Measuring home field advantage: Carter-Finley worth only two points to NC State?

This study from PredictionMachine.com attempts to estimate the home field advantage of each FBS school, in terms of points. It's interesting data, though not without some caveats, which are outlined in the article. Go on and read it; I'll wait.

These numbers can be a measure of consistency (or the lacktherof) as much as anything else, which is how a national power with a big, loud stadium like Florida State can end up dead last. In the Seminoles' case, it's a compliment, in that this is basically saying that FSU is so good, the venue has little impact on its average performance level. But the Seminoles represent an extreme case.

NC State, meanwhile, checks in at 90th, with the estimated impact of Carter-Finley Stadium being 2.17 points. Is that a true reflection of the value of playing in Raleigh for the Wolfpack, or does this imply that State has been more consistent from home to road than the average FBS team? The more consistent a team, the more its HFA number would be suppressed. That's the part that's tough to figure, in every case.

When we think of home field advantage in the abstract, we tend to associate it directly with atmosphere, or at least I do, anyway. And obviously Carter-Finley would not rank far higher than 90th among FBS teams in atmosphere. So there is certainly a lot of room for interpretation with the numbers presented at the above link.

One thing's for sure, though: if you give NC State a game under the lights at Carter-Finley, the home field impact automatically triples. I have not done any computeratin' what to reach this conclusion, but it is true. I am a guy writing on the internet; you can trust me on this.