A small advantage of being Northwestern

[eastbaycat99]

Watching the Maryland and Indiana road games the last few weeks, it seemed to me that the crowds (and to a great extent the home teams) were not particularly inspired. Both venues are historically difficult for visiting teams, but they were not terribly daunting in those games. I have to wonder if that would have been true if the visitors were Purdue, MSU or the Illini. I have to think that the fans of those teams, and maybe some of the players, still think of the Cats as jNWU and not a team with the 2nd best conference record over the last two years.

A lot of people have posted about the Cats getting little respect from the refs this year. I do think that the apparent apathy the Cats seem to draw, the flip side of that, may be a small advantage down the stretch. I am hoping MSU is really locked behind NU in the standings when they play in East Lansing and that apathy reigns that day.

 

[SimpsonElmwood]

Watching the Maryland and Indiana road games the last few weeks, it seemed to me that the crowds (and to a great extent the home teams) were not particularly inspired. Both venues are historically difficult for visiting teams, but they were not terribly daunting in those games. I have to wonder if that would have been true if the visitors were Purdue, MSU or the Illini. I have to think that the fans of those teams, and maybe some of the players, still think of the Cats as jNWU and not a team with the 2nd best conference record over the last two years.

A lot of people have posted about the Cats getting little respect from the refs this year. I do think that the apparent apathy the Cats seem to draw, the flip side of that, may be a small advantage down the stretch. I am hoping MSU is really locked behind NU in the standings when they play in East Lansing and that apathy reigns that day.

The same dynamic (or lack thereof) was present in the Minnesota game. But the win didn't happen, unfortunately.

The last two home games look like they will be intense from a home crowd standpoint!!!

Looking to next Wednesday, the tickets available for resale in East Lansing are plentiful, but the prices are way higher than @Maryland or @Rutgers.

 

[GatoLouco]

Watching the Maryland and Indiana road games the last few weeks, it seemed to me that the crowds (and to a great extent the home teams) were not particularly inspired. Both venues are historically difficult for visiting teams, but they were not terribly daunting in those games. I have to wonder if that would have been true if the visitors were Purdue, MSU or the Illini. I have to think that the fans of those teams, and maybe some of the players, still think of the Cats as jNWU and not a team with the 2nd best conference record over the last two years.

A lot of people have posted about the Cats getting little respect from the refs this year. I do think that the apparent apathy the Cats seem to draw, the flip side of that, may be a small advantage down the stretch. I am hoping MSU is really locked behind NU in the standings when they play in East Lansing and that apathy reigns that day.

I've been at Assembly Hall maybe 6-8 times. It sells out, even against lousy teams, but it is not that raucous a place. IMO, the commentators on TV way, way oversell it. They just see it as an historic building and the message of "great venue/atmospher" comes across as them meaning more than just that, historic, sells out, architecture is kind of nostalgic (and dumb).

The most I can say about the crowd influence is they get into periods that seems they do not agree with and boo every and any call against them. Sometimes it feels an IN player could punch someone and they would boo the call. It's 17,000 booing, it can get a bit loud. But, as the size of the student section is small, it's not more than that, just loud because 17,000 people can collectively be loud.

I've said this before here, the biggest thing, IMO, crowds do is energize the home team. The intimidation of opponents, at least mature opponents, is not that big a thing.