Visiting college football teams may soon learn to fear Penn State's Beaver Stadium: Not because the Nittany Lions are vicious and unbeatable, but because they're using science.
When the college football season kicks off this fall, Beaver Stadium is going to be almost 50% louder when the opponents take the field than it is today - which means it'll be harder for enemy QBs to be heard. The trick? Penn State isn't adding any more seats to the wild student section (already 20,000 strong), they're just moving them to the southern end zone.
The relocation of the student seat was the result of data gathered (and numbers crunched) during the 2007-2008 season, when PSU grad student Andrew Barnard used 11 strategically placed sound meters to measure crowd volume during several home games.
Barnard found that his fellow students grew much, much rowdier when the opposing team had the ball: Noise in the stadium reached 110 decibels when the visitors were on the offensive, a staggering 50 times the volume than when the home team had the spotlight. His goal, then, was to find the spot where the student section would be the most effective.
When the stadium was empty, he searched for the best spots for an audible assault by carrying a noisy speaker around to 45 different seats and measuring how loud it sounded on the field... For seats on the sidelines, closer was better. Students sitting in the highest rows contributed very little to the overall sound. But the situation was reversed behind the end zone. Higher seats could be heard better than field-level seats because of a trick of the stadium's architecture, said Barnard.
The resulting increase in volume will cut the QB's speaking range by as much as six inches - and that might not sound like a lot, but it'll almost assuredly lead to confusion and perhaps more false starts and penalties for Nittany Lions' opponents.
Science: It can save the world, blow things up, and give you a bigger home field advantage.
Wow, this is incredible. I don't normally keep up with college ball besides draft prospects, but this is a really cool story. Give MIT a football team, and maybe they can figure out a way to win the game without touching the ball.
TIMESWORDSMAN: I think thats awesome and I don't even like football. It'll do fine 'till someone builds a helmet with a built in communicator, then they'r screwed.
You mean, like the ones they use now?
It's not completely the signal-calling that gets messed up, it's just harder to concentrate when it's that loud.
TIMESWORDSMAN: I think thats awesome and I don't even like football. It'll do fine 'till someone builds a helmet with a built in communicator, then they'r screwed.
You mean, like the ones they use now?
It's not completely the signal-calling that gets messed up, it's just harder to concentrate when it's that loud.
Ah! I didn't know. Like I said, I don't fallow football.
This is the same thing Syracuse does at the Carrier Dome for basketball and close to the same for football. They don't call it the "Loud House" for nothing. When a QB can't be heard, they need to use motions to count the play. If one person isn't on track, bad news for the opposing team.
To note, Syracuse also has been known to practice with the speaker system cranked so they already know how to play in this situation. Pretty cool.
Wow, a reason to watch football. :) That is to say, American football.
In all seriousness, this is actually pretty cool but I'm surprised they only just recently figured this out. I mean, put a couple nerds on the football team and - oh wait.
Surely this constitutes cheating, or at the very least unfair practice?
The only thing special that playing at home should give the home team is a sense of pride and a greater incentive to win.
I would call deliberately rigging the stadium to negatively effect the abilities of the other team utterly unsportsmanlike and reprehensible. Anyone with a spine would and should boycott playing them. Sport is supposed to be about the abilities of the team not their stadium.
This is a blast to hear, it's already confirmed the fans shouting and whistling might have some effect on the opposing team.
There is a Turkish team called Fenerbahce, their station resides in Istanbul and when they play home and the away team as ball possession, you literally are going to have your eardrums blasted. It has a psychological effect but also arouses a great atmosphere for the fans.
Davrel: Surely this constitutes cheating, or at the very least unfair practice?
The only thing special that playing at home should give the home team is a sense of pride and a greater incentive to win.
I would call deliberately rigging the stadium to negatively effect the abilities of the other team utterly unsportsmanlike and reprehensible. Anyone with a spine would and should boycott playing them. Sport is supposed to be about the abilities of the team not their stadium.
This is what the "Home Field Advantage" *IS*. Keep in mind that everything from the amount of lighting to the specific turf composition is engineered to give the home team an advantage.
If you don't like it, you'd be better off watching a real sport, like Soccer or Rugby.
Davrel: Surely this constitutes cheating, or at the very least unfair practice?
The only thing special that playing at home should give the home team is a sense of pride and a greater incentive to win.
I would call deliberately rigging the stadium to negatively effect the abilities of the other team utterly unsportsmanlike and reprehensible. Anyone with a spine would and should boycott playing them. Sport is supposed to be about the abilities of the team not their stadium.
This is what the "Home Field Advantage" *IS*. Keep in mind that everything from the amount of lighting to the specific turf composition is engineered to give the home team an advantage.
If you don't like it, you'd be better off watching a real sport, like Soccer or Rugby.
Hello Friends, I read this proper Article, College football game very interesting at that time. But Guys I don;t understand , how is it touch with science..Can you explain me ..
Hello, and welcome to the escapist! I just wanted to jump in and warn you that advertising is against the forum rules, so you might want to remove those links while you can. Here's a more complete post on rules, for your reading convenience.
As for your question, they used science to figure out how to make it louder near their end zone, so that the closer their opponents are to scoring, the more disorienting the sound will be for them. I hope that answers your question. If not, feel free to ask again.
College Football Team Uses Science for Victory
Visiting college football teams may soon learn to fear Penn State's Beaver Stadium: Not because the Nittany Lions are vicious and unbeatable, but because they're using science.
When the college football season kicks off this fall, Beaver Stadium is going to be almost 50% louder when the opponents take the field than it is today - which means it'll be harder for enemy QBs to be heard. The trick? Penn State isn't adding any more seats to the wild student section (already 20,000 strong), they're just moving them to the southern end zone.
The relocation of the student seat was the result of data gathered (and numbers crunched) during the 2007-2008 season, when PSU grad student Andrew Barnard used 11 strategically placed sound meters to measure crowd volume during several home games.
Barnard found that his fellow students grew much, much rowdier when the opposing team had the ball: Noise in the stadium reached 110 decibels when the visitors were on the offensive, a staggering 50 times the volume than when the home team had the spotlight. His goal, then, was to find the spot where the student section would be the most effective.
The resulting increase in volume will cut the QB's speaking range by as much as six inches - and that might not sound like a lot, but it'll almost assuredly lead to confusion and perhaps more false starts and penalties for Nittany Lions' opponents.
Science: It can save the world, blow things up, and give you a bigger home field advantage.
(InsideScience via Gizmodo)
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