Anyone who has watched any MAC basketball has heard a beleaguered and defeated coach stare out during a post-game presser and lament how "hard it is to win on the road in the MAC."
And for hoops they are right. Last season, in men's hoops, home teams were 65-31 in conference games, with is about 67%. Only one MAC team had a losing record at home, meaning that 11 MAC teams--teams both good and bad--won most of their games at home.
MAC football coaches also talk about the difficulty of going on the road, but in their case, the numbers don't bear it out. A couple years ago I looked at this....and that year home teams were 27-21 in conference games. That's about 56% and just not a very good strong home court advantage.
This season was even worse. In MAC games, the home team was 28-24, which is 54%.
Essentially, what it means is that there is no real home field advantage in football. Stated another way, in men's basketball, being at home is enough for a poor team to be beat a better team. Not so in football. The road team has pretty much a 50/50 shot.
CMU, of course, was 4-0 at home so the other 11 teams were actually net losers at home.
I don't know what to make of it. I know that football is a different game, but all the issues (travel, home environment) are at least as significant in basketball as in football. But the fact cannot be debated. There is no significant home field advantage in MAC football.
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