below kids from such a talent rich state. Kudos to them.