The first such back to back H-A series just wrapped up between Hamilton and Montreal.
First Hamilton won their home game 41-10.
One week later Montreal won their home game 36-29.
So a split, and a 38 point swing in point differential, with the only discernable difference being the venue. Not even a time zone change.
HFA isn't the only thing going on here, IMHO. Other factors include motivation and what I will call "surprise".
Motivation:
No matter what anyone says, I think it is difficult to take game prep as seriously as you should when you are preparing for a team that you already beat by 31 points.
Surprise:
The team that won the first game generally doesn't want to make major changes to their game-plan for the obvious reason that it worked the first time. Conversely, the team that lost the first time obviously knows that their game-plan from the first game did not get the job done so they HAVE to try something different. That puts them in a bit of a "nothing to lose" situation where they might as well try something radical.
My least favorite example of this is the 1975 Buckeyes. This was Woody's last great team. Woody's last three teams (1976-1978) each had at least three non-wins. The 1975 team was the fourth in a row to do no worse than 9-2 (9-2 in 1972, 10-0-1 in 1973, 10-2 in 1974, and 11-1 in 1975).
- Preseason #4: Ohio State finished #4 in the final 1974 poll and started at #4 in the 1975 preseason AP Poll.
- 9/8 Poll #3: The Buckeyes didn't play but #2 Bama lost 20-7 to unranked Mizzou so the Buckeyes moved up to #3.
- 9/15 Poll #3: The Buckeyes shutout #11 Michigan State and stayed #3.
- 9/22 Poll #2: The Buckeyes beat #7 Penn State and moved up to #2 on the strength of back-to-back wins over top-11 opponents.
- 9/29 Poll #2: The Buckeyes beat UNC and stayed at #2 (but they were getting VERY close to #1 OU).
- 10/6 Poll #1: The Buckeyes blew out #13 UCLA on the road and moved up to #1.
- 10/13 Poll #1:
- 10/20 Poll #1:
- 10/27 Poll #1:
- 11/3 Poll #1:
- 11/10 Poll #1: Previous #2 OU lost to an unranked Kansas team which had the effect of consolidating Ohio State's hold on #1. In the 11/10 Poll the Buckeyes had 49 of the 58 first place votes.
- 11/17 Poll #1:
- 11/24 Poll #1: A few things happened here: First, Ohio State went to Ann Arbor and beat #4 Michigan 21-14. Second, #2 Nebraska lost to #7 OU. At this point Ohio State had 56 of 59 first place votes and a 150 point lead over #2 aTm. As it turned out, aTm was a bit of a paper tiger. After beating Texas on 11/28 they got blown out by Arkansas (12/6 in Little Rock) and USC (12/22 in the Liberty Bowl).
- 12/1 Poll #1: This was the penultimate poll of 1975 and the Buckeyes were firmly in control with 50 of 58 first place votes and a substantial lead over #2 aTm which was about to lose two straight anyway.
In the final pre-bowl poll the Buckeyes were firmly in command. Then the Rose Bowl happened.
Remember that #13 UCLA team that Ohio State blew out to move up to #1?
The Buckeyes lost to (then) #11 UCLA in a Rose Bowl rematch to finish #4 behind #1 Oklahoma (lost 23-3 to a Kansas team that finished 7-5), #2 ASU (played a WAC schedule), and #3 Bama (ran the table after the aforementioned 20-7 loss to a Mizzou team that finished 6-5).
Plausible contenders in the bowls:
- #1 Ohio State lost 23-10 to #11 UCLA in the Rose Bowl
- #2 aTm lost 20-0 to unranked USC in the Liberty Bowl and also lost 31-6 to #18 Arkansas
- #3 Oklahoma beat #5 Michigan 14-6 in the Orange Bowl
- #4 Bama beat #8 Penn State 13-6 in the Sugar Bowl
- #5 Michigan lost 14-6 to #3 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl
- #6 Nebraska lost 17-14 to #7 ASU in the Fiesta Bowl
- #7 ASU beat #6 Nebraska 17-14 in the Fiesta Bowl
The Buckeyes didn't even get any first place votes in the final poll despite the fact that their 13 point loss to final #5 UCLA was a heck of a lot better than #1 Oklahoma's 20 point loss to unranked Kansas or #3 Bama's 13 point loss to unranked Mizzou. Oh well.
