I have to wonder what ISU and the others (WIU, EIU, SIU) think about NIU's decision to go 1-A, while they all went 1-AA. Orange Bowl? Never in their lifetimes.

Especially ISU since they have a non-directional name...
All, for the most part, smaller schools though....perhaps?

I'm sure they feel about the same about basketball successes at ISU and SIU. And at least no media shat on those.

ISU has a small faction that seems to wish they were up here with us. Probably a subset of their larger group who mistake not having a direction in their name with being different/better than the rest of the universities. The State should have just named them Central Illinois. Oh well let them all rot in FCS while we keep the state to ourselves as the alternative to the B1G.

(01-09-2013 07:09 AM)DogTracks Wrote:  I'm sure they feel about the same about basketball successes at ISU and SIU. And at least no media shat on those.

ISU has a small faction that seems to wish they were up here with us. Probably a subset of their larger group who mistake not having a direction in their name with being different/better than the rest of the universities. The State should have just named them Central Illinois. Oh well let them all rot in FCS while we keep the state to ourselves as the alternative to the B1G.

I'd be careful. I think ISU is doing some great things to improve their program and are positioning themselves to make the jump up to FBS. It may not be for 10-15 years but they see that there is good money in football and the impact it can bring to a school, even at the FCS level.

They are in a good position too. Down the road from Chambana they could easily start to pick off a few fairweather Illini fans as a program in the upswing.

(01-09-2013 09:58 AM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(01-09-2013 07:09 AM)DogTracks Wrote:  I'm sure they feel about the same about basketball successes at ISU and SIU. And at least no media shat on those.

ISU has a small faction that seems to wish they were up here with us. Probably a subset of their larger group who mistake not having a direction in their name with being different/better than the rest of the universities. The State should have just named them Central Illinois. Oh well let them all rot in FCS while we keep the state to ourselves as the alternative to the B1G.

I'd be careful. I think ISU is doing some great things to improve their program and are positioning themselves to make the jump up to FBS. It may not be for 10-15 years but they see that there is good money in football and the impact it can bring to a school, even at the FCS level.

They are in a good position too. Down the road from Chambana they could easily start to pick off a few fairweather Illini fans as a program in the upswing.

ISU has also done a great job of picking up talented students that just miss be admitted to U of I the last five years. That has reflected on their ACT scores going up the last five years and ours staying the same or going down.

(01-09-2013 09:58 AM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(01-09-2013 07:09 AM)DogTracks Wrote:  

I'd be careful. I think ISU is doing some great things to improve their program and are positioning themselves to make the jump up to FBS. It may not be for 10-15 years but they see that there is good money in football and the impact it can bring to a school, even at the FCS level.

They are in a good position too. Down the road from Chambana they could easily start to pick off a few fairweather Illini fans as a program in the upswing.

Remind me again where exactly they would go? Most logical would the MAC after we leave... but as long as we are around I don't see them going anywhere.

I don't think ISU is even close for the FBS transition nor do I think they will pick up fairweather Illini fans. I know 10plus alum of ISU and another 10plus current students. I can hardly find 1 that has any interest in their football program, a guy I know who was president of his fraternity there said they didn't even tailgate for games let alone go to one. Yes, they are making stadium improvements but to my knowledge I don't think they would meet the FBS requirements. They have done okay in football, gettin 8 wins and making the playoffs, but I don't think they challenge us whatsoever. They may have picked up good students U of I missed, but there are multiple factors in that, price, staying in that general location, types of students, etc. Also, ours might be going down because enrollment has dropped, the programs that we have to get students who normally wouldn't go to college an education, we recruit almost a completely different area of students and we are in the same state.

ACT Scores? I could care less about intelligence, just get stupid guys who are REALLY big and run REALLY fast

He was relating it to academics, outside of maybe a handful of schools in the country, ALL football programs will expect kids who meet the minimum standards to receive an athletic scholarship. The score of 18.

(01-09-2013 12:45 PM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  I don't think ISU is even close for the FBS transition nor do I think they will pick up fairweather Illini fans. I know 10plus alum of ISU and another 10plus current students. I can hardly find 1 that has any interest in their football program, a guy I know who was president of his fraternity there said they didn't even tailgate for games let alone go to one. Yes, they are making stadium improvements but to my knowledge I don't think they would meet the FBS requirements. They have done okay in football, gettin 8 wins and making the playoffs, but I don't think they challenge us whatsoever. They may have picked up good students U of I missed, but there are multiple factors in that, price, staying in that general location, types of students, etc. Also, ours might be going down because enrollment has dropped, the programs that we have to get students who normally wouldn't go to college an education, we recruit almost a completely different area of students and we are in the same state.

talk to 100 huskie fans before this year and i'd bet you'd get the same results. Talk to ppl who were undergrads during the late 90s when we were terrible and you'll get the same consensus.

(01-09-2013 12:45 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  ACT Scores? I could care less about intelligence, just get stupid guys who are REALLY big and run REALLY fast

(01-09-2013 12:45 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  ACT Scores? I could care less about intelligence, just get stupid guys who are REALLY big and run REALLY fast

I am quite happy you are not in the Admissions Office.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that NIU can boast a very strong educational aspect for it's athletes....but how many of us wouldn't trade that in a heartbeat for W's..I'm not saying we NEED boosters tossing big cash around, but rallying around academic prestige of athletes is something only small time programs boast about because they don't have the freaks of nature on the field. See Northwestern basketball, if they don't ease up on athletic standards of the b-ball program they'll maintain their streak of not making the NCAA tournament.

P.S. Personally, I would have no problem with NIU getting their hands dirty, all your big programs are....Bobby Petrino would have been a fine hire if we could have got him, that cat would have raked the recruits in...

With today's college sports landscape being driven by everything-football, I'm sure there's a large faction of their fan bases that regret hitching their wagons to the basketball horse back in the day.

I am now doubly happy you are not in the Admissions Office.

(01-09-2013 01:22 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that NIU can boast a very strong educational aspect for it's athletes....but how many of us wouldn't trade that in a heartbeat for W's..I'm not saying we NEED boosters tossing big cash around, but rallying around academic prestige of athletes is something only small time programs boast about because they don't have the freaks of nature on the field. See Northwestern basketball, if they don't ease up on athletic standards of the b-ball program they'll maintain their streak of not making the NCAA tournament.

P.S. Personally, I would have no problem with NIU getting their hands dirty, all your big programs are....Bobby Petrino would have been a fine hire if we could have got him, that cat would have raked the recruits in...

I am very proud of the fact NIU does it the right way. It starts with Dr. Peters to the AD and then to the coaches.

(01-09-2013 01:31 PM)NIU75 Wrote:  

(01-09-2013 01:22 PM)NIU8484 Wrote:  Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that NIU can boast a very strong educational aspect for it's athletes....but how many of us wouldn't trade that in a heartbeat for W's..I'm not saying we NEED boosters tossing big cash around, but rallying around academic prestige of athletes is something only small time programs boast about because they don't have the freaks of nature on the field. See Northwestern basketball, if they don't ease up on athletic standards of the b-ball program they'll maintain their streak of not making the NCAA tournament.

P.S. Personally, I would have no problem with NIU getting their hands dirty, all your big programs are....Bobby Petrino would have been a fine hire if we could have got him, that cat would have raked the recruits in...

I am very proud of the fact NIU does it the right way. It starts with Dr. Peters to the AD and then to the coaches.

+1

Maybe I'm just thinking of it from a more Big Program perspective....Come on, the kids in the football program ALL, yes ALL would love to go pro i'm sure....they shouldn't even be forced to attend college, there's just no amateur football league for kids to attend, so they have to deal with the college BS. Would you care more that Jordan was getting A's and B's on his Art History exams or that he was racking up 300 passing 100 rushing yards on a weekly basis.....?

I DON'T advocate criminals, scumbags bring programs down and shame the school and students....... but non-football intellect I care not....just get the best damn player's you can on that field

(01-08-2013 11:38 PM)NIU70 Wrote:  I have to wonder what ISU and the others (WIU, EIU, SIU) think about NIU's decision to go 1-A, while they all went 1-AA. Orange Bowl? Never in their lifetimes.

You have to remember they all made that decision at a time when an Orange Bowl (or Sugar or Fiesta or Rose) bid for a mid-major was unfathomable, and ISU's and SIU's basketball programs were riding high. It took decades of rule changes and threats of litigation for it to be at all possible for a mid-major to get asked to a major bowl. Until very recently you needed to win your conference if you wanted even a minor bowl game. Meanwhile, if you're ISU, you're watching Larry Bird capture the nation's imagination at Indiana State. Doug Collins is fresh in your memory and you're asking yourself, "Why not us?"

Fast forward 30 years. SIU has made a couple Sweet 16s in the last decade, but the exposure from just one Orange Bowl is probably worth more than that. ISU is on a miserable 15 year NCAA drought with few NIT bids sprinkled in. It was a bad decision, but they couldn't have known that at the time.

(01-09-2013 01:06 PM)thehappyhuskie Wrote:  

(01-09-2013 12:45 PM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  I don't think ISU is even close for the FBS transition nor do I think they will pick up fairweather Illini fans. I know 10plus alum of ISU and another 10plus current students. I can hardly find 1 that has any interest in their football program, a guy I know who was president of his fraternity there said they didn't even tailgate for games let alone go to one. Yes, they are making stadium improvements but to my knowledge I don't think they would meet the FBS requirements. They have done okay in football, gettin 8 wins and making the playoffs, but I don't think they challenge us whatsoever. They may have picked up good students U of I missed, but there are multiple factors in that, price, staying in that general location, types of students, etc. Also, ours might be going down because enrollment has dropped, the programs that we have to get students who normally wouldn't go to college an education, we recruit almost a completely different area of students and we are in the same state.

talk to 100 huskie fans before this year and i'd bet you'd get the same results. Talk to ppl who were undergrads during the late 90s when we were terrible and you'll get the same consensus.

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Very good analysis.

And let's remember that NIU had 5k MORE fans at a game 1300 miles from home than they averaged at home