Streamers
Professor
Posts: 8141
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-10-18 11:21 AM - Post#251658
The Penn opening line of -7 (now down to -5.5) clearly reflected a bump for HCA. I know most on the board think it is a big deal this weekend. I'm skeptical. Let me break it down:
There are maybe 4 aspects to HCA:
- Venue familiarity. Really? by now all these teams know their way around the Palestra. Penn does not even get their own locker room.
- Crowd. Penn will have their cheering section, and will likely be pulling for Cornell, but this is not like the old days when we had students there for a Princeton game and the crowd was really into it. I have only counted 2 or three times all year for true home games when the crowd was making any real noise.
- Refs. If anything, this will be a disadvantage because the refs will want to avoid any perceived 'home' calls.
- Travel & Fatigue. This will be an issue for both teams tomorrow. Today? not so much.
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