Pregame: Illinois vs Penn State, Saturday, September 16th, 11:00am CT, FOX
- Status
Seems like Jacas needs to have somebody whispering into his ear, like a Walters kind of guy. The Defense Whisperer.
Media department is really top notch.
Updated Sellout Watch for Saturday. Very little increase from my last update on 9/9. I'm sure several hundred tickets have been sold, but it was all offset by several hundred other tickets being made available in areas that the tracker had assumed were sold.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Instead, I'm sorta hoping that Altmyer sets a new Illini record for single-game passing yardage, eclipsing Dave Wilson's record from 43 years ago. (Plus, that would teach FOX a lesson for dissing our program. Oh, and of course, Colorado St. routs the Buffs 55-3.)
the national
- the Front Range
I have listened to virtually every Penn st v Illinois preview podcast I can get my hands on. The Penn St media is fawning, and generally for good reason. But…and this is a big butt, first road games are always hard, as we can attest to. Penn state is talented and should be respected.
We do have talent despite the rumblings. Soo many people are focused on Penn St that the predictions are squarely focused on how many points Penn State can score. No one is talking about our strengths, and I mean no one. Bailey is a strength. Randolph and Newton are strengths. Altmyer is a strength. Issah Williams is a quiet strength. He is a leader and impacts the game even if he’s not getting passes on the field. We have some questions marks, no question. But we have some talented players too. Penn State media is totally overlooking this game as an assumed win. No big noon kickoff in Champaign? No worries as “we’ll surely get a few can’t miss opportunities later in the season”. Everyone is writing us off.
I can’t say we win but I think we’ll see a different team on Saturday. What’s there to lose?
We do have talent despite the rumblings. Soo many people are focused on Penn St that the predictions are squarely focused on how many points Penn State can score. No one is talking about our strengths, and I mean no one. Bailey is a strength. Randolph and Newton are strengths. Altmyer is a strength. Issah Williams is a quiet strength. He is a leader and impacts the game even if he’s not getting passes on the field. We have some questions marks, no question. But we have some talented players too. Penn State media is totally overlooking this game as an assumed win. No big noon kickoff in Champaign? No worries as “we’ll surely get a few can’t miss opportunities later in the season”. Everyone is writing us off.
I can’t say we win but I think we’ll see a different team on Saturday. What’s there to lose?
I think for any of this to matter, we need to get pressure on Allar when he is read progressing. We also need to tackle well on their quick hitters to the outside. Biggest thing is get them off the field on 3rd and 4th down.
Agree 100%. I think Knee Brace is confusing the fact that he's a "bro" with being a D bag. Man is literally one of the nicest dudes on the planet. The only people I've seen him have legit beef with are Urban Meyer (after the reports came out about what an @$$ he was in the Jacksonville locker room) and Brett Favre (reverse robin hood)
Chief that is the key. Get them to punt. I hope they overlook us on Sat.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Thanks for posting. Let's hope your estimate is a bit conservative and/or we have a decent walk-up crowd, and we can push closer to 50k.
I kept telling myself that it's "understandable" that the crowd for this game might be weaker than expected after the first two games, but ... I'm actually just pretty disappointed in the fan base and/or DIA for not doing everything possible to get fans in the seats (even if it means reduced ticket revenues for one game). We are 1-1 with the one loss being an away game vs. a very good Big XII team. Have we passed the eye test? No, but it's early.
The key frustrating thing here is that we just have not built a football culture yet ... we've made huge strides, but we're nowhere close to where we need to be. We need to get to the point where at least 55k Illini fans just think to themselves, "Wow, 76 degrees on a Saturday in September for Big Ten football? I'm going to Memorial Stadium Saturday." The team's record and/or the matchup should cause a few extra thousand fans to trickle in, but we really need more of a vibe like Wrigley Field or Kinnick Stadium where people want to attend for MORE than the sport. Our attendance will always suck if we rely on casual fans being "impressed enough" by what we have shown them to-date. Yes, wins will help, but Memorial Stadium has so much more potential than to be a bland, generic place you go to watch Illinois football (but likely only when they're good...) play four quarters. The addition of Grange Grove is a nice step in the right direction and I'll admit that I do not know the exact answers, but I flat-out guarantee you that the DIA will come out on top financially in the long run if they do everything possible to make Memorial Stadium an ATMOSPHERE in and of itself. Somewhere you just simply want to be on Fall Saturdays, regardless of how good the team is.
With all that said, if your map is correct, we are likely looking at an essentially full lower bowl, and if the FOX/DIA drones are careful about their angles, they can get some cool aerial shots where it looks full.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I hope so, too, and it is possible with a primetime NBC game vs. Iowa (who at least looks like a much better team than us so far) coming up next week. However, I really doubt PSU will overlook us, and we will need to really bring it. I feel like PSU feels that they are themselves being overlooked and that all the hype is on Ohio State and (mostly) Michigan. This is their first road test, first Big Ten game, it's Big Noon on FOX, etc. It's their first chance to make a statement by demolishing us.
So, let's hope they don't! Here's the thing ... we all knew in August that this was going to be a tough game, but we didn't see it as unwinnable. I would argue it has since become apparent that Toledo and Kansas are better than we thought they were; we went 1-1 in those games. While our start vs. KU was absolutely terrible, we won the second half 19-6 and actually showed some life. Let's hope that was the spark that gets us back on track a little bit. IF our defensive issues are here to stay, then yes - PSU will win handily. However, if we have been working on getting some jitters out of the way and we see serious improvement this week, we can keep this thing close. As I have said (too much) already, I think we might know really early in this one how it's going to go.
Anyone here going to be tailgating in Research Park?
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Sounds great...but if we get into a shootout it's going to be 63-48 PSU.
Gonna guess we’ll see the following as our OL and eagerly await people telling me how wrong I am:
LT - Julian Pearl
LG - Isaiah Adams
C - Josh Kreutz
RG - Zy Crisler
RT - Brandon Henderson
LT - Julian Pearl
LG - Isaiah Adams
C - Josh Kreutz
RG - Zy Crisler
RT - Brandon Henderson
I'm glad to hear that. I'm a big fan of Bart Miller, and I believe/hope he can piece together a better solution than we've seen in the first two games.
And in my view, this is the most important thing to get fixed. If we fix the OL, we still have a chance at a bowl game.
My hopes for the PSU game are simply:
1. Don't get completely embarassed
2. Don't get Altmyer hurt
But in tough times like this, I think it's beneficial to recall the words of our first president:
I'd put defensive line, potentially, in front of the offensive line in terms of needing to be better. Both have been atrocious. A great defense can make up for a lot of sins on offense and it all starts with the guys up front. They've been disappointing to say the least.
Oh, let's ditch the mindless, post play, penalties as well. Those have thrown gas on the fire more than a couple of times now.
If they can't sell this one out, that'll be completely disheartening. A national TV game, big time opponent and absolutely perfect weather. We're not talking about filling up a 75,000 seat stadium here. Obviously, many people have commitments on the weekends, but c'mon....not being able to put 60,000 butts in seats, under these circumstances, is brutal.
To be fair, however, every time we have a big game and try to rally the fans to show up ...our team gags.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
I get that we should ideally be selling out this kind of game. But when we haven't been doing so already, I can't blame people for not going all out this weekend to be there. I truly believe that we are capable of performing better than we have the first two weeks, but there is honestly very little anyone could point to of what we have seen to believe that to be true. I say that as someone who will be there tomorrow. Hopefully the boys will give us a performance that will fill Memorial Stadium for the rest of the season.
Airlines and hotels know how to use dynamic pricing to sell out their capacity.
danielb927
Orange Krush Class of 2013
- Rochester, MN
Do they use it to sell out capacity? Or do they use it to maximize revenue/profit? Those might not always be the same thing.
#1 goal of any business is to increase shareholder wealth…so probably the 2nd.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
12,600,000 (State of) Illinois population
45,000 U of I Student Population
500,000 U of I Alumni around the world
Memorial Stadium Capacity:
60,670
Incredibly cheap tickets. Great weather. Open highways. Clear skies. No hint of any airline strikes. No hint of any global oil embargoes.
SELL-OUT is absolutely feasible!
I agree with you 100%! However, based on the numbers that another poster put out there, we're 13,000 short, less than a day before kickoff. We'll need a huge walkup push.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Yes. Agreed.
I should have clarified. Here's what I meant to say.
"We have no excuses for leaving empty seats in the stands on a picture-perfect fall afternoon, with a fully-invested AD at the helm, a stellar head coach calling the shots, and and a national TV audience tuning-in."
The approach used varies depending on whether you’re pursuing short term or long term profit. Also need to consider that empty seats buy no concessions or merchandise. And a full house creates a more attractive product for those on the fence, allowing higher prices in the future.
The bigger, longer term picture suggests ticket prices should not only be higher for games like Penn State, but should be reduced after a loss like last weekend. Maybe also adjust for weather? Other businesses use more dynamic pricing to optimize revenue and profits.
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