Big Ten Daily (Dec. 23): Despite No Fans, Big Ten Home Teams Still Dominating

The Big Ten has led the nation in attendance every year for more than four decades, and home teams have had a decided advantage. But even without fans in the stands this year, home-court advantage is still prevalent.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – You can reel off the arenas one right after another, and every Big Ten coach will say the same. Assembly Hall, Mackey Arena, the Breslin Center and, even lately, the Rutgers Athletic Center all have one thing in common.

They're brutal places to play for a visiting team. That's what makes winning on the road so extremely difficult in this league.

But this year, there are no fans in the stands because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There's just a few parents and some cardboard cutouts — and absolutely nothing has changed.

The home team just teams winning one game after another.

So far through Tuesday night, the home team is 7-1 in Big Ten conference games, with the only outlier being Rutgers' win at Maryland on Dec. 14, the first league game of the year. Otherwise, it's been a clean sweep ever since.

Who would have ever guessed that cardboard cutouts could be so intimidating. 

It's just not a schedule quirk either, There have been several home underdogs, at least by poll rankings, that have risen to the occasion already, too. No. 20 Ohio State lost at Purdue last Wednesday, No. 4 Michigan State lost at Northwestern on Sunday – by 14 points !— and No. 13 Illinois lost at Rutgers a few hours later. 

"That was one of the more inept performances of my 26 years," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said after losing to Northwestern for the first time in 12 tries, dating back to 2012. "It's kind of a harsh statement. I'm blaming myself. I'm the one that has to have my team ready."

The comforts of home certainly helped Northwestern. The Wildcats were 10-for-21 from three-point range, a nice 48 percent. Michigan State missed 41 shots from the field and made just 38 percent of its tries.

It's early, and we don't want to make too much of it, but it's clear that home field advantage still matters.

Ohio State earned its playoff bid

The pundits did a lot of complaining before the College Football Playoff selection committee picked it's four teams last Sunday, but now that they're done, there hasn't been much whining about Ohio State getting in outside of Clemson's Dabo Swinney.

Ohio State can make a statement on the field against Clemson on Jan. 1, but until then there's still plenty of talk.

Brendan Gulick, our counterpart at BuckeyesNow in our Sports Illustrated Fan Nation family, brought up several key points as to why Ohio State has earned one of thoses coveted spots against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Here's the video along with Sports Illustrated's Kaitlin O'Toole.

Iowa still hoping to play in Music City Bowl

For the first eight weeks of the Big Ten football season, Iowa had been able to avoid the COVID-19 bug. But after missing a game last week and then having to pause practices after an outbreak inside the program, their bowl game is still in doubt.'

The Hawkeyes are supposed to play Missouri in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 30, but that's still up in the air until Iowa can get this recent outbreak under control There's such a narrow window between the end of the regular season and the bowl games this year that it doesn't leave much time to recover.

“We’re not taking one day for granted moving forward,'' Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We know each and every day, if we get one, boy, it’s a blessing. We want to make sure we’re maximizing it.

“But playing on short weeks at the end of the year, it’s not that big of deal if everybody handles it right,” Ferentz said.

Tennessee and South Carolina already had to bow out of their bowl games, and it won't be surprising if their are other cases as well. 

Missouri is dealing with issues as well heading into the Music City Bowl.

First-year coach Eli Drinkwitz is taking it a day at a time, too, and knows he will be shorthanded. Two key Missouri players have already opted out of the bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft.

“We’re going to have some adversity in this game, but it’s an opportunity for us to compete,” Drinkwitz said in the Post-Dispatch. “You’ve got to remember, when this thing started it was started by players saying, ‘Let us play. Let us play. Let us play.’ Our team still wants to play.”