My annual attendance question ... how many tickets are sold for next Saturday? Here are our home openers from the past 10 years:
2017: 42,505 vs. Ball State (W 24-21)
2016: 48,644 vs. Murray State (W 52-3)
-- Lovie Smith is hired --
2015: 36,693 vs. Kent State (W 52-3)
-- Tim Beckman is fired, leaving Bill Cubit as interim head coach --
2014: 36,234 vs. Youngstown State (W 28-17)
2013: 42,175 vs. Southern Illinois (W 42-34)
2012: 43,441 vs. Western Michigan (W 24-7)
-- Tim Beckman is hired --
2011: 45,154 vs. Arkansas State (W 33-15)
2010: 52,217 vs. Southern Illinois (W 35-3) [first week was vs. Missouri in St. Louis]
2009: 62,347 vs. Illinois State (W 45-17) [first week was vs. Missouri in St. Louis]
2008: 60,131 vs. Eastern Illinois (W 47-21) [first week was vs. Missouri in St. Louis]
-- Ron Zook is head coach --
Also, fun fact ... not that it's really impressive considering the opponents, but Illinois has won its last 20 home openers at Memorial Stadium, stretching back to 1998. In our infamous 0-11 campaign in 1997, we lost our home opener to Southern Miss, 24-7.