Labor Day Weekend - Saturday!
Official announcement made by NIU AD Jim Phillips and IA. AD today.
No time yet. TV will probably be involved for this one.
Comes 20 years after the Huskies were supposed to Play Miami (FL) in Chicago. That game never happened - but, this one will!

hate the idea of these psuedo-home games but congrats I guess.

Shrakkrocket Wrote:hate the idea of these psuedo-home games but congrats I guess.

I think the biggest problem is Huskie Stadium is just too small for such a match up. I honestly think SF will just barely be big enough. I think if we both get some $$$ out of the deal, I think it is great. I just don't want to see it as an every year thing unless we can convince top teams that will bring tons of fans(ie. Nebraska, Oklahoma type).

RobertN Wrote:

Shrakkrocket Wrote:hate the idea of these psuedo-home games but congrats I guess.

I think the biggest problem is Huskie Stadium is just too small for such a match up.

Miami University hosted Iowa in 2002 at their home stadium, which has a smaller seating capactiy than NIU's home stadium.

Miami is also hosting Northwestern this fall. Of course Northwestern has refused to play at NIU as well.


I think the biggest problem is a combination of NIU not having the strong tradition of a school like Miami University and NIU's AD not being capable of getting a deal done that brings those schools into NIU's stadium.

rocketfootball Wrote:

RobertN Wrote:

Shrakkrocket Wrote:hate the idea of these psuedo-home games but congrats I guess.

I think the biggest problem is Huskie Stadium is just too small for such a match up.

Miami University hosted Iowa in 2002 at their home stadium, which has a smaller seating capactiy than NIU's home stadium.

Miami is also hosting Northwestern this fall. Of course Northwestern has refused to play at NIU as well.


I think the biggest problem is a combination of NIU not having the strong tradition of a school like Miami University and NIU's AD not being capable of getting a deal done that brings those schools into NIU's stadium.

Nice try RF but I think it has more to do with the fact that Miami is 6+ hours farther away and Chicago has a HUGE Iowa fan base in Chicago(many of their grads move to Chicago). Of course that would have nothing to do with it. But believe what you want.

The Truth Shall Set You Free RobertN..........

RobertN Wrote:

rocketfootball Wrote:

RobertN Wrote:

Shrakkrocket Wrote:hate the idea of these psuedo-home games but congrats I guess.

I think the biggest problem is Huskie Stadium is just too small for such a match up.

Miami University hosted Iowa in 2002 at their home stadium, which has a smaller seating capactiy than NIU's home stadium.

Miami is also hosting Northwestern this fall. Of course Northwestern has refused to play at NIU as well.


I think the biggest problem is a combination of NIU not having the strong tradition of a school like Miami University and NIU's AD not being capable of getting a deal done that brings those schools into NIU's stadium.

Nice try RF but I think it has more to do with the fact that Miami is 6+ hours farther away and Chicago has a HUGE Iowa fan base in Chicago(many of their grads move to Chicago). Of course that would have nothing to do with it. But believe what you want.

That's the excuse NIU's AD probably gives and that is the excuse that NIU fans want to believe. It's a shame that you guys want to believe that BS though.

In reality that has nothing to do with it. Of all the OOC teams you guys have played in the last 8-10 years, only Maryland, Wake Forest, and Iowa State came to NIU. Illinois, Northwestern, Auburn, Vanderbilt, and Iowa are all teams that you have played that I would think you should have got some kind of return trip to your stadium. Maybe not Auburn, but the rest for sure.

You were able to get Iowa State to come to Dekalb, but Iowa won't........so don't say it is a location thing as Ames is only about 90 minutes or so further than Iowa City is from the Chicago area.

rocketfootball Wrote:

RobertN Wrote:

rocketfootball Wrote:

RobertN Wrote:

Shrakkrocket Wrote:hate the idea of these psuedo-home games but congrats I guess.

I think the biggest problem is Huskie Stadium is just too small for such a match up.

Miami University hosted Iowa in 2002 at their home stadium, which has a smaller seating capactiy than NIU's home stadium.

Miami is also hosting Northwestern this fall. Of course Northwestern has refused to play at NIU as well.


I think the biggest problem is a combination of NIU not having the strong tradition of a school like Miami University and NIU's AD not being capable of getting a deal done that brings those schools into NIU's stadium.

Nice try RF but I think it has more to do with the fact that Miami is 6+ hours farther away and Chicago has a HUGE Iowa fan base in Chicago(many of their grads move to Chicago). Of course that would have nothing to do with it. But believe what you want.

That's the excuse NIU's AD probably gives and that is the excuse that NIU fans want to believe. It's a shame that you guys want to believe that BS though.

In reality that has nothing to do with it. Of all the OOC teams you guys have played in the last 8-10 years, only Maryland, Wake Forest, and Iowa State came to NIU. Illinois, Northwestern, Auburn, Vanderbilt, and Iowa are all teams that you have played that I would think you should have got some kind of return trip to your stadium. Maybe not Auburn, but the rest for sure.

You were able to get Iowa State to come to Dekalb, but Iowa won't........so don't say it is a location thing as Ames is only about 90 minutes or so further than Iowa City is from the Chicago area.

You don't have a clue RF. Iowa has a HUGE Chicago base. I don't know what it is but I would guess it has to be in the mid tens of thousands at the minimum. We obviously have a huge fan base in Chicago. Iowa State is represented well in Chicago but just like in Iowa, they are the second rate team and don't travel nearly as well. BTW, we did sell out the ISU game. We even had some peple scalping tickets but Huskie stadium was just about the right size for that game. Obviously MD isn't going to bring tons of fans but they did bring quite a few so Huskie Stadium was fine. Also, there are many Iowa fans in Chicago in general. The game will be near a sell out at 61,000. Do you honestly believe Miami would have had 61,000 for an Iowa game? Do you honestly believe that it would have been smart for us to lose money on the game by having us play at NIU? I know Toledo is loaded and doesn't need the extra cash but I think we can use the money.

"RobertN Wrote:You don't have a clue RF.

Keep thinking that way......it's no skin off of my back. lmfao

RF,

Just to clarify, Vanderbilt did play at NIU.

Hayden Fry had ridden off in the sunset, and Iowa was horrible when they scheduled to play at Miami. 2002 was when it really started to get turned around. Iowa is now a top-15 team each year in a Jan. 1 bowl game. It is called leverage. Iowa has it now. No top tier Big 10 team is coming to a MAC stadium, especially one they might lose at.

I like the games NIU vs Iowa and Wis vs BG on neutral fields in NFL Stadiums. It gives a big time presence to the MAC and you get more press from the game being played in the big city. Newspapers and tv will cover it. Colorado State plays Colorado in Denver in that rivalry. Ohio is playing Cincinnati in basketball at Quicken Loans Arena Dec 30th. MAC needs to use Cleveland to its advantage and schedule one big Football and hoops OOC matchup each year.

KStud Wrote:Hayden Fry had ridden off in the sunset, and Iowa was horrible when they scheduled to play at Miami. 2002 was when it really started to get turned around. Iowa is now a top-15 team each year in a Jan. 1 bowl game. It is called leverage. Iowa has it now. No top tier Big 10 team is coming to a MAC stadium, especially one they might lose at.

That's BS actually. Iowa had a 3 year span that they didn't win many games from 1998-2000. However, before that they were winning anywhere from 5-10 games a year. In the 15 years before that they won 7 or more games 8 times. That's definitely considered upper Big Ten. Remember, outside of Ohio State and Michigan each Big Ten team has gone through some seasons that haven't been as good.

Iowa only went 7-5 last year. Does that mean they are not a Top 15 team that plays in a January bowl game anymore? ;-)

Doggone Wrote:RF,

Just to clarify, Vanderbilt did play at NIU.

Apologize if they did, but it must have been before the years I went back to. I think I went back to 1997 or '98...somewhere in that range.

OUBOBCATJOHN Wrote:Colorado State plays Colorado in Denver in that rivalry.

Colorado St. plays their home games in the series in Denver because CU has refused since the mid 90s to play any road games in the series on the CSU campus. When the issue of a higher rent payment for Invesco Field came up to play the CSU home games in the series, CSU floated the idea of playing games at Hughes Stadium again. CU said they'd rather stop playing the series altogether.

Shrakkrocket Wrote:hate the idea of these psuedo-home games but congrats I guess.

I love 'em.

Congratulations Huskies. I'm really happy for you, because I know how happy I am about our opener.

Quote:That's the excuse NIU's AD probably gives and that is the excuse that NIU fans want to believe. It's a shame that you guys want to believe that BS though.

In reality that has nothing to do with it. Of all the OOC teams you guys have played in the last 8-10 years, only Maryland, Wake Forest, and Iowa State came to NIU. Illinois, Northwestern, Auburn, Vanderbilt, and Iowa are all teams that you have played that I would think you should have got some kind of return trip to your stadium. Maybe not Auburn, but the rest for sure.

You were able to get Iowa State to come to Dekalb, but Iowa won't........so don't say it is a location thing as Ames is only about 90 minutes or so further than Iowa City is from the Chicago area.

Or you could continue to yammer on about something you clearly know nothing about and make an arse of yourself...

Iowa's game at Miami in 2002 was scheduled in the late 90s, when Iowa was at the bottom of the Big Ten, when their home attendance was slumping and when they had far less leverage to refuse 2-for-1s. Well, guess what, since Ferentz arrived, the team has had a few Top Ten finishes, and every home game is sold out at 71,000 fans. To top it off, they just finished a $70 million renovation of Kinnick Stadium a year ago.

Put simply, Iowa's not giving a non-conference home game to any non-BCS team in the near future, much less a team that plays in a 31,000-seat stadium. That's not excuse-making. That's not b.s. That's reality. Cold, economic reality.

And the fact that you think Auburn (or Alabama, for that matter) would be willing to travel north of the Mason-Dixon line to play *anyone*, much less a MAC school, giving up an 86,000-fan gate at home, shows how disconnected from the real world you are.

Oh, and Vandy *did* play at NIU, which you'd know if you did a little research before spouting off.

In the past ten years, NIU has had home games against Louisville, Kansas State, Vandy, USF, Wake Forest, Maryland and Iowa State. I think they're doing okay, especially compared to most other teams in the MAC.

(And you really run off the rails when you try to compare Iowa and Iowa State's Chicago fan bases. Iowa State barely exists here, but there are a ton of Iowa grads roaming around...)

Papa Lou BSU Wrote:

Quote:That's the excuse NIU's AD probably gives and that is the excuse that NIU fans want to believe. It's a shame that you guys want to believe that BS though.

In reality that has nothing to do with it. Of all the OOC teams you guys have played in the last 8-10 years, only Maryland, Wake Forest, and Iowa State came to NIU. Illinois, Northwestern, Auburn, Vanderbilt, and Iowa are all teams that you have played that I would think you should have got some kind of return trip to your stadium. Maybe not Auburn, but the rest for sure.

You were able to get Iowa State to come to Dekalb, but Iowa won't........so don't say it is a location thing as Ames is only about 90 minutes or so further than Iowa City is from the Chicago area.

Or you could continue to yammer on about something you clearly know nothing about and make an arse of yourself...

Iowa's game at Miami in 2002 was scheduled in the late 90s, when Iowa was at the bottom of the Big Ten, when their home attendance was slumping and when they had far less leverage to refuse 2-for-1s. Well, guess what, since Ferentz arrived, the team has had a few Top Ten finishes, and every home game is sold out at 71,000 fans. To top it off, they just finished a $70 million renovation of Kinnick Stadium a year ago.

Put simply, Iowa's not giving a non-conference home game to any non-BCS team in the near future, much less a team that plays in a 31,000-seat stadium. That's not excuse-making. That's not b.s. That's reality. Cold, economic reality.

And the fact that you think Auburn (or Alabama, for that matter) would be willing to travel north of the Mason-Dixon line to play *anyone*, much less a MAC school, giving up an 86,000-fan gate at home, shows how disconnected from the real world you are.

Oh, and Vandy *did* play at NIU, which you'd know if you did a little research before spouting off.

In the past ten years, NIU has had home games against Louisville, Kansas State, Vandy, USF, Wake Forest, Maryland and Iowa State. I think they're doing okay, especially compared to most other teams in the MAC.

(And you really run off the rails when you try to compare Iowa and Iowa State's Chicago fan bases. Iowa State barely exists here, but there are a ton of Iowa grads roaming around...)

Papa Lou - I did end up saying maybe not Auburn and it was exactly because of what you said. Did you read my whole post before ripping on it?


Now, you do mention that Iowa is not going to any non-bcs stadium in the near future and that is true. But it is more because they are only playing a couple of DI-A non-bcs schools in the next 5 years. In 2006 the only non-bcs teams on their schedule is Northern Illinois and DI-AA Montana. Even the MAC will not play at a DI-AA school so you really can't count that one. In 2007 they play NIU at Soldier Field and host Western Michigan. In 2008 they host Florida International. And I-AA Northern Iowa is on the schedule in 2009.

So, they play against three DI-A non-bcs schools in the next five years.......NIU, WMU, and Florida International. That's not very many opportunities to get Iowa to come to your stadium. Having a few I-AA's on the schedule may also show that either they are afraid to play a mid-major on the road, the other mid-majors have told Iowa to F themselves if they won't play in their home stadium, or a combination of both.

The lack of mid-majors on their future schedules could really hurt Iowa. They are not a Top 15 team right now. They went 7-5 last year, and that was with beating DI-AA Northern Iowa and Ball State for two of those wins. They also got to play and beat bad teams in Illinois, Purdue, and Indiana. That's five wins against easier competition. The future doesn't have such easy schedules.

In 2002 they played three mid-majors in Akron, Miami University, and Utah State. During those years of winning 9-11 games they were playing at least two mid-majors per year.


Now, I originally said that one of the realities is that NIU does not have the tradition in football that Miami University has and therefore you should be able to see the difference in leverage. Below I have re-posted my original message for you to read. I stand by that message 100%. You can say I know nothing of what I am talking about, and that is your opinion, but I stand by it.

You attack my mentioning of Vanderbilt and not even mention I later said the home game for NIU happened earlier than I researched back. That is bound to happen sometimes. The only way to keep something like that from happening is to research all the way back to when NIU started playing football.

You mention home games against Louisville and Kansas State and say that is better than most MAC teams. The problem is that NIU wasn't a MAC team back when those games were scheduled, nor played. Louisville was in a transition from the Metro to Conference USA then too, and hardly considered a top football team. And the Vanderbilt series was even scheduled before NIU was back in the MAC. You know, that was during their "we're going bigger" phase. So Papa Lou, maybe you should get your facts straight before trying to twist them the way you want.

NIU was indeed a MAC team when K-State came in, as it happened the same year that Vandy came to DeKalb, 1997

Papa Lou, I think that post qualifies you as an honorary Huskie.

A couple things I'd like to add: Scheduling has become more difficult for us since our fortunes have turned around. I find it rediculous to suggest that the NIU administration is using that as an excuse. Also, our AD has only been around for just under two years now. I think it'll take a little more time to evaluate his job, but he's off to a great start in DeKalb, including the Michigan, tOSU and Soldier Field scheduling.

And just for fun, my trash talking response: Why would they want to come to DeKalb where they know they'll lose?