Wyoming football home-field advantage: Where it means the most (and the least)

Long before Wind River was Wind River, the Cougar contingent was split between two schools, Morton and Pavillion.

Separately, the Broncs in Morton and the Panthers in Pavillion established a trend that the conjoined Cougars continued after the separate schools became one — success at home.

In fact, the old Pavillion squad has the largest difference between success at home and success on the road of all squads in the state, past or present. Morton and Wind River, meanwhile, are both in the top seven all-time, and Wind River is second among active programs in that difference.

In 11 seasons, Pavillion won 52.5 percent of its games at home but only 27.8 percent of its games on the road — a difference of 24.7 percent. Wind River and Morton, meanwhile, have both won 17.6 percent more games at home than on the road. (Wind River matched Pavillion in home winning percentage at 52.5 but has won 34.9 percent of road games; Morton won 52.3 of home games and 34.7 percent of road games.)

Of active programs, Sheridan has the biggest difference between home and road success, as the Broncs win nearly 20 percent more games at home than on the road. The Broncs have won less than half their road games but win close to 70 percent of their home games.

Where Wind River and Sheridan love the home games, other schools don’t mind hitting the road.

In particular, Riverside shows a particular indifference to game locations. The Rebels have won 50.9 percent of their road games and 54.3 percent of their home games — a difference of just 3.4 percent, the smallest difference of active programs with at least 50 games played.

Of all Wyoming high schools with at least 50 games played, only one — Arvada-Clearmont — won a higher percentage of games on the road than at home. The Panthers, who last played in 1971, won 46.3 percent of road games but only 45.1 percent of home games.

Home teams win Wyoming high school football games about 56 percent of the time. That means, on average, the usual difference between home and road victories is about 12 percent. Some teams, like Wind River and Sheridan, tend to win a heck of a lot more at home; some teams, like Riverside, don’t really show much of a difference between home and road success.

Here are all Wyoming’s past and present football programs, ranked from lowest difference to highest difference, of schools with at least 50 games played (defunct programs in italics):

Generally, the further down this list you go, the better that team’s home-field advantage… or, pessimistically, the worse that team plays on the road. The higher up you go, the more consistent that team is… or, pessimistically, the worse that team’s home-field advantage is.

The question I can’t really answer: Why are the schools at the top of this list at the top? Why are the schools at the bottom of this list at the bottom? Feel free to chime in with your thoughts below.

–patrick