Is home field advantage broken?

[benbrown1]

I'm not talking about the visual things like scrambled play art and vibration but in terms of AI. From my experience I tend to play better on the road.

[aarontab]

I've never lost at home but i have 5 losses over the course of 3 seasons. Road games against ranked opponents are MUCH tougher in my experience.

[TWOSILK]

it seems to happen for no rhyme or reason i have had a senior come in rattled, but have a freshman complete two passes and be perfect i dont understand how or why it is implemented

[PowerofRed25]

We turned home field advantage off in our dynasty because there is no explanation for its impact. We've had guys walk into Kyle Field or the Swamp as true freshmen and light the world on fire and juniors walk into mediocre stadiums and get rattled for a few incompletions.

On the whole, I feel HFA is WAY too overpowered. It would be one thing if it was providing some sort of impact on the atmosphere. If the screen was shaking, players were having a hard time hearing plays in the huddle, the offensive line was having problems hearing a snap count and jumping offsides, etc. But the only real effect is on the QB, the guy HFA should effect least of anyone. The QB knows the play, the snap count and is in complete control.

How many years ago was the home field advantage meter in the game? Couldn't have been that long. It was interesting then, now it is a nuisance and is a poor attempt to implement "home field advantage."

[Bullet Sponge]

You know in EVERY lastgen version of the game I always felt like home games were harder. It wasn't some isolated thing either it was in dozens and dozens of games against various opponents. It always seemed like the visitors got some kind of bump.

But in current gen I've played thus far ('11 and now '12) I feel like I finally have the advantage at home.

[DrAnguish]

I haven't posted here in a while and I know this thread is old, but to me Home Field Advantage is so utterly screwed up we are thinking of turning it off in our OD as well.

The group of guys I play with probably has a combined 20 seasons of ODs from '11 and '12 together. Just in the past few season in '12 have we seen it go so overboard that certain games almost don't even feel worth playing. We play about half our season with head to head games (scheduled 5, but you might see 6-7 with cc and bowls). In these games in particular it has been SO outrageous that its beyond laughable.

Case in point: I am a two time National Champ in NCAA12 in this dynasty (in the 6th season). I currently have a A rated offense. I know what concepts should and shouldn't work. Last game I was on the road vs a user. In quarters 2/4 I had a 15mph wind AT MY BACK, yet both of my QBs (rated 89/90OVR) threw everything short... even when trying to throw high long to the outside, I would throw short and low... I completed ONE PASS... ONE! Again, I am no n00b, nor was it because my opponent (who granted is a very good player) was doing anything special, the game just decided my QBs were not going to be able to throw the ball in this contest.

I can understand overthrows, etc... but flat footed in the pocket quick throws that I normally complete over the receivers outside shoulder didn't get within five yards of the intended target short with the wind. Dumb (and FTR I couldn't complete short in short outs crosses deep inside deep outside. I threw them all).

Anyways, we are highly considering turning off HFA effects in our dynasty because it has gotten to the point of stupidity. I want to win or lose based on my team/ recruiting, playing ability and strategy. A little randomness is great but feeling like you are playing against a 3rd team called the Invisible EA cheaters is getting old.

Anyone who has turned HFA off have any comments?

[Cardot]

Like many things in the game, I think they make it a lot more complex than it needs to be. They factor in composure, and toughest places to play and who knows what else? The result is a complex algorithm with perplexing results.

I would rather them simply give a standard "boost" to the home team, and it is the same across the board. Alabama gets the same % boost as Rice.

I know some folks will say "No, Alabama is a much tougher place to play that Rice".....well maybe, but most of that has to do with Alabama being a top team to begin with. Now add on HFA, and it is even tougher. As for Rice, they might not have a reputation for some overwhelming HFA. But last year, they were 4-1 at home and 0-7 on the road. So obviously HFA had a pretty big effect on that team as well....and I would expect that to be the case for most teams.