BTF

HCC: Home wins 15, visitor wins 13. I looked up three conferences and the combined total has the visitor ahead by one. I'll stand by my examples. It just doesn't make much of a difference at the high school level. I've been watching for a long time and it just doesn't matter if Dwenger or Snider is the home team. Same for Dwenger and Homestead. Same for Snider and Carroll. It just doesn't amount to a hill of beans in my opinion. "Now, back to the game." (Bob Knight) Snider's clearly the favorite in this one. But I've seen teams like Valpo that weren't given a chance at this level. It's dangerous territory for the team that's favored. On one hand I like Snider by two touchdowns, but I also wouldn't be shocked at a Valpo victory. The Vikings are riding a five game winning streak and have an impressive running back who wasn't there during any of their losses.

Sagarin comes to the conclusion that the home team has a 1.76 pt advantage. In my opinion, that's not even worth discussing. A slight advantage? Sure. But I'm throwing that figure right out the window when predicting the outcome of a game.

I thought I'd start with the two closed conferences. In the SIAC, the home team won 21 games while the away team won 24 games. I've been following high school football for a long time, I just don't see it. If there is a home field advantage, it's nowhere near, not even close, to the home field advantage in college and the NFL.

Conference play in the SAC in 2022: Bishop Luers goes 4-1 on the road and 0-4 at home. To be fair, their home games were against four of the top five teams in the conference. Luers ranked 6th in the SAC. Homes teams won 23 games while the road teams won 22. I just don't see the home field advantage at this level.

I don't know about you Komets, but here in Fort Wayne, I've never noticed any kind of home field advantage. High school isn't like college or the NFL where home fans outnumber visitors 8 to 1. In high school, the visiting team has every opportunity to put fans in the stands that the home team does.

Good point.

Triple header. Nice!

No inside information on this, I'll just take your word for it.

Are they? At the high school level? Aside from long road trips. What about games where the team only travels 20 minutes across town?

Do we have data on this at the high school level?

Carroll travels to HSE in Week 1 next season................for those who didn't know.

Not a bad idea. Then there would be football to watch on Sunday for those of us who don't watch the NFL.

I was just shocked at how low they rank. I imagine cities across the nation the size of Indy face a similar situation. Tech ranks 30 of 32 Shortridge ranks 58 of 64 Attucks ranks 59 of 64 Washington ranks 64 of 64 Purdue Poly ranks 63 of 64 Tindley ranks 44 of 61

Inside 465 and schools that have "Indianapolis" in front of them. Attucks, Ritter, Scecina, Shortridge, Tech, Tindley, and Washington. Correct. Ben Davis and Warren Central are just outside the donut.

The only skepticism I have toward Carroll is past performance by all 6a teams outside of the Indy area. It's hard to ignore that not only did Carroll defeat Homestead by a larger margin than HSE did, but they also beat Penn by a larger margin than Cathedral. Not one, but two examples. I understand why fans are cautious though, I'm one of them.

Inside the donut?

Al-in as a fan. Makes financial sense. More revenue for the athletic departments.

Even though you are from the Indy area, you never come across as being biased. You tell it like you see it, no shame in that. I can see where fans of Indy 6a football would appreciate some competition from other areas of the state. It's like the Fort Wayne vs Indy matchups next season in Weeks 1 & 2. Fans across the state I'm sure are hoping for good games and not a bunch of blowouts.

I should have been more specific. Public schools within the donut are awful. I was surprised, when looking at the Sagarin Ratings, how many Indianapolis schools ranked toward the bottom. Catholic schools in Indy, no matter the location, are a beast.

I'll let you know.

I always felt that Snider played poorly when they traveled long distances to the Region or Indy. I actually researched this last week, but couldn't find any data to back it up. When it comes to data, I have to side with Temp on this one. My common sense tells me that a two hour bus ride has to have some sort of negative affect. Maybe there is a difference between riding in a bus 20-30 years ago vs riding in a bus today. Do teams still travel in the run of the mill yellow school buses? If so, that kind of sucks for two hours. The buses Snider took to Mishawaka looked like luxury busses to me. That could be the difference right there. Goldrush could argue that it took Snider an entire half to find their footing against Mishawaka and MAYBE had something to do with going down 21 points. Personally, I just think the game came down to adjustments for the Panthers. Being a Penn guy, I can see where Goldrush may have a point. The Kingsman seem to play MUCH better at home than they do when they travel. It didn't do them any favors this year against Carroll. But it seems like they play they Indy teams better when they don't travel.

Should be a great atmosphere if any Indy fans want to make the trip. Cold weather won't stop 3500+ Carroll faithful from showing up to this game. Visitor side has ample seating for 2500 fans. And a smorgasbord of restaurants on your way to the stadium up Lima Rd.

Spuller Stadium sports one of the nicer visiting side accommodations in the state. Ample parking, 2500 seats, and concessions and restrooms on the 50 yard line. Just sayin for anyone along US 30 looking for a good game to go to.

Not buying into all the blowout talk. Valpo is here for a reason. Big line + good running back = chance to win.

Sagarin says 10, I say a little more. I still think the top teams out of Indy (Indy burbs to be more specific, football inside the donut is awful) play a different brand of football. It helps when you're beating up on each other every year. It raises the benchmark at every school. There's hope out of Fort Wayne, but it's time to see results on the field. Carroll lost arguably it's top defender a few weeks ago, but that hasn't seemed to slow this team down (depth). They aren't flashy, but are solid on both sides of the ball. I think they can make this game interesting. HSE 28, Carroll 17