South Dakota, right?
Illini Football 2022
- Status
I was impressed and encouraged by our student section last year, absolutely.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
It wasn't even that big of a crowd (50k, nowhere near a sellout) but yeah, that atmosphere was lit. A recollection helped by the fact that I personally was rip roaring drunk after a particularly enthusiastic day of tailgating, and that game was a crazy dramatic spectacle. Vic Koenning painted his masterpiece that night.
That's a more favorable treatment of our chances than I would have expected, that's actually pretty encouraging.
Ohio State football unanimously picked as Big Ten champion in 12th annual cleveland.com preseason poll
Ohio State is the unanimous pick as champion in the 12th annual cleveland.com preseason Big Ten football poll.www.cleveland.com
My pessimism is centered on our lack of returning production, especially on the lines. But, Virginia is one of very few teams returning even less and that will be their first road game with a new coach, and Wyoming also lost a ton so hopefully they aren't quite the trap opponent they might appear (read: UTSA).
Indiana brings a ton back though. That's a really tough game.
As someone else said, I'd bite your hand off for 3-1.
There's a common thread here. A big impetus for putting the students in the NEZ was obviously money, but the whole project was also shot through with Ron Guenther's genuine disgust, shared by his blue-haired donor elite, with bog standard student behavior at football games. The NEZ is literally a holding pen, conceived and designed as such.
That's a bad attitude for twelve zillion reasons, but a big one shown here in the correct observation that the development of fun stuff at these games needs to be organically bottom-up and needs to come from the students. I have absolutely zero doubt a ton of old school fans hated Enter Sandman at VT when it started, hated Jump Around at Wisconsin when it started, and it's easy to see all over the internet Michigan fans complaining about the Mr. Brightside thing.
That's how ancient beloved traditions start. New stuff isn't for us.
(Editors note: The Mr. Brightside thing is hilariously cringe and perfectly exhibits the East Coast rich kid dweebs that go to Michigan. Just for the record.)
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blackdog
- Champaign
The goal line stand against Michigan after Hawthorne ran them down at the 1 was pretty much the only moment but man was it a good one.
I'm not confused that there has been plenty of time to fix the in game atmosphere especially for the students, and shame on Thomas and Whitman for not making many (Grange Grove aside) meaningful changes to create a better student environment.
But it is impossible to understate the damage that Ron Guenther did to this program.
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Totally agree on Guenther and Thomas. Whitman spent the first five years of his tenure stopping the bleeding and stabilizing football and basketball.
I hope he can now address game day experience now that the revenue sports have (apparently) stabilized.
Calvin looked like an absolute steal of a transfer last year and had the season ending injury all in the first game, correct?
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
he was awesomely great that game also.....felt so sorry for him ......hope he brings it this year and stays injury free..............I really really do ............
Go get'em CJ.............................
sacraig
- The desert
I agree wholeheartedly. The NEZ is physically disconnected from the stadium with entirely separate entrances and exits. I couldn't even walk the concourse to go visit with my parents at halftime while I was a student. It is a blatant attempt to allow the blue hairs to not have to deal with the riff raff (aka students) that give actual life to the stadium and I think it backfired spectacularly.
After I graduated from UIUC, I went to grad school at Texas A&M and went to games there. It was eye-opening. The entire east side of the stadium, end zone to end zone and 3 decks high, is student section. Lots of premium seats there go to students and the atmosphere is absolutely oppressive for visitors. Given, they get 30,000 students to attend every game and we are lucky if we get that many fans total lately.
But what really stuck with me is that A&M, which is notoriously concerned with milking as much money from tickets and donors as possible, gives up an entire sideline to cheap student tickets. It dramatically enhances the atmosphere which makes the games more enjoyable and increases the value of other tickets. Yet our historic bottom feeder program decided to destroy what atmosphere we had for the sake of selling 2 more sections worth of pricey tickets and intentionally making the crowd less raucous.
A&M also knows how to market that atmosphere for donations later. As an alumnus of both schools, I get emails from both and the skill behind the A&M emails soliciting donations is much higher than for us. "Remember game day at Kyle field..." We need to step it up and continue to shed the vestiges of the backward-thinking codger that was Guenther.
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Let’s stack the pompous donors in the NEZ and open up the rest of the stadium to the students and us peasants who hustle to make a game when we can.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
I think Block I used to be the 40 yard line? Great seats as incentive to do an occasional card until and including halftime, I believe.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Yes, you are correct.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
The annoying thing about the NEZ STILL being for students is it could be set up to achieve its RG-inspired goal but actually in the opposite way … you could easily turn that area into a family-friendly sanctuary and put the students back where they belong.
sacraig
- The desert
The first half of my time at UIUC it was at the 40 yard line and the zillion years le as ding up to that. Only recently did we destroy our own atmosphere.
Totally agree. The big donors and blue hairs have their isolated, premium seating. Time to bring back block I to East Main and offer the NEZ as super cheap season tix and single game tix. As a matter of fact, offer the Block I tix in a lottery style to students and any overflows who want to come free of charge. The team hasn't filled the stadium in years (decades?). What is there to lose? At least the DIA will get some additional concession and merchandise sales. Last year's attendance was the lowest since 1998. Time to make the students an offer they almost can't refuse and get some excitement back in the stadium. Re-evaluate the model when - and IF - the team is consistently good enough to have a few sellouts each season.
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
*attaches 50 megaphones together like a cartoon* GROWING VERSUS HARVESTING
Swapping the cheapo season tickets from the SEZ to the NEZ has been the head-slappingly obvious solution to this all along. It at least prices those crummy seats appropriately, those folks looking for the bottom tier season tickets are real (often local) fans who show up, and it would be a huge visual improvement since kids bunch together but adults sit in their assigned seats and spread out if available.
The obvious trade was to just swap the two areas and stick the students in the south, but given how low our attendance is, just give them the lower sideline corner seats that were used for student overflow back when that was a plausible thing. It's not like anyone else is sitting there and it's in the TV shot.
Let's call a spade a spade here. Basketball is once again playing super compelling, meaningful games, and is once again a fantastic, nationally elite atmosphere. Football is circling the drain.
PT Barnum himself couldn't do anything for Illinois Football if Illinois Football can't do something for itself.
mattcoldagelli
- The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
I feel like we'd get 75% of the way there on the gameday experience simply by moving the students back and telling the EVENT STAFF that their number one priority is for people to enjoy the football game, and to act accordingly. We're making this harder than it has to be.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
But that’s difficult … we have EASY fixes slapping us in the face.
And no one should oppose doing both.
Whitman's already addressed this. I imagine that Memorial Stadium is the top priority now from this article now that fundraising is mostly done. Probably expect to hear an announcement anyday/as soon as the new TV contracts are finalized
sacraig
- The desert
The best part is that, while the Aggies are historically a better program than us, it's actually not by a whole lot. But they put such a major focus on tradition and game day experience that it has become a cultural touchstone for their fans and students. Now they're reaping what they've been showing for generations.
sacraig
- The desert
- Status