USF 25, Illinois 19 POSTGAME

[Second and Chalmers]

In 2013 the attendance was 47,000 against Washington.

I was there. That was a generous number. As was 21k on Saturday. I'd guess more like 12-15k a good 4-5 of which were USF fans.

One possible reason the numbers appear inflated on Saturday was that they were giving away 200 section tickets at the gate for those who had purchased 300 section tickets. Soldier Field personnel had stacks of lower level tickets and they just took ours and gave us new ones. So I would imagine I probably got double counted? I don't know for sure, but the group I was with did end up with two sets of tickets.

It's my view that the cumulative effect of the worst 11-12 year period across both sports in the history of the school during which we've been the single worst sports program in the nation has had a cascading effect of declining interest. Which makes complete sense.

I'm an Illini fan who lives in Chicago, I've attended just about every football and basketball game we've played in the city since I've lived here, I'm 100% the target audience for these games, but I fully recognize and appreciate that the program isn't in a place where playing at Soldier Field is in our best interests, so I'm sure we're done with it for the time being and that's fine.

 

[ChiefIllini]

- crowd size is disappointing but, $60 for a ticket, $50 to park, fight traffic to get there... it’s a hard sell without a winning team imo.

FYI, spothero has a lot right off the 18th street LSD exit for 25 bucks. 7AM to 7PM. Stayed the entire game, was home in the western suburbs by 7:20. Highly recommend it for anybody visiting either Soldier Field or the Loop in general.

My thoughts on the game: If we traded kickers, they would've beat us by 20+. Their kicker was terrible, McLaughlin was about as money as it gets. If he isn't in the NFL for 10+ years I'd be shocked. They went for it within 40+ yard FG range two or three times, converted a couple. Missed two decent length FG's. If anyone ever says kickers aren't important, this game is example 1A (though it didnt matter in the end).

The offense starts and ends with Epstein and Corbin. Staff threw them out there both on a few plays, great idea (not sarcasm). Line looks just as bad as last year. MJ overthrew a lot of passes, but there was a decent chunk of those that were catchable (as were some throws on the money). Drops and pressure are the limiting factors for this offense.

Unpopular opinion im sure, but we were about as lucky in a FB game as you can get, and still didn't win. We are a bad team. Marginally better than last year. I hold onto my last sliver of hope this team has moderately improved until the suspended players return. QB and LB are the only positions I see drastic improvement this year. Lets hope with a stout secondary, the DL will have more time to rush. Offense will struggle regardless.

A few final thoughts: Lovie showed he still can't manage the clock. Lost 15 seconds easy on a sack during the final drive, before calling a TO. Thats two more plays in a game where two more plays matter mightily. Third down spike--Freshman mistake or coaching mishap? Didn't come back to hurt them, but still something that needs to be worked out. There was clearly 1 second left when Smalling was OB, we review plays for 5+ minutes during critical drives but god forbid we spend 30 seconds figuring out if theres time on the clock still.

 

[UofI08]

Full disclosure: only watched the first half, then tried to follow the second half while at a family function.

Positives:
1. As has been said, our K/P combo is legit pro-caliber. I'd be hard-pressed to find a college team with a better combo than us.
2. Based on what I saw, the upgrade from McGee to Rod Smith was very evident today. There's actually a flow and at least a reason for the play calls.
3. Takeaways and deflections by our defense.
4. Maybe unpopular, but there's something about MJ Rivers that just gives me hope. He has a certain understanding and comfortability (word?) with the qb position that I think most freshman lack (especially 3 stars). I'm convinced that he'd be great with a better receiver group. He had a number of drops and very little separation from his WRs. I'm not sure I want to go back to AJ, but if the coaches decide to, I really hope they continue to let MJ get game reps, and maybe even give AJ a short leash.

Negatives:
1. Defensive line play is very concerning to me. Losing Phair may turn out to be worse than originally thought. I think part of the gameplan may have been to emphasize contain, but still, I was disappointed (with respect to expectations).
2. Receiver play outside of Smalling leaves a lot to be desired.
3. Defense in general. I'm sure the suspensions are making a huge difference, but we're not stopping anyone and the game-planning seems very "vanilla" thus far. With the way our D line is playing, I'd like to see more blitzes.
4. South Florida played a very bad game with all their penalties, mistakes, kicking issues. It was nice leading and playing a close competitive game, but I think that had as much to do with USF as it did Illinois.

 

[The Dave]

That was heartbreaking but really glad I decided to make the trek down to Soldier Field - it was fun to have a full game keep you on edge of seat

A few thoughts I had....

- ...We were hanging by a thread the entire time...

That is what I took. It was nice to be ahead most of the game, but the ENTIRE game felt like we were just dodging bullets. Kicking problems, penalties, and messed up easy plays by USF made me feel like we never should have had the lead in this game. That being said, we didn't play too bad, all things considered.

 

[Illiini]

That is what I took. It was nice to be ahead most of the game, but the ENTIRE game felt like we were just dodging bullets. Kicking problems, penalties, and messed up easy plays by USF made me feel like we never should have had the lead in this game. That being said, we didn't play too bad, all things considered.

I've said this before, perhaps here, that penalties and miscues are often the result of pressure from the other team. When things get hot, it's harder to keep your cool.

 

[ktal]

2. When we play at Soldier Field, the message we're sending is that we're trying to brand our program, market ourselves in Chicago, and showcase ourselves on a bigger stage. When nobody shows up to the game -- and we lose -- it's doubly embarrassing.

I'm an Illini fan who lives in Chicago, I've attended just about every football and basketball game we've played in the city since I've lived here, I'm 100% the target audience for these games, but I fully recognize and appreciate that the program isn't in a place where playing at Soldier Field is in our best interests, so I'm sure we're done with it for the time being and that's fine.

The target audience for these games are cfb fans who might attend Illini games in Chicago, but can't/won't make the trip to Champaign, AND the loyal fans who will travel to C-U, but once a year, don't have to, AND future recruits who want to play on Soldier Field and know the surest path to do so is to play at Illinois.

When you're playing within two miles of 20,000 undergrads (who can get cheap or even free tickets) at a stadium with a great tailgating atmosphere and you still can't put 29,000 fans in the stands, it's probably a worse image to recruits than having 8,000 fewer fans in a stadium away from home.

If we commit to playing one game a year at Soldier Field, the fans who want to be a part of the return-to-relevance have an easier path to doing so.

Winning solves all the problems. Illini fans may well be outnumbered by PSU fans this coming Friday, because they win a lot of games. But not reaching out to our fan base in Chicago doesn't make it easier for them to get onboard as we improve. We need to make every effort to include them, (you, S&C) in our journey back to relevance. If DIA keeps showing that loyalty to Illini Nation, it will be reciprocated as our teams improve.

 

[Konnie]

The target audience for these games are cfb fans who might attend Illini games in Chicago, but can't/won't make the trip to Champaign, AND the loyal fans who will travel to C-U, but once a year, don't have to, AND future recruits who want to play on Soldier Field and know the surest path to do so is to play at Illinois.

When you're playing within two miles of 20,000 undergrads (who can get cheap or even free tickets) at a stadium with a great tailgating atmosphere and you still can't put 29,000 fans in the stands, it's probably a worse image to recruits than having 8,000 fewer fans in a stadium away from home.

If we commit to playing one game a year at Soldier Field, the fans who want to be a part of the return-to-relevance have an easier path to doing so.

Winning solves all the problems. Illini fans may well be outnumbered by PSU fans this coming Friday, because they win a lot of games. But not reaching out to our fan base in Chicago doesn't make it easier for them to get onboard as we improve. We need to make every effort to include them, (you, S&C) in our journey back to relevance. If DIA keeps showing that loyalty to Illini Nation, it will be reciprocated as our teams improve.

I am an Illini fan that has season football tickets and goes to the Chicago game. I went Saturday and it was a great atmosphere, the game was competitive, the fans were into the game and although the outcome was disappointing it was a fun time. How many of the fans in attendance do you thing thought Illinois would be in a position to win with a minute and thirty seconds left to play?

Assuming each customer bought 4 tickets to the game, Illinois has a lot of useful information about 5,000 Illini fans from the Chicagoland area that the IFUND and the ticket department can market to. From my understanding the demographics of central Illinois are changing. Consequently, the future Illinois fan base has to come from the suburbs of Chicago.

The DIA has a tough decision whether to continue the Chicago game. How about this: make the Chicago football and basketball games part of the season ticket package? Good idea or silly?

One more comment: I think that we rabid Chicagoland Illinois fans bear some of the burden to bring alumni back to the games. I asked all my alumni friends if they wanted to go to the game and some said yes so I bought 7 extra tickets. These 7 alumni would not have gone to the game if I had not asked them! I think everyone has to help.

 

[Second and Chalmers]

I went Saturday and it was a great atmosphere, the game was competitive, the fans were into the game

It was a surprisingly lively atmosphere for such a small crowd. Soldier Field looks funny and it's ridiculous for the Chicago Bears to have the smallest stadium in the league, and it's bizarrely hard to get to for being so centrally located, but once you're inside it's a great venue.

But there just aren't enough Illinois football fans for it to make sense at this time. Basketball is a different story, and I think giving the extra home game produced by the move to a 20-game B1G schedule to Chicago rather than continuing to try to thread an impossible needle in non-conference scheduling was a stroke of genius by Whitman.

 

[Konnie]

It was a surprisingly lively atmosphere for such a small crowd. Soldier Field looks funny and it's ridiculous for the Chicago Bears to have the smallest stadium in the league, and it's bizarrely hard to get to for being so centrally located, but once you're inside it's a great venue.

But there just aren't enough Illinois football fans for it to make sense at this time. Basketball is a different story, and I think giving the extra home game produced by the move to a 20-game B1G schedule to Chicago rather than continuing to try to thread an impossible needle in non-conference scheduling was a stroke of genius by Whitman.

My problem with the UC game is that it is a weekday and 6:00 PM game. I have asked my Illinois alumni friends if they want to go. If they work downtown they wanted to know if I would bring them home because they are going directly to the game from work. One person works in Oak Park and he wants to bring his car home and go to the game with me but the issue is I have about an hour drive during rush hour to the UC so I really need to leave my house no later than 4:30 but really about 4:00 to get to the UC, park and get to my seat. I really wish they could schedule this game for a Saturday or Sunday. We will work the logistics out but a Saturday or Sunday game makes it so much easier.

 

[mattcoldagelli]

My problem with the UC game is that it is a weekday and 6:00 PM game. I have asked my Illinois alumni friends if they want to go. If they work downtown they wanted to know if I would bring them home because they are going directly to the game from work. One person works in Oak Park and he wants to bring his car home and go to the game with me but the issue is I have about an hour drive during rush hour to the UC so I really need to leave my house no later than 4:30 but really about 4:00 to get to the UC, park and get to my seat. I really wish they could schedule this game for a Saturday or Sunday. We will work the logistics out but a Saturday or Sunday game makes it so much easier.

Eh, I'm kind of ambivalent on this point. Back when we were good, yes, a weekend game made more sense. But as we've seen the last few years, people aren't going to scrap their weekend plans to watch us lose to teams from the WAC. Probably a better bet to try to catch people who are already in the area at the end of the day and might say "Sure, why not?"