ISU v Illini in 2020
- Thread starter PowerI66_
- Start date
Any player that is leaving a big 10 program to play for a FCS school is not a concern and most likely was not going to contribute at the big 10 program.
Gabe Megginson is the only major player (4*) to end up at ISU. Wasn't a great fit for the Illini and he wanted to play.
If I were in the upper levels of university administration - at the state government level, above the universities - I would look at the Illini administration and Josh Whitman and expect them to expend as much money as possible in-state. As part of the expectation, if the Illini are buying a FCS game buy an in-state game with one of your cousins...Why? First, the money stays in state. Second, a game with some distant FCS school is nearly guaranteed to draw 30,000 fans in Champaign. ISU, on the other hand, will likely nearly sell out...better than the EIU, SIU or WIU options...
And with the new financial aid program announced this week by Illinois, whereby all new students starting next year from families making less than $61,000 per year pay no tuition, is an interesting walk-on offer to prospective players...sure, you could get a shred from some DII or NAIA school, but you can go to school here just for housing and play...might make for some large walk-on classes which get weeded out and get upperclass scholarships...
And with the new financial aid program announced this week by Illinois, whereby all new students starting next year from families making less than $61,000 per year pay no tuition, is an interesting walk-on offer to prospective players...sure, you could get a shred from some DII or NAIA school, but you can go to school here just for housing and play...might make for some large walk-on classes which get weeded out and get upperclass scholarships...
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When I heard the alleged attendance for Saturday's Illini-Western Illinois game on the radio going home, I'm surprised I didn't veer off the road...39,2xx..It was band day...apparently they must have ticketed all the high school bands which failed to show up. because of the storm forecast..if there were 22,000 people in the building I'd be stunned...I've seen more cars in the paved lot west of first street for the high school finals...
An August 30th Wall Street Journal article on declining college football attendance (and actual vs claimed attendance) stated:
Many schools take a generous approach in compiling announced attendance, by including ushers, security guards and even the guy at the concession stand who sells you a Coke. That partly explains how Purdue’s announced attendance last season spiked 13,433 per game—the largest jump in college football. (Purdue didn’t report how many tickets it actually scanned last year, citing what a spokesman called “outdated equipment, connectivity problems and user error.”)
The NCAA accepts the announced attendance numbers schools submit “at face value,” NCAA spokesman Christopher Radford said.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/colleg...ats-1535634001?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=3
(Note if you can't access this article on the web, you can probably get that issue of the WSJ at your library -- but not for long.)
Many schools take a generous approach in compiling announced attendance, by including ushers, security guards and even the guy at the concession stand who sells you a Coke. That partly explains how Purdue’s announced attendance last season spiked 13,433 per game—the largest jump in college football. (Purdue didn’t report how many tickets it actually scanned last year, citing what a spokesman called “outdated equipment, connectivity problems and user error.”)
The NCAA accepts the announced attendance numbers schools submit “at face value,” NCAA spokesman Christopher Radford said.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/colleg...ats-1535634001?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=3
(Note if you can't access this article on the web, you can probably get that issue of the WSJ at your library -- but not for long.)
Since there are only 96 teams on their “complete” list, I guess some(30+) universities that don’t fit the narrative are ignored. I suppose Navy was oddly included and listed at 100% to lend credibility. What I do know for certain is that Penn State’s student allotment of tickets ~30,000 were sold out in under 8 minutes this season. Again it seems like an off Saturday when there is less than 105,000 in their seats before halftime...I believe this Saturday will be such a day with Kent State in town and bad weather predicted.
One last thing, @Cross Bones I thought you might enjoy the first picture in this article(read the caption) from last Saturday and that you might owe at least one student athlete an apology.
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/football/article_3c59f756-b3f6-11e8-90c7-bf99a67bfa02.html
One last thing, @Cross Bones I thought you might enjoy the first picture in this article(read the caption) from last Saturday and that you might owe at least one student athlete an apology.
https://www.collegian.psu.edu/football/article_3c59f756-b3f6-11e8-90c7-bf99a67bfa02.html
At Alabama, students only receive tickets to 3 games per year, due to the demand. In addition, if they don't use the tickets for the game, they are given points. If a student earns a certain number of points, they are denied the opportunity to purchase seats the next season. This pretty much guarantees that the students show up for the games in which they have tickets, even if it is Arkansas State. That being said, I was at the game last week and there were plenty of empty seats.
When I was a student in the late '80s, 63,000 would be a bad crowd...Michigan, OSU would put 70+ in the building - '89 Big Ten night game with Michigan for the championship was well over 73...'90 my first year of law school at SIU had 64+ for Howard Griffith's record setting 8 TD game against SIU...current attendance is just sad...
Illinois has always drawn well when they are good. The last half a dozen years, they have been terrible. If they get to the point where they were competitive, attendance will not be an issue. As recently as 2009, they have averaged 60,000 per game. Put a winning product on the field and people will show up.
As you may have guessed the Illini are having trouble getting a crowd for their Soldier Field game tomorrow. I received this email earlier this morning;
"On Thursday, September 13, 2018, 8:07 AM, Harbor Notifications <[email protected]> wrote:
We have tickets available for boaters for the University of Illinois vs University of South Florida football game at Soldier Field on Saturday September 15th. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Tickets will be available for pick up beginning Friday at your harbor office while supplies last. Please note that parking is not included."
Your harbor office will be open 9am to 5pm on Friday and 8am to 6pm on Saturday. Please contact your harbor office for further information.
Sincerely,
The Chicago Harbor Staff"
"On Thursday, September 13, 2018, 8:07 AM, Harbor Notifications <[email protected]> wrote:
We have tickets available for boaters for the University of Illinois vs University of South Florida football game at Soldier Field on Saturday September 15th. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Tickets will be available for pick up beginning Friday at your harbor office while supplies last. Please note that parking is not included."
Your harbor office will be open 9am to 5pm on Friday and 8am to 6pm on Saturday. Please contact your harbor office for further information.
Sincerely,
The Chicago Harbor Staff"
Thanks Bones, let’s hope he stays healthy and finds additional Opportunities...3.8 years to go and 70 credits already completed with a 3.8 GPA(probably most proud of this) in December. The miracle of year round education, you can actually finish your degree in 3 years and start working on grad or professional degree.
Given the crowd I'm seeing on this Illini broadcast from Soldier Field, they might have had enough seating at Gately...
Navy has all the Midshipmen at their home games. I have been to several of their home games and the stadium is packed on the Navy side. Army-Navy game is close to a sell out every year. Go Navy!
Love Navy, just fond it odd that the list only included 96 teams and it implied that Navy was the only school close to reporting “true” numbers.
Wondering how many show up to Champaign on Friday night at 8pm for the Penn State game? Will this be an away “whiteout”?
No one. They should not be playing college football games on Friday Nites!
Franklin(“Fridays are for High School, Saturdays College, and Sundays God and the pros!”) and I agree with you 100%. However, since Penn State(Franklin) absolutely refused to yield on a game at home on a Friday night, the Big10 schedulers took it upon themselves and forced the Friday night through The Illini.
No one. They should not be playing college football games on Friday Nites!
I hope no one but Penn State fans show up! Illinois should have had the same stones as Franklin and Fitzgerald. Play on a Thursday if you have to,
Let’s be completely honest here though, Franklin has the program performance, and Fitz has the Northwestern Endowment...Lovie has the Bankrupt state of Illinois.
Don’t care about those excuses. It should not happen on Friday. As I said - they could do it on Thursday and make as much or more.
Oh I understand, but BTN doesn’t want to compete with ESPN and FSN on Thursday night. It’s not about gate revenue, it’s about TV revenue share and that cash cow.
Wednesday is a nice boring nite for the BTN to exploit versus Friday. Yeah yeah I know the teams will whine about only having 3 days to prep.
According to the U of I football website, there were just 21,725 for the game at Soldier Field.
With 3 home games, the Illini have drawn just 92,875 fans are are averaging 30,958.
And it should have felt just like old times for Lovie as a team he coached blew a 4th quarter lead in Soldier Field.
With 3 home games, the Illini have drawn just 92,875 fans are are averaging 30,958.
And it should have felt just like old times for Lovie as a team he coached blew a 4th quarter lead in Soldier Field.
It really was embarrassing, and I'm an Illinois fan. I'd guess there were maybe 17,500 in the house. A shame because it was actually an entertaining game and the crowd that was there really got into it.
No one. They should not be playing college football games on Friday Nites!
Friday nite high school lights for sure...As Education Foundation president in 2002, I pi**ed off most of the Manteno administration when the stadium fundraiser had enough money sitting in the Foundation account to directly pay for the lights to be installed for week 9 of the Panthers first varsity season, and I wrote the check directly to the low bidder to make sure the school board wouldn't louse it up...absolutely one of the coolest nights of my life..(Oh my gosh, the conference had to switch referee assignments...Oh, the teachers had to do their supervising on Friday...Don't know if the opponent can switch dates...the school board did not want the lights installed until the next season...dammit people, high school football is supposed to be played on Friday night!)
But give the Illini some credit for trying to make lemonade when handed lemons...they offered some of the local high schools the opportunity to play in Memorial Stadium on Saturday so they could come watch on Friday...St. Thomas More is playing Rantoul, Tolono Unity is playing Stanford Olympia...Urbana v. Bloomington, Champaign Centennial v. Peoria Notre Dame...I strongly believe that more high schools should try to play in big stadiums when possible...
Of course, an 8 pm kickoff for the Illini makes for an awful late night if you play Saturday...if BTN runs the same commercial packages they ran for Western it will be after midnight when the game is over...
Ok..that is pretty cool that they are letting some of the local teams play in their stadium on the empty Saturday! (Free of charge correct?).