Re: NCAAF Week 13 Early Lines
last year, in boise, hawaii lost by one score to a better team than they will face this year at home.
the only danger sign i see to hawaii winning this game, at home (biggest home field advantage in the world) is the burden of history: 6 straight losses. can hawaii's seniors, themselves having made a habit of losing to boise, unburden themselves of that psychological monkey?
i have read that the boise team is being sequestered: they arrived yesterday, after logging 19 hours of travel, and, except for the celebration of thanksgiving with those family members who also made the flight, were pretty much relegated to their rooms and walk-throughs.
googling jet-lag, which direction?, i found an interesting article that discusses the various factors influencing sports related activity caused by jet lag, and how best to defray them. among other observations: quick acclimatization is best achieved through immersion in the environment; each time zone crossed requires about a day; traveling east is more difficult; crossing >two zones has a much > impact on the body's ability to function and affects man's biology in those areas most specific to athletic function, stamina and coordination than does <.
heretofore, the mustangs have allowed their players to enjoy the pleasures hawaii has to offer when playing there, the beach, tours, and the like--that is, to become acclimated to the time difference by living it. i think the coaches have made a mistake in making this a "work" trip (the players have been echoing the party line, referring to the trip in these words repeatedly). the players did not arrive early enough to overcome the time zone difference. and they have compounded the problems by making it seem like "WORK". throw in the start time of this game at 9pm eastern, and there's going to be a lot of internal boise bred clocks muttering when the game gets going.
moreover, i find it very difficult to evaluate the skill level of the wac teams this year--indeed, i have had much difficulty doing so for almost all the conferences. much of this has to do with the skill base: not to get too involved in the reasons why, among the causes for the lack of depth of talent on even the best clubs, are mandates from the NCAA about scholarships. boise and usc have both shown how uneven the talent base is, even on the best managed teams, and how seriously affected they are when they lose one player (boise's safety was out for 2 games, and they surrendered 600yds rushing). how do you get an objective view on teams that vary so significantly week to week because of just one injury? remember, the same team that hawaii, without their star qb, beat last week dialed up 60 pts and multiple overtimes on that boise club, IN idaho. AND hawaii did not have the luxury of playing nev-reno in the same time zone, nor on the usual rest (six days), nor usual time (7pm). if la. tech takes hawaii to the wall, how much of that is jet lag? traveling eastward, across SIX time zones? la-tech put up 31 on boise. how do you match this up?
all in all, a very difficult game to measure. if under 3 at game time, hawaii. certainly not for >1u.
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