Look! They got NU's Ryan field right... accurately depicted with no one in the stands!

http://www.danburymint.com/sports/product.asp?code=3040-0444



(note: Self-depricating humor Monday)

Where's all the opposing Big Ten Team colors in the stands?

It's the day we were playing Northeastern.

I was there for the NIU-NU game in 2005. Great game. I liked Ryan Field. Wish we played more often.

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Seems logical... I mean MAC and Big 10 matchup. Local schools (i.e. hopefully more ticket sales). It seems like a logical rivalry, but nothing has ever come of it. I was there in 2005 too. Decent turnout, but not great. I hate it when we have games before the students are there (NU is on the quater system and starts late). I heard that NIU/Hawkeyes game was a success... I heard the Iowa faithful did a great traveling job (as usual).

Soldier Field was sold out and though it was a NIU 'home game' (they had all NIU announcers and graphics on the boards), the stadium was filled with somewhere around 40K Hawkeye fans. It was a good time, but a god awful game to watch. The Iowa Northwestern game was much better. :-0

That's what i was thinking too. There's only three 1-A schools in the state and due to our proximity NIU-NU makes logical sense as rivals. I understand that there is the NU-Illinois rivalry, but there's nothing in college football that says you can't have more than one rival.

I heard that after we played NU in 2005 that we tried to set up more games in the future but that NU wanted nothing to do with it. I dunno why, NIU brought a lot of fans (about 10k). NU has played on the road at smaller schools. Maybe Jim Phillips will help us establish a rivalry. I hope he does.

Here's photos from the game in 2005:









The game was a huge financial success for NIU ($1.5 million for each team). It was a great environment and all, but i don't want NIU giving up home games for neutral site games. I'm already hearing rumors that NIU is thinking about moving our home game with Wisconsin in 2009 to SF. I hope this doesn't happen. If NIU is that concerned with making money then they can charge a premium for the ticket and require people to have season tickets or purchase a 3-game mini-plan in order to buy a Wisconsin ticket. They should also charge students at least $15-20 considering we never have to pay to attend games and this is a game that a lot of people would be willing to pay to attend. We had students pay $27.75 for the Iowa game at SF.

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It was basically a bowl game atmosphere. Lots of fans from each school at a neutral site. NIU hosted the event that's why it was considered our "home" game. Though there's nothing home about it when you're not playing in your own stadium. I knew we would be outnumbered because so many students that go to Iowa are from Illinois (20-30% of the Iowa student population is from Illinois), then think about how many Iowa alums move to Illinois, the suburbs, and Chicago after they graduate to find work. Then for people who live in Iowa its only a 3 hour drive. NIU also did a poor job handling ticket sales. I heard we gave Iowa some of our own ticket allotment even though we still had NIU people who wanted tickets. Seemed like we were only concerned with the almighty $, not our own fans.

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In the latest freshman class at Iowa, students from Illinois comprised about 35% of the incoming class. Iowa traditionally travels well whereever it goes. I was at the Outback Bowl in 2006 and there was an equal number of Iowa and Florida fans despite the fact that Gainesville is a 2 hour drive to Tampa. I'd love to see the Hawkeyes in Chicago again in the future. But for now, I'll do my 4 hour drive 6-7 times a year to Iowa City to see the Hawks.

As for the almighty dollar, if NIU wasn't concerned about it, they would have left the game in DeKalb where only 25K could have seen the game, rather than the 60K that got to attend and put more in the coffers for both schools.

I do too! I'd much rather play a tougher school and have the stands filled, than play New Hampshire, Nevada, Duke and Northeastern... our pre-conference games last year were horrendous (both in terms of play and attendance).

As for the rivalry factor... Illinois is our "rival", but no one really takes the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk really seriously. I'd say that we have just as big of a rivalry factor with Wisconsin and Iowa (although they might not think so). A Huskie vs. NU rivalry... I can see the marketing now "DOGS vs. CATS in the Battle for Chicago!!!"

It's funny how you bring that up because that's what all my NIU friends were calling the game when it happened. "Dogs vs. Cats".

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The game was never originally scheduled as a home game in DeKalb. It was my understanding that Iowa only agreed to the terms because it was one game in Iowa City and one game in Chicago at SF. Also, it was one of Joe Novak's dreams to see NIU play at SF. Basically, we gave up one of our home games to play at SF and Iowa got to play in a large market venue in front of a lot of their fans.

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My original understanding is that the deal signed in 2006 was for a home and home. I could be wrong, but the home and home was signed with the gentleman's agreement that the Northern Illinois home game would be moved to Chicago. Northern filled a hole in the schedule when Missouri backed out of a 4 game deal with the Hawkeyes. In the end, the only people that know are the coaches and ADs.

A division-I football program that's more interested in the "almighty dollar" than their students and fans? Huh.....how unusual.

Personally, as an NIU alum and fan, I would rather see NIU vs. a BCS school at Soldier Field every year instead of playing SIU or EIU in front of 12,00 people in DeKalb. Besides, look how often those damn I-AA schools end up beating us there too - that's great fun!

My understanding is that the Wisconsin game is all set for SF in 2009. I've seen NIU play at Camp Randall twice - I would rather go see the game there than anywhere else. That place is the BEST environment to see a college football game in the midwest. Bar-none. How about the big house? Keep it.

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No truer words have ever been spoken. Game Day in Madison is a must! But I will venture to SF if we play there. To date no mention from UW insiders, but I'll keep you posted.

12k? Try twice as many as that. The SIU game was our biggest home draw last season, and for good reason, NIU fans are excited to play in-state schools for bragging rights.



That win was Southern Illinois' first over Northern Illinois since 1979. The Huskies still lead the 76-year rivalry 28-14-1. In fact, we have a winning record vs. all the in-state 1-AA schools. Let's not be arrogant like Illinois fans and not play in-state schools just because they are good and we might lose to them.

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I cut and paste this from a post last year on college stadium impressions.

Mud's ranking of Big Ten venues
Michigan - I absolutely love the Big House. Perhaps it was because the first time I was there was when NU upset Michigan in 1995. Surprisingly though, Michigan is not as intimidating as the Horshoe. Since it is not as steep, the sound does not get captured as well as at the Shoe. It's a much more comfortable stadium, but not nearly as loud as some others. I like Ann Arbor much more than Columbus. While the bars may not be as plentiful, the fans seem to handle themselves better.
Wisconsin - Mad-town is fun and the stadium is electric... JUMP AROUND JUMP AROUND JUMP UP JUMP UP and GET DOWN
Ohio State - Loud loud loud. And hostile (I'd never take a young kid there)
Penn State - in the middle of a cornfield, but it is electric. I could do without the Cat roar after ever play
Iowa - Great fans, great refurbished stadium... a pleasant surprise despite its rural location.
Michigan State - Good fans, decent stadium, but East Lansing is a little boring
Northwestern - Can't disagree with GD's assessment of being 3/4ths filled with visiting team. It is lacking all the bells and whistles... despite being updated in the late 1990's. But great location near the greatest city in the world. And there is not a bad seat in the house.
Purdue - Decent stadium, nice campus... but a little forgetable.
Illinois - Such a stark contrast between the Basketball venue and the Football venue. Champange offers some fun though.
Indiana - The Rock? If a rock falls in Bloomington, but no fans are there to hear it, does it really make a sound? I was thinking of ranking it above Illinois because the campus is so beatiful... perhaps the best in all the Big 10.
Minneapolis - Somewhat forgetable. Fans are nice enough, but football is meant to be played outside. TCF Bank Stadium hopefully should be better when its finished in 2009.

It will be interesting to see Memorial Stadium after the remodel. Kinnick was a good stadium that became very good with its remodel. The fans didn't change - they are always good. Iowa and Wisconsin might have the only fans that show up in shitty weather for a 3-8 team.

I guess you and I have a differing opinion on how good a 28-14-1 record is vs. a I-AA school. I could care less if they are "in-state" or not. That is a shitty record for NIU.

And it was the biggest home draw of the year in 2007 because of two big factors:
1. You are technically leaving out the Iowa game, which would have been a madhouse, overflow crowd if they were to somehow play that game on campus.
2. It was played at night. NIU always gets bigger crowds on a Saturday night (or Thursday, for that matter) than during the day, regardless of the opponent. I can't figure out why their first 3-4 home games every year aren't at night. I can understand that it would be a little cold for the last game or two.

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You seem to forget that NIU has not always played at the highest level of college football (major college football). We did not join those ranks until 1969 and we did not join the MAC until 1973. Prior to that we played football on the same level as SIU. We played against them 30 times (18-13-1 in favor of NIU) when we were a small college team and we've only played them 13 times (10-3 in favor of NIU) during our current major college football status.

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I've also personally witnessed a loss to WIU in DeKalb (Aaron Stecker went for 220+). Didn't NIU also lose to another I-AA Gateway conference team recently? Drawing a blank on that though....

Anyway - what exactly is the upside as far as NIU is concerned when playing these I-AA schools (win or lose)? I can't really see one. Even the "mid-level" schools outside of conference (ex: Navy next year) is a better draw and game than these I-AA schools.

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I agree... no upside. NU played (and lost) to New Hampshire in 2006. I personally believe that playing a soft pre-conference schedule is not the way to advance the program.

Nope, we've only lost to SIU and WIU narrowly in the last eight years. You might be thinking of when we played Illinois State in 2000 and beat them 52-0.



Higher attendance for in-state schools. When we play 1-AA's i'm only interested in playing in-state schools. The last two games against SIU have drawn well. Kind of like how we brought a ton of fans to NU when we played them. SIU has brought a few thousand fans the last two times, more than any of the teams we've played at home in the last 10 years.

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I think I may have asked this before, but is NIU an accredited school? I'm pretty sure it is.

Yes, it is.

Are there instances of universities with over 25,000 students that aren't? Just curious...

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I was kinda wondering the same thing myself...I think there may be a general misunderstanding of the term "accredited". Lame attempt at a jab that backfires because of misuse of the term.

I went to a NU-NIU game back around '99 I want to say...there had to be at LEAST 400 NIU fans there.

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The game you are thinking of was in 2000. That's pretty decent for a program coming off of nine straight losing seasons. That was the season NIU Football turned it around to begin its seven consecutive winning seasons. Although, in '99 you could see NIU starting to turn the corner and progress being made when we finished that season with a 5-6 record and some close losses to Vandy, WIU, and WMU.

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man, sub .500 seasons for illinois teams, i dont beleive ive ever actually delt with that in the mart of my life time i can remember.

I could make a safety-school joke, but I'll demur.

Well wait, I guess I went ahead and made the point anyway. Oh well.