I agree with most of your points.
Honestly TCU and Boise State are probably better than Ohio State and Iowa this year.
While I would love to see NIU in a BCS conference, I would prefer the play off system replacing the current BCS system.
Perhaps that is wishful thinking, but eventually it is most likely to happen. Hopefully sooner than later.
You may be correct regarding Illinois not having anything to gain by playing us. I respectfully like to hold differently.
Hopefully we will beat them in September.
Regarding rivalries there are two ways to view them.
A battle amongst equals or a battle between 2 different teams.
Notre Dame vs Army would fall under the latter classification.
Many decades ago they might have fallen under the first classification.

When last did Illinois beat Missouri?
While the two teams have proximity in common, Missouri might be closer to Ohio State than Illinois regarding performance. It is ironic that The U.I has beaten Ohio State within the past 5 years.

You do bring up many good points!

(12-12-2009 06:11 PM)UIHuskie Wrote:  

(12-12-2009 05:12 PM)sterling1man Wrote:  You might be correct regarding the "win-win" situation.
Two factors to consider. Football interest, this year was very low.
U.I. has not allowed itself to play NIU for nearly 10 years.
Nine years ago the NIU program, was coming of a 26 game losing streak and had just 1 winning season.
NIU then was very different to NIU now! By 2003 Most people would have agreed that Illinois was the second name of Northern Illinois.
Except for , when U.I. undeservedly went to the Rose Bowl and NIU had it's first losing season in 8/9 years it can be argued that NIU was at least in the same league as U.I. if not better.

NIU has deserved to be named together with Northwestern and U.I as one of the three leading schools in the State given it's past 7 year history.(Perhaps S.I.U. might have crashed the party).

U.I fans would be far more excited about beating NIU then Western Illinois.

Given U.I. track record this year of being 3-9 and losing to our common opponent Purdue 14-24, it may be argued that NIU this season was better than U.I. .

While U.I. is the biggest State school, it's main obligation is to Illinois taxpayers. The U.I. has an obligation and responsibility to use it's position as the largest State school to play smaller state schools even though prima facie it might have less to gain from those games in the immediate future.
Similarly NIU playing SIU regularly will also generate larger fan interest and excite the Illinois college football base more.

The sad reality is that U.I. does not belong in the same class as Missouri and has no business playing them every year. The sad record of U.I.'s mounting losses speak volumes.

U.I. is not a National contender football wise, and is consistently near the bottom of the big 10.
Hopefully this will change.

I am looking forward to the game against NIU.

I don't agree with UI being "obligated" to play anybody; the athletic department in Champaign is not funded by the State of Illinois, therefore they are under no such obligation. The athletic department is separate from the University from a financial standpoint and its revenues come from private sources, ticket sales, etc., not the State.

Again, you are hung up on common opponents and who UI can and can't beat; that isn't the point. I honestly don't care if UI is the best team in the state, I really truly don't. The vast majority of UI fans feel the same way; that isn't the measuring stick. NIU was better this year, and has been for the better part of the past decade, absolutely; but I'm far more concerned that Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, etc. were better than Illinois was. I simply want to be competitive in the Big Ten, and playing NIU does nothing to aid in that effort. Missouri is a similar measuring stick to the Big Ten schools and is a natural rival for Illinois, one that had a terrible run in football in the 90's prior to Pinkel. That game is played, in part, because there is an actual rivalry there, unlike the situation with NIU. I'm for playing the NIU-UI game because of my ties to both UI and NIU, but for most people affiliated with UI who do not have those ties, there is no benefit or much additional "excitement" created by playing NIU. It's just another game. You may not want that to be the case, but it is.

In any event, we can go back and forth forever over this and we're not going to agree. On the bright side, it's nice to see that people can disagree on this board and not resort to petty namecalling after some of the ridiculousness around here the past few weeks. While I don't agree with your opinions, I respect them, and honestly from your perspective I completely understand them. But there are two sides to everything, and I think we are looking at it from two different vantage points.

I appreciate and value your opinion, and am glad you post on this board.

(12-13-2009 01:02 AM)sterling1man Wrote:  

(12-12-2009 06:11 PM)UIHuskie Wrote:  

(12-12-2009 05:12 PM)sterling1man Wrote:  You might be correct regarding the "win-win" situation.
Two factors to consider. Football interest, this year was very low.
U.I. has not allowed itself to play NIU for nearly 10 years.
Nine years ago the NIU program, was coming of a 26 game losing streak and had just 1 winning season.
NIU then was very different to NIU now! By 2003 Most people would have agreed that Illinois was the second name of Northern Illinois.
Except for , when U.I. undeservedly went to the Rose Bowl and NIU had it's first losing season in 8/9 years it can be argued that NIU was at least in the same league as U.I. if not better.

NIU has deserved to be named together with Northwestern and U.I as one of the three leading schools in the State given it's past 7 year history.(Perhaps S.I.U. might have crashed the party).

U.I fans would be far more excited about beating NIU then Western Illinois.

Given U.I. track record this year of being 3-9 and losing to our common opponent Purdue 14-24, it may be argued that NIU this season was better than U.I. .

While U.I. is the biggest State school, it's main obligation is to Illinois taxpayers. The U.I. has an obligation and responsibility to use it's position as the largest State school to play smaller state schools even though prima facie it might have less to gain from those games in the immediate future.
Similarly NIU playing SIU regularly will also generate larger fan interest and excite the Illinois college football base more.

The sad reality is that U.I. does not belong in the same class as Missouri and has no business playing them every year. The sad record of U.I.'s mounting losses speak volumes.

U.I. is not a National contender football wise, and is consistently near the bottom of the big 10.
Hopefully this will change.

I am looking forward to the game against NIU.

I don't agree with UI being "obligated" to play anybody; the athletic department in Champaign is not funded by the State of Illinois, therefore they are under no such obligation. The athletic department is separate from the University from a financial standpoint and its revenues come from private sources, ticket sales, etc., not the State.

Again, you are hung up on common opponents and who UI can and can't beat; that isn't the point. I honestly don't care if UI is the best team in the state, I really truly don't. The vast majority of UI fans feel the same way; that isn't the measuring stick. NIU was better this year, and has been for the better part of the past decade, absolutely; but I'm far more concerned that Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan State, etc. were better than Illinois was. I simply want to be competitive in the Big Ten, and playing NIU does nothing to aid in that effort. Missouri is a similar measuring stick to the Big Ten schools and is a natural rival for Illinois, one that had a terrible run in football in the 90's prior to Pinkel. That game is played, in part, because there is an actual rivalry there, unlike the situation with NIU. I'm for playing the NIU-UI game because of my ties to both UI and NIU, but for most people affiliated with UI who do not have those ties, there is no benefit or much additional "excitement" created by playing NIU. It's just another game. You may not want that to be the case, but it is.

In any event, we can go back and forth forever over this and we're not going to agree. On the bright side, it's nice to see that people can disagree on this board and not resort to petty namecalling after some of the ridiculousness around here the past few weeks. While I don't agree with your opinions, I respect them, and honestly from your perspective I completely understand them. But there are two sides to everything, and I think we are looking at it from two different vantage points.

I appreciate and value your opinion, and am glad you post on this board.

awwwwwwwwwwww

(12-12-2009 06:11 PM)UIHuskie Wrote:  I don't agree with UI being "obligated" to play anybody; the athletic department in Champaign is not funded by the State of Illinois, therefore they are under no such obligation. The athletic department is separate from the University from a financial standpoint and its revenues come from private sources, ticket sales, etc., not the State.

That's just a matter of shifting funds around, so long as donations and ticket sales outpace the athletic budget. (ie, $$ that might otherwise go to academics are given to the athletic department so that they can make this claim). Not that I think this raises any sort of obligation.

Wonder if Golden is on the football coaches carousel as we speak?

Who replaces Kelly at Cincy?

What's all this talk about Missouri being far superior than Illinois? Illinois has beaten Mizzou 10 straight times!!!