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That's because, like the media, most of them view us as a small player on the college football landscape and coming from a minor conference. I'd be willing to bet that most don't even know we are FBS.
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It's because the MAC schedule is brutal, having maybe 1 or at best 2 quality games per year at home doesn't build a fan base.


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The MAC schedule is brutal because right now there are only 4 decent football teams in the conference BG, Toledo, BSU & NIU. Buffalo is good defensively but is weak offensively. If you are a fan of one of those 4 programs you may only see 1 at most 2 quality in conference opponents in a year. EIU last year was clearly better than any MAC team NIU faced but BG.

Just out of curiousity, does NIU focus its athletic marketing in Chicago?

One thing I've always noticed is that people in the suburbs and exurbs look toward a core city and consider it a very short manageable drive while those living in a core city consider the places halfway between to be a long distance to travel.

(02-24-2014 09:55 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  Just out of curiousity, does NIU focus its athletic marketing in Chicago?

One thing I've always noticed is that people in the suburbs and exurbs look toward a core city and consider it a very short manageable drive while those living in a core city consider the places halfway between to be a long distance to travel.

I think many would say NIU doesn't focus their marketing at all. They try to involve Chicago as much as possible. For instance, new hires are usually introduced in DeKalb at a press conference in the morning, then they have another press conference in Chicago so the news will have a sound bite on their evening news.

Many few the target area for marketing should be the western suburbs. This consists of Elgin, St. Charles, Aurora, Naperville corridor. The commute to DeKalb is about 30 minutes from these areas. Population in this area is over 500,000.

(02-24-2014 09:55 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  Just out of curiousity, does NIU focus its athletic marketing in Chicago?

One thing I've always noticed is that people in the suburbs and exurbs look toward a core city and consider it a very short manageable drive while those living in a core city consider the places halfway between to be a long distance to travel.

Dekalb is definitely off the Chicago radar when it comes to events and news. They have some events in Chicago like Doggone said, but most of the advertising is focused on the suburbs. And you are correct that most perceive the drive from Chicago to Dekalb as long distance...and it is if you are talking about weeknight sporting events. It's about 60 miles and the traffic can be absolutely terrible until you get 30 miles outside the city.

That's because, like the media, most of them view us as a small player on the college football landscape and coming from a minor conference. I'd be willing to bet that most don't even know we are FBS.
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It's because the MAC schedule is brutal, having maybe 1 or at best 2 quality games per year at home doesn't build a fan base.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
[/quote]

The MAC schedule is brutal because right now there are only 4 decent football teams in the conference BG, Toledo, BSU & NIU. Buffalo is good defensively but is weak offensively. If you are a fan of one of those 4 programs you may only see 1 at most 2 quality in conference opponents in a year. EIU last year was clearly better than any MAC team NIU faced but BG.
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EIU wasn't as good as the Eastern Washington team Toledo beat and lost in the Division I Semi-final 35-31 against Towson. UT also knocked off BGSU @BG. Not buying the EIU was better than the MAC programs. NIU just didn't matchup well with BG and NIU schemes. NIU did well against UT because Owens couldn't pass effectively against NIU.Some of it in his head. Of course the Huskie QB was playing great as most of the season.

(02-26-2014 03:21 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  

(02-22-2014 02:40 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

That's because, like the media, most of them view us as a small player on the college football landscape and coming from a minor conference. I'd be willing to bet that most don't even know we are FBS.

It's because the MAC schedule is brutal, having maybe 1 or at best 2 quality games per year at home doesn't build a fan base.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
[/quote]

The MAC schedule is brutal because right now there are only 4 decent football teams in the conference BG, Toledo, BSU & NIU. Buffalo is good defensively but is weak offensively. If you are a fan of one of those 4 programs you may only see 1 at most 2 quality in conference opponents in a year. EIU last year was clearly better than any MAC team NIU faced but BG.
[/quote]

EIU wasn't as good as the Eastern Washington team Toledo beat and lost in the Division I Semi-final 35-31 against Towson. UT also knocked off BGSU @BG. Not buying the EIU was better than the MAC programs. NIU just didn't matchup well with BG and NIU schemes. NIU did well against UT because Owens couldn't pass effectively against NIU.Some of it in his head. Of course the Huskie QB was playing great as most of the season.
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I'm pretty sure that EIU's offense would shred just about any MAC defense this past year, including BG. The reason why the NIU-EIU game was close was because of a mix of our terrible defense and the good play calling/luck EIU had. Remember they scored 3 TD's before NIU even got situated.

EIU took every risk in the book to stay in the game. Babers even said in an interview after that he ask his team if they wanted to go for the win and take risks or play it straight and try to avoid injuries. I highly doubt EIU if playing a MAC schedule would have been that risk averse in all their conference games. They were a very good team and would have done well in the MAC, but BG, NIU, Toledo, and Ball State were clearly better than them. Their defense made ours look good.