Loved watching this game. Florida was definitely bigger and stronger but they were not better than them. UCF reminds me of us and where the Huskies want to be. Mid major that will beat the Major. Especially our in state big brother. STF need to figure out how to get U of I in Huskie stadium and vise versa. That’s a great way to energize the fanbase and pack Huskie stadium.

(12-24-2021 08:54 AM)BDB5yp Wrote:  Loved watching this game. Florida was definitely bigger and stronger but they were not better than them. UCF reminds me of us and where the Huskies want to be. Mid major that will beat the Major. Especially our in state big brother. STF need to figure out how to get U of I in Huskie stadium and vise versa. That’s a great way to energize the fanbase and pack Huskie stadium.

Let's settle the debate for who the best in Illinois is. Enough talk! More action!

UCF is three times the size of NIU and has become a big time football program and about to become one of the big boys. We had a good season but we’re no UCF

(12-24-2021 11:01 AM)dc1 Wrote:  UCF is three times the size of NIU and has become a big time football program and about to become one of the big boys. We had a good season but we’re no UCF

UCF was us a decade ago. They’re a mid major directional school still wanting respect in a State with powerhouse programs. The chip on their shoulder is the same.

(12-24-2021 09:58 AM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 08:54 AM)BDB5yp Wrote:  Loved watching this game. Florida was definitely bigger and stronger but they were not better than them. UCF reminds me of us and where the Huskies want to be. Mid major that will beat the Major. Especially our in state big brother. STF need to figure out how to get U of I in Huskie stadium and vise versa. That’s a great way to energize the fanbase and pack Huskie stadium.

Let's settle the debate for who the best in Illinois is. Enough talk! More action!

Right.. Illness want a bowl game so bad.. Lets go do one at Soilders Field!!

(12-24-2021 11:05 AM)BDB5yp Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 11:01 AM)dc1 Wrote:  UCF is three times the size of NIU and has become a big time football program and about to become one of the big boys. We had a good season but we’re no UCF

UCF was us a decade ago. They’re a mid major directional school still wanting respect in a State with powerhouse programs. The chip on their shoulder is the same.

10 years ago, they were averaging 40000/game and had quadruple the athletic program budget.

(12-24-2021 12:25 PM)Schaefer Beer Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 11:05 AM)BDB5yp Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 11:01 AM)dc1 Wrote:  UCF is three times the size of NIU and has become a big time football program and about to become one of the big boys. We had a good season but we’re no UCF

UCF was us a decade ago. They’re a mid major directional school still wanting respect in a State with powerhouse programs. The chip on their shoulder is the same.

10 years ago, they were averaging 40000/game and had quadruple the athletic program budget.

At the end of the day, it comes down to X’s and O’s. Budgets don’t mean anything when it comes to who’s better than who. The fact is U of I strategically avoids scheduling us and we know why…. They don’t want this smoke

UCF also has the largest enrollment in the state - 70,000.

We are not comparable to them with those resources.

(12-24-2021 11:05 AM)BDB5yp Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 11:01 AM)dc1 Wrote:  UCF is three times the size of NIU and has become a big time football program and about to become one of the big boys. We had a good season but we’re no UCF

UCF was us a decade ago. They’re a mid major directional school still wanting respect in a State with powerhouse programs. The chip on their shoulder is the same.

UCF is the largest public university in the nation in a state with massive resources and budget surpluses. Florida has opened two new public universities in the last ten years from the ground up including a 100% focused STEM University. On top of that the entire state government in Florida has term limits including the Governor and the state just gets it done! The University of South Florida is right behind them in the top five. They are both bigger then Florida and Florida State and now UCF is joining the Big Twelve. The only thing holding back these two schools is a spot in a Power 5 conference and now one of them is in.

(12-24-2021 11:05 AM)BDB5yp Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 11:01 AM)dc1 Wrote:  UCF is three times the size of NIU and has become a big time football program and about to become one of the big boys. We had a good season but we’re no UCF

UCF was us a decade ago. They’re a mid major directional school still wanting respect in a State with powerhouse programs. The chip on their shoulder is the same.

Not even close, I wish were like them 10 years ago.

The team I like to compare us to in the past is Arkansas State. Both teams had visions of Big time football in the 80's. Both teams did not have good plans to achieve going big time but went the Independent route.

Both teams became game pay-out fodder for the now called P5 teams as Independents getting annihilated every week.

Both teams decided in the early 90's that going big time was not a good path and joined the Big West conference which didn't make sense.

Both teams in the late 90's found conferences that s are great fits.

I do feel we have surpassed ASU in football, but during the 80's & 90's, we were mirror images.

You guys are missing the point. UCF has turned from a mid major to a power, which is where we want to be. Competing at a high level and knocking off our in State Rivals in Northwestern and U of I. Mainly U of I.

We have never beat U of I. If we played this year they would be favored. If we played U of I every few years I’m sure we’d beat the sometime but we’re so far behind a UCF or U of I from a Athletic Dept. NIU really has zero chance of becoming a power conference team like UCF has done. We are barely drawing 10k fans.

Do people realize that UCF had an enrollment of 71,193 in the fall of 2020? It is now the largest university in the country. NIU is now like 16,000+ and even at our highest enrollment, we were about a third of the size of UCF. To even consider comparing us to UCF is completely ridiculous. They have resources that we have never even approached.

UCF is a terrible comp for NIU. Institutionally the two schools aren’t even close to peers and enrollment is about 5x what NIU has. Focusing on just football, over the last decade UCF has bowl wins over Georgia, #6 Baylor, #7 Auburn, and now Florida. NIU can’t even beat Coastal Carolina.

As a MAC school NIU has achieved a lot in football but NIU is not even close to making the jump into that next tier. UCF moved from the MAC to CUSA to AAC and now to the Big 12 while NIU is exactly the same MAC school it always has been. If NIU wants to be something greater than it is today then it needs to start at the top of the university. NIU would need to completely reshape the university into something bigger and I just don’t see that ever happening.

Yes, NIU needs to be the best it can be with the resources and facilities available to it. We’ve done pretty well in the past, and no reason we can’t get back there again. Will we be a P5? No. But we can be a pretty darn good G5 with the ability to occasionally beat P5 teams. I think most of us would be happy with that.

Dog fan, you are describing many Group of 5 programs.