Pregame: Illinois vs Kansas, Saturday, September 7th, 6:00pm CT, FS1

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#176      
RoundBalcs
Glaurung44 said:
Good luck. I'm a Jayhawk so obviously I don't hope you win. But I hope everybody gets out of there without any injuries and wish you luck in all your other games. Especially against Nebraska. I grew up on the Kansas/Nebraska border and heard "go big red" too many times. Good luck.
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Thanks for stopping by to share your insight!
Friend Office GIF by Leroy Patterson
 
#179      
Glaurung44
Saturdaze said:
You got me curious…

Your total above 10786 + 10980 + 4350 + 3705 + 10106 + 9852 + 7804 + 1164 + 224 = 58,972 including the tarped off capacity.

per fightingillini.com there are 42 600 and 700 level suites with each having an entitlement of 18 tickets. That’s 756 total.

58,972 plus the 756 is 59,728.

This map indicates 800 level suites as well, but I didn’t see reference to them anywhere for sale so assuming there isn’t demand and they’re currently not in use.

Memorial Stadium Seating Map (PDF) - University of Illinois Athletics

Memorial Stadium Seating Map (PDF)
fightingillini.com fightingillini.com

ADA also requires 36 handicap seats plus 1 additional for every 200 seats over 500 = 36 + (60,670 - 5000) / 200 = 314 (potententially lower by a couple seats depending on if the math includes or excludes ADA seats)

221 Assembly Areas - ADA Compliance - ADA Compliance

221 Assembly Areas - ADA Compliance 221 Assembly Areas Wheelchair Spaces/Companion Seats. Owners of large assembly areas have historically complained to the Department that the requirement for one percent (1%) of seating to be wheelchair seating is excess
www.ada-compliance.com www.ada-compliance.com

The suites and ADA brings the total to 60,042.

The 3D render linked from fightingillini.com shows 4 rows of band seats, and Wiki claims membership at 400 but 300 surrogate cardboard cutouts were used during COVID in place of band members.

en.wikipedia.org

Marching Illini - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Band brings total to 60,342 - 60,442.

Seatgeek shows 3 800 level suites that occupy similar space to 8 lower level suites. Presuming similar capacity that 8*18 = 144.

New total 60,486 - 60,586.

That still leaves 14 to 114, and now I’m going to lose sleep over it too. Lol.
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I know on the Kansas board they're calling it a sellout.

I know a lot of KU fans who will be there, some making the trip and others who live there. Chicago is the 2nd largest KU alumni base, there's a lot of Jayhawks up there. The alumni group is expecting a big showing. Hopefully you don't run into anybody who gives us a bad name. If so I apologize ahead of time. Wish I could make it.
 
#180      
thehass
Glaurung44 said:
This is very misleading.

Kansas returns 100% of their receiving production. They return 100% of their RB production. They did lose their starting TE, but they still return 2 of their top 3 TEs. The big drop of in "returning production" is at QB, where KU returns only 25% of their QB production, which drops off the returning production quite a bit. And that's misleading, because Jason Bean, the backup, started 9 of the 13 games. Jalon Daniels was the named starter for a reason, as Illinois saw last year. So you should think of it this way. KU returns 95% of the production from the KU/Illinois game last year. All the RBs, all the WRs, and Jalon Daniels at QB. Illinois was the only team last year to play KU at full strength. Daniels played two more games last year, but he didn't look close to 100% in either of them. He looked 100% in the Illinois game. So KU returns all the skill position players and 3 of the 5 starting OL. The center from last year was replaced by Bryce Foster, a former 5* recruit who started C at aTm. They replace Puni at LT, and he will be a loss. He was pretty good. Cabeldue though is a 3 year starter on the OL and isn't a pushover. Overall, KU should be stronger at OL and more athletic, but maybe not as crisp early on. It will probably take the OL time to gel as a unit. KU lost their OC to Penn State, but the OC they brought in(Jeff Grimes) was the OC of the year in college football a few years ago and generally I trust anybody who Lance Leipold hires. He doesn't hire bad coaches. Not sure what to expect from KU from a style standpoint. They didn't show anything in the Lindenwood game. I know Lance Leipold wants to keep most of their current offense in tact, so Jeff Grimes isn't going to revamp the offense so much as he's going to mix what KU did last year with some of his own philosophies. So I'd expect what they do to be somewhere in between what they were doing last year and what Baylor has done the last few years, from a schematic standpoint. They have a ton of experience and talent on offense and that should make the transition go a lot more smoothly. I expect Jalon Daniels to have some run plays drawn up on Saturday. He didn't run against Lindenwood, because he didn't have to, and I'm guessing Leipold wants Illinois to think they're afraid to run Jalon.

Defensively KU returns the entire secondary, and should have one of the best secondaries in the country. Two CBs who will be playing in the NFL and two athletic safeties who like to hit. The LB crew will be better than last year, though that isn't saying a ton as last year's LB group was NOT good. More talented, but maybe less assignment sound. At DT they return everybody and should be improved. Solid players but none who are going to stand out. Strongside DE returns as well and is finally healthy, he's a good player when healthy. Booker on the other side of the DE is a big loss. Not sure if KU has another rush-end who can come close to matching his production. They have a really good freshman they like, and they brought in Jobe from Michigan State, and they have a redshirt freshman who got the starting nod last week and he looked like he's got some wheels, but remains to be seen how good he will be. KU's defense should be improved overall from last year's unit, but not world beaters either. Probably a borderline top 1/3 Big XII defense, but not a shut-down defense. They don't blitz a ton, so more of a bend but don't break defense. You'll move the ball between the 20s, but struggle more in the red zone. They like to make you run a lot of plays and wait for you to make a mistake, whether it's a holding penalty or a turnover. Illinois should be able to score some points, but KU will get some stops. It will just depend on how many stops Illinois' D can get against the KU offense..
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Other than those things mentioned should we be concerned?
 
#181      
SampsonRelpenk
Glaurung44 said:
I know on the Kansas board they're calling it a sellout.

I know a lot of KU fans who will be there, some making the trip and others who live there. Chicago is the 2nd largest KU alumni base, there's a lot of Jayhawks up there. The alumni group is expecting a big showing. Hopefully you don't run into anybody who gives us a bad name. If so I apologize ahead of time. Wish I could make it.
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I would hope as Basketball School Brethren both sides should be able to behave themselves. The only visiting team's fans I've gotten into it with were Michigan's (go figure).
 
#182      
IlliniInBuckeyeState
Saturdaze said:
You got me curious…

Your total above 10786 + 10980 + 4350 + 3705 + 10106 + 9852 + 7804 + 1164 + 224 = 58,972 including the tarped off capacity.

per fightingillini.com there are 42 600 and 700 level suites with each having an entitlement of 18 tickets. That’s 756 total.

58,972 plus the 756 is 59,728.

This map indicates 800 level suites as well, but I didn’t see reference to them anywhere for sale so assuming there isn’t demand and they’re currently not in use.

Memorial Stadium Seating Map (PDF) - University of Illinois Athletics

Memorial Stadium Seating Map (PDF)
fightingillini.com fightingillini.com

ADA also requires 36 handicap seats plus 1 additional for every 200 seats over 500 = 36 + (60,670 - 5000) / 200 = 314 (potententially lower by a couple seats depending on if the math includes or excludes ADA seats)

221 Assembly Areas - ADA Compliance - ADA Compliance

221 Assembly Areas - ADA Compliance 221 Assembly Areas Wheelchair Spaces/Companion Seats. Owners of large assembly areas have historically complained to the Department that the requirement for one percent (1%) of seating to be wheelchair seating is excess
www.ada-compliance.com www.ada-compliance.com

The suites and ADA brings the total to 60,042.

The 3D render linked from fightingillini.com shows 4 rows of band seats, and Wiki claims membership at 400 but 300 surrogate cardboard cutouts were used during COVID in place of band members.

en.wikipedia.org

Marching Illini - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Band brings total to 60,342 - 60,442.

Seatgeek shows 3 800 level suites that occupy similar space to 8 lower level suites. Presuming similar capacity that 8*18 = 144.

New total 60,486 - 60,586.

That still leaves 14 to 114, and now I’m going to lose sleep over it too. Lol.
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Love this! I totally ignored the additional 600, 700, 800 suites, so thanks for pulling that in.

On the ADA seating, there are dots behind row 22 (6 in sections 112 and 120; 12 in sections 113-119) of the Horseshoe that I have already included in it's capacity total. Additionally, there are some blue dots in row 22 throughout. So cumulatively, those would figure into the total count of ADA seating at the stadium. I know there is some ADA seating areas at the top of the West Balcony too, but I don't know how many there would be.

On the band seating in sections 132-136, SeatGeek actually shows dots for these sections: there appear to be 676 dots.
 
#183      
Fighter of the Nightman
Speaking of "what it looked like the last time we had a sellout," we got a LOT of mileage out of those aerial photographs, and we are still using some prominently on the official website 8 years later, haha. In worse cases, we have resorted to using more recent pictures of Memorial Stadium (that incorporate some small added features since then) with embarrassingly small crowds. With that in mind...

DIA - PLEASE have some drones ready to capture some great photos Saturday night! Here are just a few of the gems we got from the 2016 North Carolina game, which showcase an (unfortunately rare) orange-clad, sold out crowd!

Pano 1.png

FB.jpg

memorial_stadium.jpg

Overhead Base 2.jpg


A much better look on our social media and recruiting material than this picture they for some reason ever let get posted, lol...

ATH1920_Facilities_MemorialStadium_15.jpg


P.S. Semi-OT, but those pictures make you realize that it really is the team/program that makes some venues legendary and some venues "meh" in the minds of fans across the country. For example, using both sports, I would argue some venues surprisingly fall into these categories I listed below. Obviously, this is just my opinion ... but the POINT is that these photos make it clear to me that if Illinois had remained good at football (and we presumably had had a few warranted renovations over the last 15+ years), Memorial Stadium has ALL of the tools to be a truly iconic venue. I long for the day we have the crowds to earn that distinction!

Indisputable and inherent charm/appeal EVEN IF the program sucked historically
Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas basketball)
Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke basketball)

Ohio Stadium (Ohio State football)
Folsom Field (Colorado football)

Only "cool"/respected because of the programs' historic relevance ... wouldn't get a second thought if the program sucked historically
Breslin Center (Michigan State basketball)
Dean Smith Center (North Carolina basketball)

Michigan Stadium (Michigan football) ... though I will acknowledge the pure size alone might earn it some street cred
Notre Dame Stadium (Notre Dame football)

WOULD be "cool"/respected if the program had historic success ... but it gets overlooked in our timeline
Williams Arena (Minnesota basketball)
Galen Center (USC basketball)

Memorial Stadium (Illinois football)
Scott Stadium (Virginia football)
 
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#188      
Guest
Some of my family and I are going to attend. However, we are old. Two are in their 70s and another has a bad back. There are no seats with backs, are there? Do they have something to rent that has a back or attaches to the seat to make a back? Thanks
 
#191      
SIllini1975
illiniE said:
You have to rent them for the whole season, so you cannot rent for one game. You can bring your own seat cushion with a back.
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My mistake. I saw a pile of them in the East concourse I thought they were renting. These were white, not like the ones already set out. 🤷‍♂️
 
#192      
Clngpl94
Guest said:
Some of my family and I are going to attend. However, we are old. Two are in their 70s and another has a bad back. There are no seats with backs, are there? Do they have something to rent that has a back or attaches to the seat to make a back? Thanks
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In the West Concourse they had some you could rent last Thursday, we seen them when we went and got Watson's!! 🤤
 
#193      
Fighter of the Nightman
For you personally, as a fan, just how huge would a win vs. a ranked KU team be to go to 2-0 be compared to previous seasons? I look back at some of our "hot starts," and I think this would be one of the better "Cloud Nine" feelings as an Illini fan I have had in a LONG time. That says more about our torture as Illini football fans than anything else, but looking back...

- While I loved watching our 2022 squad, I didn't truly BELIEVE we could be great until we went to Lincoln on 10/29 and beat them 26-9 on national TV. Winning at Wisconsin and beating Iowa effectively cancelled out the IU loss, and I thought Minnesota was overrated. However, after hammering Nebby in their house, I really thought that team could maybe even run the table, and I CERTAINLY thought we were a virtual lock to go to Indy. Of course, then we faceplanted vs. MSU the next week...
- While the 2011 win vs. #22 ASU certainly had me jazzed, a 3-point win vs. Western Michigan the next week and needing an epic comeback to survive Northwestern at home had me worried we were indeed pretenders. However, when we went on the road to Indiana and won 41-20 the next week and welcomed a (post-sanctions) OSU team that I really felt we could beat to town ... I was drinking the Kool-Aid. Of course, that 6-0 start would end with a 0-6 finish...
- When we beat #5 Wisconsin in 2007 after beating #21 Penn State the week before, I truly thought we were about to win out besides at OSU (a game we ironically won, lol). So, before we went to Kinnick Stadium the next week and lost 10-6, I DEFINITELY thought our 2007 team was very legit and was super pumped.

So, in my approximately 25 seasons of being a fan, I think the only contender for my optimism is the 2007 Rose Bowl year. Part of that is me lowering my expectations over the years, but I also think beating KU and (most essentially) protecting our home field would point to a different type of Illinois football program than I have literally ever seen. Meaning, we aren't getting to enjoy a flash-in-the-pan BCS Bowl season that will eventually flow into a subsequent 5-7 campaign, followed by several 2-3 win seasons, lol. This would signify that the "new Illinois" under Bret Bielema is just simply always a competitive program that will play tough football, give you a game every week and (hopefully) be a team that is especially difficult to beat in Champaign.
 
#194      
Virtue4
We will be heading down for the game on Saturday with our 3 daughters (5,6,9). We were expecting warmer weather and only have orange short sleeve t-shirts.

We cannot find any kid-sized orange sweatshirts on short notice in Chicago Suburbs. Are there any places we can stop in Champaign prior to getting to campus on Saturday to pick up some sweatshirts?

Thanks!
 
#195      
Da88
Guest said:
Some of my family and I are going to attend. However, we are old. Two are in their 70s and another has a bad back. There are no seats with backs, are there? Do they have something to rent that has a back or attaches to the seat to make a back? Thanks
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The only thing I can think of is trying to find tickets in row 50 of the Horseshoe since there is a railing to lean back against, and it's why I love my season tickets on that row. However, while that row may save a back, it's not the best on old knees.
 
#196      
Vballguy
Virtue4 said:
We will be heading down for the game on Saturday with our 3 daughters (5,6,9). We were expecting warmer weather and only have orange short sleeve t-shirts.

We cannot find any kid-sized orange sweatshirts on short notice in Chicago Suburbs. Are there any places we can stop in Champaign prior to getting to campus on Saturday to pick up some sweatshirts?

Thanks!
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Illini union bookstore on Wright street in campus town has a lot of apparel
 
#197      
Virtue4
Vballguy said:
Illini union bookstore on Wright street in campus town has a lot of apparel
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Thanks, just didn't know if there was anything on Prospect or Neal before getting into the congestion of campus.
 
#198      
Mr. Tibbs
Virtue4 said:
We will be heading down for the game on Saturday with our 3 daughters (5,6,9). We were expecting warmer weather and only have orange short sleeve t-shirts.

We cannot find any kid-sized orange sweatshirts on short notice in Chicago Suburbs. Are there any places we can stop in Champaign prior to getting to campus on Saturday to pick up some sweatshirts?

Thanks!
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Amazon prime is your friend

orange hoodies
order today , deliver tomorrow
they are generic plain orange tho
$17 each
 
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#199      
Illini IndyCar Fan
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