(01-08-2015 03:33 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:01 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 01:26 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 12:09 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 09:57 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Crossover for 10 seasons...
2006 vs Ohio at Miami vs Buffalo
2007 at Temple vs Kent St
2008 vs Miami vs BGSU at Kent St
2009 at Miami vs Akron at Ohio
2010 vs Temple vs Buffalo at Akron
2011 at Buffalo at BGSU vs Kent St
2012 vs UMASS at Akron vs Buffalo
2013 at UMASS at Kent St vs Akron
2014 vs Kent St vs Miami at Ohio
2015 vs Ohio at Miami at Buffalo


What would make sense in the future...
2016 vs Buffalo vs BGSU at Akron
2017 at BGSU at Kent St vs Akron

Is UMASS out of the MAC this year or next?

Scheduling of crossover games by the MAC doesn't seem to follow any kind of logic or pattern. It definitely doesn't matter how long it's been since a team has played a crossover opponent at a particular venue (we haven't played Ohio in DeKalb since 2006).

As far as UMass, 2015 is their last season for football. Link

The Toledo/BGSU annual game messes up any kind of logical pattern.

It does not have to. For the 2015 season, BG counts as a strong team for Toledo, so the MAC just has to find a weak and an average East team for Toledo to play.

I don't think your theory is supported by past scheduling at all. Example - in 2012, our crossover opponents were Buffalo, Akron and UMass. MAC records for 2011 for those three were: Buffalo 2-6, Akron 0-8 and UMass none (1st year in the MAC). Where's the strong or even average team in that group?

I saw a post on the MAC board saying they try to load up the top teams in the West with the "weak" East teams to inflate their win total. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but if you look at who NIU has played in crossover games lately it makes you think.

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:04 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:03 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  I wonder if the WMU game will be the Tuesday before thanksgiving again.

I think they're more likely to move that up in the MACtion schedule in early November. Wouldn't surprise me if we have EMU the last game instead.

ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

If Ohio is considered a strong Eastern Division opponent then that shows you how down the MAC East is since OHio finished 6-6 in 14.

Northern Illinois 2015

Home: Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Ohio
Away: Central Michigan, Toledo, Buffalo, Miami

Glad that Miami is on the road schedule since they are the closest MAC East opponent to DeKalb, would make a road trip pretty attractive. Only 1 away opponent next year is more than 300 ish miles away, great news.

(01-08-2015 04:34 PM)Policiious Wrote:  Northern Illinois 2015

Home: Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Ohio
Away: Central Michigan, Toledo, Buffalo, Miami

Glad that Miami is on the road schedule since they are the closest MAC East opponent to DeKalb, would make a road trip pretty attractive. Only 1 away opponent next year is more than 300 ish miles away, great news.

No they aren't. BG is slightly closer. Also, the last part of the drive to Oxford is on 2-lane roads which could be dicey if there's bad weather.

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:04 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:03 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  I wonder if the WMU game will be the Tuesday before thanksgiving again.

I think they're more likely to move that up in the MACtion schedule in early November. Wouldn't surprise me if we have EMU the last game instead.

ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:04 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:03 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  I wonder if the WMU game will be the Tuesday before thanksgiving again.

I think they're more likely to move that up in the MACtion schedule in early November. Wouldn't surprise me if we have EMU the last game instead.

ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

Hoping for a Saturday game vs CMU so I can stay at my Aunts cabin less than 30min away.

Our top 3 games for ratings on ESPN are...
@ Toledo
vs WMU
vs Ohio

Unfortunately these will most likely be picked up for weeknight games in November.

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:04 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  I think they're more likely to move that up in the MACtion schedule in early November. Wouldn't surprise me if we have EMU the last game instead.

ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

That had some fair weather too from what I remember.

Also the Alum Association had a block of 5k tickets they were giving out for free.

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:04 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  I think they're more likely to move that up in the MACtion schedule in early November. Wouldn't surprise me if we have EMU the last game instead.

ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

That was an awesome day as I recall. I think you're right, that could draw a decent viewership. It'd be an interesting experiment at the very least...

(01-08-2015 04:54 PM)Flying Corn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

That was an awesome day as I recall. I think you're right, that could draw a decent viewership. It'd be an interesting experiment at the very least...

Much better than doubling up games just to put 1 on ESPN3.com

(01-08-2015 03:54 PM)7 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:33 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:01 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 01:26 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 12:09 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  Scheduling of crossover games by the MAC doesn't seem to follow any kind of logic or pattern. It definitely doesn't matter how long it's been since a team has played a crossover opponent at a particular venue (we haven't played Ohio in DeKalb since 2006).

As far as UMass, 2015 is their last season for football. Link

The Toledo/BGSU annual game messes up any kind of logical pattern.

It does not have to. For the 2015 season, BG counts as a strong team for Toledo, so the MAC just has to find a weak and an average East team for Toledo to play.

I don't think your theory is supported by past scheduling at all. Example - in 2012, our crossover opponents were Buffalo, Akron and UMass. MAC records for 2011 for those three were: Buffalo 2-6, Akron 0-8 and UMass none (1st year in the MAC). Where's the strong or even average team in that group?

I saw a post on the MAC board saying they try to load up the top teams in the West with the "weak" East teams to inflate their win total. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but if you look at who NIU has played in crossover games lately it makes you think.

Is there such a thing as a strong East team?

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:04 PM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  I think they're more likely to move that up in the MACtion schedule in early November. Wouldn't surprise me if we have EMU the last game instead.

ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

The days of that novelty are over though. We would never draw that many for a weekday game again unless it was somehow a division deciding game. People just aren't going to weekday games anymore

(01-08-2015 06:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

The days of that novelty are over though. We would never draw that many for a weekday game again unless it was somehow a division deciding game. People just aren't going to weekday games anymore

The 2005 game against WMU clinched the MAC-West for NIU. And, if the last game this year is against WMU, that could be the division decider again this time.

(01-08-2015 09:57 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Crossover for 10 seasons...
2006 vs Ohio at Miami vs Buffalo
2007 at Temple vs Kent St
2008 vs Miami vs BGSU at Kent St
2009 at Miami vs Akron at Ohio
2010 vs Temple vs Buffalo at Akron
2011 at Buffalo at BGSU vs Kent St
2012 vs UMASS at Akron vs Buffalo
2013 at UMASS at Kent St vs Akron
2014 vs Kent St vs Miami at Ohio
2015 vs Ohio at Miami at Buffalo


What would make sense in the future...
2016 vs Buffalo vs BGSU at Akron
2017 at BGSU at Kent St vs Akron

Is UMASS out of the MAC this year or next?

If my math is right that comes out to

5x Buffalo
5x Miami
4x Akron
4x Kent St
4x Ohio
2x BGSU
----------
2x Temple
2x UMass

In a perfect world with a 12 team conference and an 8 game conference schedule each team should play every team from the cross division every 2 years. uneven divisions and the BG/UT agreement have made that problematic but if you stretch it out over 10yrs you should get some sort of balance and this shows that you do. If you take the Temple/UMass games and spread them back over the other teams you get a nearly even distribution. I pulled this data for Ohio awhile back and had similar results.

(01-08-2015 06:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:47 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  ESPN is not going to waste a MACtion pick on an EMU game.

NIU hosts the IHSA this year so if we have a home game the week of thanksgiving then it must be on Tuesday night or maybe Wednesday night.

Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

The days of that novelty are over though. We would never draw that many for a weekday game again unless it was somehow a division deciding game. People just aren't going to weekday games anymore

A game around a holiday is a much better novelty than any other November MACtion game.

A black Wednesday afternoon game would do MUCH better than a game the night before. I also think a 1pm kickoff on black Wednesday would do better than a 10am CT kickoff on black Friday.

(01-09-2015 10:38 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 06:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:27 PM)Policiious Wrote:  Hopefully Wed, attendance should be quite a bit better than for Tuesday

I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

The days of that novelty are over though. We would never draw that many for a weekday game again unless it was somehow a division deciding game. People just aren't going to weekday games anymore

A game around a holiday is a much better novelty than any other November MACtion game.

A black Wednesday afternoon game would do MUCH better than a game the night before. I also think a 1pm kickoff on black Wednesday would do better than a 10am CT kickoff on black Friday.

Reminder Huskie Stadium is hosting the IHSA playoffs next year, so we can't play on Black Friday. We really need to switch up our scheduling to accomodate this.

(01-09-2015 12:19 PM)RitzHuskie Wrote:  

(01-09-2015 10:38 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 06:59 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:47 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 04:42 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  I doubt it would be a Wed game...though I dont understand why the MAC and ESPN dont have one on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its not like the Friday games are better for attendance.

If ESPN would agree, a Wednesday day game might be a decent draw. We did that in 2005 against WMU. Attendance was 18,361 and kickoff was at 1:00 PM.

The days of that novelty are over though. We would never draw that many for a weekday game again unless it was somehow a division deciding game. People just aren't going to weekday games anymore

A game around a holiday is a much better novelty than any other November MACtion game.

A black Wednesday afternoon game would do MUCH better than a game the night before. I also think a 1pm kickoff on black Wednesday would do better than a 10am CT kickoff on black Friday.

Reminder Huskie Stadium is hosting the IHSA playoffs next year, so we can't play on Black Friday. We really need to switch up our scheduling to accomodate this.

That was more of in general for any MAC team than specific to 2015 at NIU.

(01-08-2015 06:02 PM)niubrad00 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:54 PM)7 Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:33 PM)huskiebob Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 03:01 PM)Huskie_Jon Wrote:  

(01-08-2015 01:26 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  The Toledo/BGSU annual game messes up any kind of logical pattern.

It does not have to. For the 2015 season, BG counts as a strong team for Toledo, so the MAC just has to find a weak and an average East team for Toledo to play.

I don't think your theory is supported by past scheduling at all. Example - in 2012, our crossover opponents were Buffalo, Akron and UMass. MAC records for 2011 for those three were: Buffalo 2-6, Akron 0-8 and UMass none (1st year in the MAC). Where's the strong or even average team in that group?

I saw a post on the MAC board saying they try to load up the top teams in the West with the "weak" East teams to inflate their win total. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but if you look at who NIU has played in crossover games lately it makes you think.

Is there such a thing as a strong East team?

Careful! Some might say the same thing about MAC teams.

You have to look at things relatively, and ignore OOC games. Some East teams are not as bad as other East teams. I refer to the least bad East teams are the "strong" ones.

EMU should be Homecoming. It is the only way to have a nice crowd playing them.