In comparing Syracuse and Wichita State, it has been well established that Syracuse played a far weakern non-con than WSU, but has a better overall SOS due to ACC stength. We all know how much BCS teams cower at the thought of playing on the road, so I thought I would look at the non-con true road numbers for both conferences.
For the total non-con schedule, the ACC winning % was 71.5%. MVC teams played 34.5% of their non-con games in true road situations compared to 15.3% for ACC teams.
Based on their non-road winning percentage of 78.9% and their road winning percentage of 34.4%, if ACC teams had played the same percentage of their non-con on the road as MVC teams did, their overall winning percentage would have dropped to 63.6% from its current 72.1% mark.
The key takeaway is that records get really inflated when you never have to play away from home. This also reinforces why conference road wins, even over bad teams, are so valuable. It is hard to beat anyone on the road. The way BCS conferences handle it is by never doing so until conference play, then talking up how good their non-con conference record was.
Conference | Road Games | Games Per Team | Wins | Loses | Winning % |
ACC | 29 | 1.9 | 10 | 19 | 34.4% |
MVC | 39 | 3.9 | 14 | 25 | 35.8% |
For the total non-con schedule, the ACC winning % was 71.5%. MVC teams played 34.5% of their non-con games in true road situations compared to 15.3% for ACC teams.
Based on their non-road winning percentage of 78.9% and their road winning percentage of 34.4%, if ACC teams had played the same percentage of their non-con on the road as MVC teams did, their overall winning percentage would have dropped to 63.6% from its current 72.1% mark.
The key takeaway is that records get really inflated when you never have to play away from home. This also reinforces why conference road wins, even over bad teams, are so valuable. It is hard to beat anyone on the road. The way BCS conferences handle it is by never doing so until conference play, then talking up how good their non-con conference record was.
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