(08-12-2015 09:12 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  Only 8,462 people were at the NIU vs Toledo game. For a school with 21,000 students, that's uncalled for. Something about a program in a well populated area that can't even draw their enrollment to a home game (there's plenty of them too) I just don't understand.

There are a lot of logical excuses but flat out more people need to show up...we get that.

(08-12-2015 09:19 AM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 09:12 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  Only 8,462 people were at the NIU vs Toledo game. For a school with 21,000 students, that's uncalled for. Something about a program in a well populated area that can't even draw their enrollment to a home game (there's plenty of them too) I just don't understand.

There are a lot of logical excuses but flat out more people need to show up...we get that.

I'm sure it has already been discussed somewhere in this thread, but it's worth repeating.

NIU's 2014 home schedule:

- Thursday before Labor day vs FCS
- Nothing in September
- Three Saturdays in a row in October vs MAC (nice)
- Tuesday night in November vs MAC (the Toledo game)

Other than the three October games, that's not really a home schedule for high attendance.


2015 home schedule:

- Labor day Saturday vs UNLV
- the following Saturday vs FCS
- two Saturdays in October vs MAC (nice)
- Tues night and then Wed night in November vs MAC


A little better, but the weekday November games still suck.

(08-12-2015 07:40 AM)Okielite Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 11:48 PM)HuskieAlumnus03 Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 11:29 PM)Okielite Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 11:15 PM)HuskieAlumnus03 Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 10:59 PM)Okielite Wrote:  To put this in perspective NIU only has about a million in ticket sales and receives 68% of its 27 million $ AD from the state.

Quite frankly NIU is not even close to being p-5 by any measure. Attendance if FCS level at best and still behind many schools on that level.

AD budget wise there are teams in the Sun Belt, American East, A-10, Big West, and Patriot ahead of NIU.

NIU has a long way to go to even be an AAC team quite frankly.

??? LOL, where are you pulling this information from? NIU not close to P5, well no shet! Again, don't just take one year's average, especially one that is the lowest average in over a decade, still higher than FCS averages in Illinois, considering one of those teams played in the FCS championships. AAC is only good for perception, nothing else, why leave the a very stable conference IMHO.

Information is public and readily available with a simple search.

Stop making excuses about attendance. It is what it is. You are in the middle of the best run of football in school history. There are major fan support issues. Like I said the FCS teams I follow have much better attendance.

I don't think NIU has to worry about the AAC as there are a pile of more likely candidates they would add, most if not all C-USA teams. Really NIU is is the best spot possible when trying to stretch a limited AD budget. Big wins are what's needed to move forward. The next step in conference progression would be C-USA.

Im an alum and donate to NIU, I am very aware of funding sources, what I'm telling you is you want to fact check yourself, considering you posted something slightly ignorant. Not that your opinion on it matters, unless your the Big12 commissioner looking at these posts to make your decision, are you?

It's not about making excuses about attendance, poor scheduling and losing major players plays a factor in that attendance, last year more than ever. The new AD is correcting that moving forward, starting this year. If averages are the same next year, feel free to come back and talk smack about it, I will concede. Except for last year NIU averages have been in the top third of the conference, I as a alum will be concern if a similar trend occurs this year.

C-USA, LOL yeah NO!

The facts are, well facts. Sorry you don't' agree. But I do think it's funny when people try to spin the truth because they don't like the reality of the situation. 27 million $ AD with a 67.9% subsidy.
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/
Northern Illinois MAC $27,007,054 $26,130,115 $18,339,414 67.91

And yes you really had only 1 million in ticket sales and less than 2 million in donations.
YEAR TICKET SALES CONTRIBUTIONS RIGHTS / LICENSING STUDENT FEES SCHOOL FUNDS OTHER TOTAL REVENUES
2014 $1,097,519 $1,724,111 $3,247,556 $9,101,312 $9,238,102 $2,598,453 $27,007,054


And yes form a financial and competitive standpoint C-USA is the next step for a MAC school like NIU. That's just the reality of the situation. The numbers don't like. You might not like it but it's true.

My opinion on the subject is just as important as yours. But nice try.

Oh common, Mr. Okielite, you can look at my replies to your post, I hope you're not trying to accuse me of spinning the truth, I have provided no counter points because im aware of the topic you brought up. You're not shedding light to anything new, as this has been talked ad-nauseum in this side of the forum and every year in the MAC and NIU forums. And definitely not unique to NIU or other FBS programs. What i'm telling you is where you believe the subsidy is coming from is ignorant and wrong, and you need to fact check. I know where that subsidy is from, but since you want to bring the topic up, I'm going to let you do your homework and figure it out. Hint, my first post is edited, so that's one off the list.

C-USA makes absolutely no sense, and NIU would be a geographical/cultural mismatch causing the program to pay significantly more for travel and get nothing out of it that it doesn't already have in the MAC. Exactly how would be a next step for a MAC school especially in its current state? The teams that left the MAC for C-USA (UCF and Marshall) were because MAC didn't make sense geographically. NIU has a history of leaving the MAC with delusions of greener pastures only to be left playing in a geographically mismatched conference, which led to its demise in the 90s, needless to say NIU will not be making this mistake again.

No offense, but your opinion of the matter is irrelevant as a CFB nerd posting in a forum (with a boner for baiting internet argument) with no affiliation to the university or program nor from the area. http://www.niuhuskies.com/support-groups...nline.html If you would like to reach in your pockets and throw down, come to games in DeKalb, buy some NIU gear then maybe your opinion on the matter, "will be just as important" as mine.

(08-12-2015 09:12 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  Only 8,462 people were at the NIU vs Toledo game. For a school with 21,000 students, that's uncalled for. Something about a program in a well populated area that can't even draw their enrollment to a home game (there's plenty of them too) I just don't understand.

It was like 30 degrees outside with winds between 25-35 mph which resulted in wind chills below 15-20 degrees..... No casual fan is going to show up to a weeknight game in those conditions.

(08-12-2015 09:12 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  Only 8,462 people were at the NIU vs Toledo game. For a school with 21,000 students, that's uncalled for. Something about a program in a well populated area that can't even draw their enrollment to a home game (there's plenty of them too) I just don't understand.

Of course it doesn't make sense for a Marshall fan, on top of "class" not being in the same sentence as Marshall, neither is "academics".

Honestly, of last year's attendance numbers, 8K for a Toledo was the only one that shocked me considering NIU does fairly well for weeknight games in the past, especially towards Toledo.

(08-12-2015 10:11 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 09:12 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  Only 8,462 people were at the NIU vs Toledo game. For a school with 21,000 students, that's uncalled for. Something about a program in a well populated area that can't even draw their enrollment to a home game (there's plenty of them too) I just don't understand.

It was like 30 degrees outside with winds between 25-35 mph which resulted in wind chills below 15-20 degrees..... No casual fan is going to show up to a weeknight game in those conditions.

I was going to say the same thing. That's not NIU's fault for that game. The weather sucked and the conference sold its best schools for TV.

(08-12-2015 01:04 PM)utpotts Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 10:11 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 09:12 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  Only 8,462 people were at the NIU vs Toledo game. For a school with 21,000 students, that's uncalled for. Something about a program in a well populated area that can't even draw their enrollment to a home game (there's plenty of them too) I just don't understand.

It was like 30 degrees outside with winds between 25-35 mph which resulted in wind chills below 15-20 degrees..... No casual fan is going to show up to a weeknight game in those conditions.

I was going to say the same thing. That's not NIU's fault for that game. The weather sucked and the conference sold its best schools for TV.

If you take out the Toledo game NIU still only averaged 14,838. Last years attendance was bad any way you slice it.

(08-12-2015 02:24 PM)UpStreamRedTeam Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 01:04 PM)utpotts Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 10:11 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 09:12 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  Only 8,462 people were at the NIU vs Toledo game. For a school with 21,000 students, that's uncalled for. Something about a program in a well populated area that can't even draw their enrollment to a home game (there's plenty of them too) I just don't understand.

It was like 30 degrees outside with winds between 25-35 mph which resulted in wind chills below 15-20 degrees..... No casual fan is going to show up to a weeknight game in those conditions.

I was going to say the same thing. That's not NIU's fault for that game. The weather sucked and the conference sold its best schools for TV.

If you take out the Toledo game NIU still only averaged 14,838. Last years attendance was bad any way you slice it.

Worst home schedule in 15+ years which had...

3 weeknight home games. One vs a joke of a FCS team the other 2 (our best home games) in November when the wind chill was 20 at best. Evening traffic to the game from anywhere East of Naperville (Rt 59) means you have to leave work early if not take a half day off.

&

3 Saturday games in a row all in October...which started the very next week after the trouncing from Arkansas. For most of our fanbase who lives more than 45min away without traffic these are the only games they can go to and having them back to back to back is really hard when we are playing 0-4 Kent St and 1-6 Miami other than the Homecoming game.

For our Homecoming game we had a very cold rain storm during tailgating.



Our pup club season ticket program was canceled by athletics...several people were abusing the past few years but still we saw a decrease in season tickets.

Individual ticket prices for the grand stands went up from $24 to $42.

We were expected to have a down year and not win the MACC.

We have almost no indoor seating or premium seating to attract anyone who expects anything but bare bones accommodations for donors.


I could keep on going but still yes the fans need to show up. Our New AD (the one Rutgers had as a finalist but passed on) is doing a great job improving the customer/fan experience.

Just wondering can anyone show me a FBS team in the past 10 years who was a full FBS member and had a worse home schedule than NIU did in 2014.

3 weeknight games which included 1 patsy and our 2 best games in 20deg windchill
3 Saturday games in a row vs teams who were a combined 4-18

(08-12-2015 03:28 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Just wondering can anyone show me a FBS team in the past 10 years who was a full FBS member and had a worse home schedule than NIU did in 2014.

3 weeknight games which included 1 patsy and our 2 best games in 20deg windchill
3 Saturday games in a row vs teams who were a combined 4-18

*2 Weeknight games in HS. 1 crappy FCS Homeopener in a Monsoon. The other in a frozen tundra.

*Homecoming was really nice weather this year, hence good attendance + homecoming... BUT NIU suffered its fist conference loss in 5 years AND its fist home loss in 5 years on homecoming to a directional Michigan... blasphemy!

(08-12-2015 04:06 PM)HuskieAlumnus03 Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 03:28 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Just wondering can anyone show me a FBS team in the past 10 years who was a full FBS member and had a worse home schedule than NIU did in 2014.

3 weeknight games which included 1 patsy and our 2 best games in 20deg windchill
3 Saturday games in a row vs teams who were a combined 4-18

*2 Weeknight games in HS. 1 crappy FCS Homeopener in a Monsoon. The other in a frozen tundra.

*Homecoming was really nice weather this year, hence good attendance + homecoming... BUT NIU suffered its fist conference loss in 5 years AND its fist home loss in 5 years on homecoming to a directional Michigan... blasphemy!

The game vs the Blue Hose was on a Thursday night. Not sure how that doesn't get counted towards a weeknight game.

But yes I forgot about the rain storm for the home opener too.

(08-12-2015 04:09 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 04:06 PM)HuskieAlumnus03 Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 03:28 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Just wondering can anyone show me a FBS team in the past 10 years who was a full FBS member and had a worse home schedule than NIU did in 2014.

3 weeknight games which included 1 patsy and our 2 best games in 20deg windchill
3 Saturday games in a row vs teams who were a combined 4-18

*2 Weeknight games in HS. 1 crappy FCS Homeopener in a Monsoon. The other in a frozen tundra.

*Homecoming was really nice weather this year, hence good attendance + homecoming... BUT NIU suffered its fist conference loss in 5 years AND its fist home loss in 5 years on homecoming to a directional Michigan... blasphemy!

The game vs the Blue Hose was on a Thursday night. Not sure how that doesn't get counted towards a weeknight game.

But yes I forgot about the rain storm for the home opener too.

Yea whose brainstorm was that, playing a bad, out of state FCS team on Thursday night? And of course it rains, to top it off.

(08-12-2015 04:16 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  Yea whose brainstorm was that, playing a bad, out of state FCS team on Thursday night? And of course it rains, to top it off.

To me that was all Frazier. He was in a jam to the a home game for week 1 after he moved the wk2 home game vs Idaho to 2018 which was to accommodate us scheduling the Northwestern game. So instead of doing a Jiff and just needing a wk 1 away money game he had to find a home game relatively at the last min.

He also knew that we would have a 100% new QB and didn't know who it would be so with the NU game the very next week he scheduled the absolutely easiest game possible and put is on a Thursday night, the earliest night possible so that we would have a few extra days to prep for NU.


He sacrificed the home opener attendance for a win vs NU and it paid off on the field.

Do we need to pin the reasons for NIU attendence?.... How about once sentence to sum it up.

No fans like to watch a football game in 40 degree weather + windchill while its raining in October/November, especially during the week or vs a fcs opponent or vs a 1 win or winless MAC east team.

Understand? That was our home schedule.

(08-12-2015 04:09 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 04:06 PM)HuskieAlumnus03 Wrote:  

(08-12-2015 03:28 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote:  Just wondering can anyone show me a FBS team in the past 10 years who was a full FBS member and had a worse home schedule than NIU did in 2014.

3 weeknight games which included 1 patsy and our 2 best games in 20deg windchill
3 Saturday games in a row vs teams who were a combined 4-18

*2 Weeknight games in HS. 1 crappy FCS Homeopener in a Monsoon. The other in a frozen tundra.

*Homecoming was really nice weather this year, hence good attendance + homecoming... BUT NIU suffered its fist conference loss in 5 years AND its fist home loss in 5 years on homecoming to a directional Michigan... blasphemy!

The game vs the Blue Hose was on a Thursday night. Not sure how that doesn't get counted towards a weeknight game.

But yes I forgot about the rain storm for the home opener too.

The two bitterly cold MACTion games was the year before 2013 (BSU, WMU). Last season Toledo was the only Maction game. The Presbyterian home opener was on a weekday though, it rained so hard you couldn't even see, I thought NIU was going to score 80+ on them, LOL.

(08-12-2015 04:40 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  Do we need to pin the reasons for NIU attendence?.... How about once sentence to sum it up.

No fans like to watch a football game in 40 degree weather + windchill while its raining in October/November, especially during the week or vs a fcs opponent or vs a 1 win or winless MAC east team.

Understand? That was our home schedule.

Watched a game in Morgantown once when it was 9° and snowy winds. It was awesome until the buzz wore off.

(08-11-2015 09:58 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 09:17 AM)FlyHawk98 Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 08:41 AM)RedandBlackAttack Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 08:25 AM)polkhigh Wrote:  

(08-11-2015 12:23 AM)HuskieAlumnus03 Wrote:  That's still a much greater shot than Marshall! That's why Marshall got left behind and play in the Sun Belt eeerrr CUSA!!

NIU is in the top 10 of lowest game day attendance. Marshall exposed you guys last year in Boca. There is zero chance they will ever play in the Big 12. It's absolutely delusional. No way is Texas, WVU, Oklahoma, ect... going to come to your place and hang 100 on you in front of 13,000 people.

Yes bring up the worst year in NIU attendance over the past 15 years even though NIU consistantly averages 20K plus per season, which is still not too much but when you see that the stadiun only holds 24k then that shows the fans will show up. Last years schedule has EVERYTHING to do with why attendance was the way it was.

Also, congratulations to Marshall on beating the worst NIU team since 2009! NIU was expected to have a down year with Jordan Lynch departing and they still somehow won the MAC and 11 games total, including a win over Northwestern. Any of the NIU teams from 2010-2013 would have beaten Marshall and this year's upcoming team is still young and returns 15-16 starters. They will be much better.

I am not proclaiming for NIU to be in the Big 12 because everyone knows that is a longshot, but for the continued attendance bullsh*t and loss to Marshall last year propaganda has nothing to do with the continued success of NIU when you take into effect attendance and results over the past 13-15 years. Lets take a look just for sh*ts and giggles. Since 2002, NIU's and Marshall's football records are as followed:

NIU: 113-56
Marshall: 88-74

And if you take out the worst season over the span for both teams the records would be as followed:

NIU: 111-46
Marshal: 85-65

13 years. hmmmmm wonder if that just has anything to do with your agenda. A better one, would be to either just do that last decade, or since Marshall re-joined D1 in 1997.

You might still be better, I don't know and don't care. Marshall has accomplished more than NIU since we rejoined FBS. I don't have time to look all that up, just found it ironic that you used 2002 to start. Especially considering we shared a conference together in the late 90s. You also never mentioned our head to head record since 1997, Top 25 Finishes, Heisman Finalists, bowls, bowl wins, etc.

How about overall records of all time?
NIU: 547–465–51 (.539)
Marshall: 564–529–48 (.515)

Conference Titles
NIU: 12
Marshall: 13

Marshall has been ranked in 4 seasons since being apart of FBS football (1999, 2001, 2002, 2014). NIU has been ranked in 5 season (2003, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013).

NIU has been in 13 bowls, including a BCS bowl, and Marshall has been in 12. Marshall has a better bowl record, but playing in the Motor City/GMAC/Little Caesars Bowl every season they basically won does not say too much.

Randy Moss finished 4th in the 1997 Heisman voting and Jordan Lynch finished 3rd in the 2013 voting for Heisman.

Look, I respect what Marshall has accomplished and they are one of the better G5 schools when it comes to football, but they are in no way any better than what NIU has accomplished over the same time frame.

Good job. I told you, that you guys might still be winning, I didn't know and didn't really care.

I would like to add that we also have a Top 10 finish and NIU does not. We also have more Top 25 wins, and more Top 10 wins.

Chad Pennington was also a Heisman Finalist.

Also to clear some other things up. You guys are 4-6 in FBS bowl games.

FBS Bowl Games


NIU 4-6


Marshall 9-2

We also played better competition in our bowls. BTW, here is the list of teams we played in our bowls in case you want to claim otherwise.

NIU- Cal State-Fullerton, Troy State, TCU, La Tech, USF, Fresno St, Arkansas St, Florida State, Utah State, Marshall.


Marshall- Ole Miss, Louisville, BYU, Cincinnati, ECU, Louisville, Cincinnati, Ohio, FIU, Maryland, NIU



BTW, I just found a cool site. Most people probably know about it because I'm usually behind the times, but this is a cool site.

http://www.winsipedia.com/marshall/vs/northern-illinois

To the NIU fans.

Everyone else sees how/why CUSA and the AAC are step ups from the MAC. Not sure why you guys can't see that.

The VERY reasons you guys are stating for attendance problems would be solved by moving to CUSA/AAC. No more Tues/Weds games, play most games on Saturdays.

Marshall didn't leave the MAC because CUSA was a better geographical fit. Have you looked at a map? We were/are much closer to the MAC schools in terms of distance. As far as quality of programs, well we are bigger and better than the MAC, which is why we left for a better conference.

(08-12-2015 08:02 PM)FlyHawk98 Wrote:  To the NIU fans.

Everyone else sees how/why CUSA and the AAC are step ups from the MAC. Not sure why you guys can't see that.

The VERY reasons you guys are stating for attendance problems would be solved by moving to CUSA/AAC. No more Tues/Weds games, play most games on Saturdays.

Marshall didn't leave the MAC because CUSA was a better geographical fit. Have you looked at a map? We were/are much closer to the MAC schools in terms of distance. As far as quality of programs, well we are bigger and better than the MAC, which is why we left for a better conference.

better conference AT THE TIME. Now your statement is much more plausible

Its still a better conference. Not sure why you guys keep trying to argue otherwise.


Just look at the comments in this thread from people who are not affiliated with CUSA or the MAC. They have all said that you guys should move UP to CUSA.