2023 Big Ten Schedule Released

#26      
Take a look at next year's schedule. Ours is quite favorable compared, say, to Purdue's:

2023 Big Ten crossover games released:

Illinois: PSU, Indiana, @ MD
Purdue: OSU, Indiana, @ Mich
Iowa: MSU, Rutgers, @ PSU
Nebraska: Michigan, MD, @ MSU
Wisconsin: OSU, Rutgers, @ Indiana
 
#28      
Take a look at next year's schedule. Ours is quite favorable compared, say, to Purdue's:

2023 Big Ten crossover games released:

Illinois: PSU, Indiana, @ MD
Purdue: OSU, Indiana, @ Mich
Iowa: MSU, Rutgers, @ PSU
Nebraska: Michigan, MD, @ MSU
Wisconsin: OSU, Rutgers, @ Indiana
The thing about your list that brings me the most joy is that the fightin' Fitz's are such an afterthought at this point that they're not worth looking up.
 
#29      

IlliniSaluki

IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
When I see that schedule the only thing I can think of is.. Is Kevin Warren actually a hidden Illini fan? Is he trying to make sure we have a chance at making the Rose Bowl/CFP? Holy wonderful schedule man.

I mean really outside of Pedo State our toughest opponent maybe Kansas as long as they keep improving, don't lose Lance as HC and get their QB back or get another good QB in.
 
#30      
When I see that schedule the only thing I can think of is.. Is Kevin Warren actually a hidden Illini fan? Is he trying to make sure we have a chance at making the Rose Bowl/CFP? Holy wonderful schedule man.

I mean really outside of Pedo State our toughest opponent maybe Kansas as long as they keep improving, don't lose Lance as HC and get their QB back or get another good QB in.
Lance might be at Nebraska or Wisconsin next year.
 
#35      
Looks like a good schedule in our favor in 23. Would like to see the PSU game in person. So going to get my tickets.
 
#36      
With season tickets to 800 miles away, we like consecutive home games to throw a vacation week in between. In 2023 that happens only once so it means more time on the road and one less vacation week.

That said, for better or worse, playing PSU means dealing with all my PSU friends and losing my “nine overtimes” response whenever they make a crack about Illinois. It’s a must win, guys.

My son-in-law is a UMd grad so we’ll be at that game and buy because the last game we went to tix on the 50 yard line cost $11.

We’ll probably have thanksgiving dimnner with them in Annapolis and drive to Ohio, get I and drive to Champaign for a Friday night basketball game, northworsten on Saturday and perhaps another bball on Monday.

If you’re old enough you get to do this stuff.
 
#39      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL


"• Protect 3: Three permanent protected matchups, with games against six of the remaining 12 Big Ten opponents one year and the other six the next. Similar to the ACC’s 3-5-5 model, this is the format with the most repeatable structure: Every four years, each team would play three teams four times and the remaining 12 teams twice.

• Protect 2: Two permanent protected games played four times over four years. Over the course of four years, each Big Ten team would play the remaining league opponents at least twice and two teams three times.

• Flex Protect: A hybrid model in which each Big Ten team has one, two or three protected opponents. This format allows schedule-makers the most flexibility in terms of competitive balance, home-and-away rotations and the specific challenges around West Coast travel for teams playing USC or UCLA."



Protect 3 is an absurd gambit by Iowa to give them Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska forever and basically give them an exemption from being pulled out of the Big Ten West. Illinois is 1000% guaranteed to be made a permanent annual rival of UCLA or USC under that proposal.

Protect 2 is what we want since it would mean Northwestern and Purdue. But it has a big "who gets the LA schools" problem.

The correct answer is completely obvious, it should just be Protect 1 with an extra allowed for Michigan to play Michigan State in addition to OSU and Minnesota to play Iowa in addition to Wisconsin. Nebraska and Penn State are both happier with each other as their "rivals" then getting stuck in a more rigidly geographic alignment.

But you can see in the way they're describing "Flex Protect" is that it becomes an avalanche of schools trying to cajole their way into permanently softening their schedules. This is where not having a commissioner hurts.
 
#40      

Mr. Tibbs

southeast DuPage
without a commissioner to help navigate this & a real possibility of 2 or 4 more additional members in the next 12-24 months , I can’t see any reason to get too deep into this yet

for the short term , just give every program 1 or 2 rivals and the rest of the schedule can be randomly assigned home and homes for the 2024 & 2025 years .
 
#41      

redwingillini11

North Aurora
without a commissioner to help navigate this & a real possibility of 2 or 4 more additional members in the next 12-24 months , I can’t see any reason to get too deep into this yet

for the short term , just give every program 1 or 2 rivals and the rest of the schedule can be randomly assigned home and homes for the 2024 & 2025 years .
Single rival pairings:

USC-UCLA
Nebraska-Iowa
Minnesota-Wisconsin
Illinois-Northwestern
Purdue-Indiana
Michigan-Ohio State
Michigan State Penn State
Rutgers-Maryland

Only two "must play" games are casualties (UM-MSU, UW-Iowa). The more I think about it the more this makes sense.
 
#42      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Only two "must play" games are casualties (UM-MSU, UW-Iowa). The more I think about it the more this makes sense.
And you don't have to make those two casualties. Just smudge it and make those permanent too, it's fine, the sun will still rise tomorrow.

The problem they're having is that eight other schools (including probably us and Purdue) immediately jump in and demand special treatment too.

Strong leadership is telling them to shut up and deal with it.
 
#43      
Not trying to obsess over this vs. the much-more-important wins and losses, but ... does anyone else think it's kind of important that we show Bret and Co. a significant uptick in attendance this year? I actually think it'd be pretty important for program morale and assuring Bret he's at the right place for the long haul (IIRC, insiders said the lack of ticket sales puzzled and annoyed him last year).

2021 Avg.: 35,347

2022 Attendance
37,832 vs. Wyoming
33,669 vs. Virginia
37,579 vs. Chattanooga (Thursday)
44,910 vs. Iowa
45,683 vs. Minnesota
56,092 vs. Michigan State
45,574 vs. Purdue
2022 Avg.: 43,048

We saw a very nice bump last year, and word is our season ticket sales have increased ... but I would REALLY like to see continued improvement in ticket sales that matches the improvement from 2 wins to 5 wins to 8 wins!

2023 Home Games
vs. Toledo
vs. Penn State
vs. Florida Atlantic
vs. Nebraska
vs. Wisconsin
vs. Indiana
vs. Northwestern

The NU game always draws like crap (seriously, this cannot be moved to that new Arlington Heights stadium soon enough ... let's start a new Chicagoland Thanksgiving Weekend tradition in a warm indoor setting! :ROFLMAO: ), but we have some great home games that should draw good crowds in PSU, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

If we can start 2-0 (beating Toledo and winning at Kansas), it would be REALLY disappointing to have fewer than 55,000 for Penn State, given the weather on September 16th will likely be just about perfect.

P.S. I think this IS really improving RE: the general football culture in Champaign. The wife and I went down for the Purdue game last year on an absolutely freezing cold, awful day, and there was a buzz around the stadium unlike past years when the weather was that bad. I was actually shocked how fun some of the tailgating areas looked. We were getting a beer at Blind Pig after, and I asked the bartender why they opened so late on a football Saturday, as we were looking for a place to go start drinking before the game and there was nowhere! He said they never really thought of it before, but they fully plan to try to become a bit more of a pregame football destination next season. Changing the attitudes takes time (flip the script and look at Iowa basketball's issues getting a good crowd compared to their absolutely elite football gameday atmosphere), but I'm excited we are on the right path.
 
#44      
Bret may have been annoyed, and was most likely justified to a point.

But he also needs to make sure he doesn’t lay an egg when the fans do finally show up.

Losing to dysfunctional MSU and crazy lucky Purdue in front of some of our biggest (if not the biggest) crowds in years most likely reinforced some of the fan apathy we are currently combating. (And with so much on the line for both games…ugh, I need that Purdue game back)

I’ve always been a proponent of the win and they will come attitude. (For the non-diehard fans anyway)

Protect our house.
 
#45      
Bret may have been annoyed, and was most likely justified to a point...

But he also needs to make sure he doesn’t lay an egg when the fans do finally show up...
This is true and very valid. The MSU loss TRULY deflated a more casual fan base that was ready to buy back in (keep in mind, I think this was Dad's Day ... really unfortunate missed opportunity). The soul-crushing Purdue loss in the freezing cold (I was there!) probably really did a number on casual fan support, as well, given it cost us a trip to Indianapolis. Even if we got smoked by Michigan (no reason to think we couldn't hang with them after the outing in Ann Arbor), I think our hype going into next season would be a lot higher. With that said, I think attendance WILL be pretty decent this year. Assuming we start off 2-0, I will predict the following:

2022 Attendance
37,832 vs. Wyoming
33,669 vs. Virginia
37,579 vs. Chattanooga (Thursday)
44,910 vs. Iowa
45,683 vs. Minnesota
56,092 vs. Michigan State
45,574 vs. Purdue
2022 Avg.: 43,048

We saw a very nice bump last year, and word is our season ticket sales have increased ... but I would REALLY like to see continued improvement in ticket sales that matches the improvement from 2 wins to 5 wins to 8 wins!

2023 Home Games
42k-44k vs. Toledo
*Win at Kansas*
55k+ vs. Penn State

FAU probably won't be a huge crowd, but if we beat PSU (and God willing, FAU!) and can enter the Nebraska game at 4-0, that is a VERY legitimate chance at a sellout (especially considering Nebby fans will travel). The sad thing is that no matter what happens this season even if we're literally undefeated, the Northwestern home game will draw about 40k people max, lol. I've said it before, but both schools would be foolish to not move that bad boy to the INDOOR stadium in Arlington Heights as soon as it's built. The crowd at both sites sucks, and it would help both teams' exposure/image in Chicago and could become a really fun Thanksgiving tradition for Chicagoland people.
 
#46      

redwingillini11

North Aurora
This is true and very valid. The MSU loss TRULY deflated a more casual fan base that was ready to buy back in (keep in mind, I think this was Dad's Day ... really unfortunate missed opportunity). The soul-crushing Purdue loss in the freezing cold (I was there!) probably really did a number on casual fan support, as well, given it cost us a trip to Indianapolis. Even if we got smoked by Michigan (no reason to think we couldn't hang with them after the outing in Ann Arbor), I think our hype going into next season would be a lot higher. With that said, I think attendance WILL be pretty decent this year. Assuming we start off 2-0, I will predict the following:

2022 Attendance
37,832 vs. Wyoming
33,669 vs. Virginia
37,579 vs. Chattanooga (Thursday)
44,910 vs. Iowa
45,683 vs. Minnesota
56,092 vs. Michigan State
45,574 vs. Purdue
2022 Avg.: 43,048

We saw a very nice bump last year, and word is our season ticket sales have increased ... but I would REALLY like to see continued improvement in ticket sales that matches the improvement from 2 wins to 5 wins to 8 wins!

2023 Home Games
42k-44k vs. Toledo
*Win at Kansas*
55k+ vs. Penn State

FAU probably won't be a huge crowd, but if we beat PSU (and God willing, FAU!) and can enter the Nebraska game at 4-0, that is a VERY legitimate chance at a sellout (especially considering Nebby fans will travel). The sad thing is that no matter what happens this season even if we're literally undefeated, the Northwestern home game will draw about 40k people max, lol. I've said it before, but both schools would be foolish to not move that bad boy to the INDOOR stadium in Arlington Heights as soon as it's built. The crowd at both sites sucks, and it would help both teams' exposure/image in Chicago and could become a really fun Thanksgiving tradition for Chicagoland people.
I'd say we probably max out at 50k for the Penn State game. And sure if we start 4-0 then we will sell out no doubt about it. Looking at last year's numbers, I'd put my realistic goal for our average attendance to be 48k-50k by the end of the season.