As a lot of you, I went to the game and here are my takeaways on things that disappointed me:

Offense: Whoever calls the plays has no imagination. I'm sitting in the stands and when we lineup I can call the jet sweeps, the QB draws, the one type of slant pass we do. The offense is a kindergarten offense and should not be used anymore. It is pathetic, it kills the fans enthusiasm after the defense goes out there and puts it all on the line.

Students: This was the first time NIU brought a real opponent outside of Maryland into Dekalb. Yea, yea, Boston College...they aren't a Pac-12 school, but what did we have...MAYBE 1,500 students show up. I don't care the excuses, students go home, blah blah blah....we should have filled the east stands without question and without the high school bands we would have even had a poorer showing. I really felt ashamed when I'm sitting in the stands and I don't even see a full east stands on a game that as a student (2003 - 2007) I would have dragged 20 or 30 other people to go see if I had to.

Dekalb Region: What makes a real division 1 powerhouse school is the regional support of the fans. Rockford, Sycamore, Malta, and Dekalb....how we can't connect with these people to come see a CHEAP football game on a beautiful Saturday night shocks me. The west stands were not full and should have been full. What else do people in this region have for entertainment...high school football was the night before, there is NOTHING else going on for entertainment within 20 miles in the region and we should have shut the cities down, but we don't and that is a shame.


If we ever want to have another "real" opponent come to DeKalb, we need to fix the issues we have above. None of us should be complaining in the future when we have to play a game in solider field against Iowa or have to do a 2 road games with Nebraska. Our students and region do not support NIU football and do not deserve to host a powerhouse conference game.

I don't know what the attendance was, but there were big numbers of Utah fans around me. At one point, I saw nothing but Utah fans streaming in. They sat in chairbacks, bench backs, everywhere.

16752 was the attendance number I saw when I googled it. So not even 17000. For Utah. Pathetic. To me the west side looked pretty full but the east side was less than half full.

(09-09-2018 10:37 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  16752 was the attendance number I saw when I googled it. So not even 17000. For Utah. Pathetic. To me the west side looked pretty full but the east side was less than half full.

That is actually pretty good. The days of 20,000+ are over.

I had a good time at the game though. I thought maybe Utah would take control in the second half but NIUs defense played well the whole game. Sutton Smith is fun to watch and other players got into Utah's backfield too.

(09-09-2018 10:37 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  16752 was the attendance number I saw when I googled it. So not even 17000. For Utah. Pathetic. To me the west side looked pretty full but the east side was less than half full.

Well when you put a mediocre product on the field you can't expect fans to show up in droves. Who wants to come sit for 3.5 hours and watch NIU score a field goal?

I expected a poor turnout after the **** display against iowA. You win that game and we have momentum.

(09-09-2018 12:20 PM)SiegInc Wrote:  

(09-09-2018 10:37 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  16752 was the attendance number I saw when I googled it. So not even 17000. For Utah. Pathetic. To me the west side looked pretty full but the east side was less than half full.

Well when you put a mediocre product on the field you can't expect fans to show up in droves. Who wants to come sit for 3.5 hours and watch NIU score a field goal?

The medicore product was during the game. This should not have effected the attendance. NIU will not and should not get good OOC home games until NIu figures out how to win locally with fans.

(09-09-2018 01:17 PM)georgey3085 Wrote:  

(09-09-2018 12:20 PM)SiegInc Wrote:  

(09-09-2018 10:37 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  16752 was the attendance number I saw when I googled it. So not even 17000. For Utah. Pathetic. To me the west side looked pretty full but the east side was less than half full.

Well when you put a mediocre product on the field you can't expect fans to show up in droves. Who wants to come sit for 3.5 hours and watch NIU score a field goal?

The medicore product was during the game. This should not have effected the attendance. NIU will not and should not get good OOC home games until NIu figures out how to win locally with fans.

We got spanked against Duke and we got spanked against Iowa. Casual fans notice these games and pay more attention vs. when we are in MAC play.

(09-09-2018 01:29 PM)SiegInc Wrote:  

(09-09-2018 01:17 PM)georgey3085 Wrote:  

(09-09-2018 12:20 PM)SiegInc Wrote:  

(09-09-2018 10:37 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  16752 was the attendance number I saw when I googled it. So not even 17000. For Utah. Pathetic. To me the west side looked pretty full but the east side was less than half full.

Well when you put a mediocre product on the field you can't expect fans to show up in droves. Who wants to come sit for 3.5 hours and watch NIU score a field goal?

The medicore product was during the game. This should not have effected the attendance. NIU will not and should not get good OOC home games until NIu figures out how to win locally with fans.

We got spanked against Duke and we got spanked against Iowa. Casual fans notice these games and pay more attention vs. when we are in MAC play.

+1 exactly

It was nice to hear some "And that's another Huskie first down......brought to you by First Midwest Bank!"

(09-09-2018 05:29 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  It was nice to hear some "And that's another Huskie first down......brought to you by First Midwest Bank!"

Was very disappointed with attendance but I’m not surprised the student section was only half full when you consider attendance is down nearly 10k depending on who publishes enrollment. Locally there were several events going on including the Sandwich Fair and events at Egyptian and in Sycamore. Construction on 88 kept people away too. Overall there’s no excuse for more fans not to come considering this is the biggest game here in a long time. Bad attendance hurts long term goals of the program.

By the way I believe it was first national bank.

(09-09-2018 05:53 PM)Dtownboys Wrote:  

(09-09-2018 05:29 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  It was nice to hear some "And that's another Huskie first down......brought to you by First Midwest Bank!"

Was very disappointed with attendance but I’m not surprised the student section was only half full when you consider attendance is down nearly 10k depending on who publishes enrollment. Locally there were several events going on including the Sandwich Fair and events at Egyptian and in Sycamore. Construction on 88 kept people away too. Overall there’s no excuse for more fans not to come considering this is the biggest game here in a long time. Bad attendance hurts long term goals of the program.

By the way I believe it was first national bank.

There just isn't the interest in NIU like there used to be a few short years ago.

And it was indeed First Midwest Bank. That's where I do my banking, and my wife and I commented that we helped pay for each first down.

I'd be willing to pony up some dollars if it will get us some more first downs.

25% of the east side was filled with high school bands, I don’t think they counted for attendance.

Ute fan here. My family and I had a great time visiting Huskie Stadium. The game atmosphere was good, and we had a great time. The crowd was making some noise in the first half, and I had a nice time talking to some of the NIU fans who were near me. I was impressed with your team; they fought a hard game. (Even if it was a bit ugly on both sides!)

I'm thinking of coming out again for the BYU game next year (wife is a big BYU fan). I will definitely be watching NIU as the year moves on. Good luck going forward.

Go Huskies!

For the second week in a row, I’m “pissappointed...”

(09-09-2018 10:52 PM)Smack Wrote:  Ute fan here. My family and I had a great time visiting Huskie Stadium. The game atmosphere was good, and we had a great time. The crowd was making some noise in the first half, and I had a nice time talking to some of the NIU fans who were near me. I was impressed with your team; they fought a hard game. (Even if it was a bit ugly on both sides!)

I'm thinking of coming out again for the BYU game next year (wife is a big BYU fan). I will definitely be watching NIU as the year moves on. Good luck going forward.

Go Huskies!

Glad you had a good time. Good luck to you too.