Pregame: Illinois vs Purdue, Saturday, November 12th, 11:00am CT, ESPN2

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#151      
Fighter of the Nightman
TheChief4Life said:
I do feel the weather is going to affect turnout, which is unfortunate. But, with every game being shown on TV, there's not always a lot of real incentive to go to a game being played in 35 degree weather with 20 mph winds. I'll be there, as I have been for the last 100ish home games, but I'll be a whiny baby about it the whole time. :)
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Seems like a prime game to run crazy deals for the students, if not outright give away a few thousand of those tickets for free. It was kind of disappointing to see such a huge crowd for MSU and then for our student section to be uncharacteristically empty for the first time all year.

It's not like our last home game is going to make or break the DIA financially for this football season, so I would try to "sell out" (heh heh) on the optics of a rockin' Memorial Stadium for a big game to carry us over into next year's season ticket sales.
 
#152      
Dan
Fun fact- Illinois is 1-0 in the Bielema Era in the 11am ESPN2 timeslot. Last season, IL followed up a disappointing home loss in Game #9 to a B1G East team (Rutgers) by winning a tough divisional contest (@Minn). Go Illini
 
#153      
IlliniInBuckeyeState
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Hope a good crowd turns out to support these guys in a MASSIVE game for the program! I am confident we can at least get a Minnesota/Iowa crowd of 45k+, but I'm cautiously optimistic for over 50k.
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It's not looking very encouraging on that front. My most recent tracking estimates 42,385 tickets sold so far. Since I lack any student ticket data, that basically assumes a sold-out student section, which after last week seems far from likely. In the general public sections, there's also been very little movement in the tickets sold in the last 48 hours. So a blitz of 5,000 tickets sold in next few days seems doubtful. It's a shame.
 
#154      
Fighter of the Nightman
IlliniInBuckeyeState said:
It's not looking very encouraging on that front. My most recent tracking estimates 42,385 tickets sold so far. Since I lack any student ticket data, that basically assumes a sold-out student section, which after last week seems far from likely. In the general public sections, there's also been very little movement in the tickets sold in the last 48 hours. So a blitz of 5,000 tickets sold in next few days seems doubtful. It's a shame.
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Ugh, what a bummer ... guess that MSU loss really was that deflating. Such a shame we tripped up at such a pivotal moment as far as getting the casual fan excited.

Oh well, beat Purdue and make it to Indy. Then get as much orange in that building as possible!
 
#156      
IllinoisssssssVarsity
We need to win this game. I just read through some of the MSU post game thread, I’m not all the way through it yet, but something struck me.

That loss was a let down, but win this game, and win some more, and we’re still playing for a shot at the rose bowl. And we’re all kinda DISAPPOINTED in that. Imagine being disappointed in playing for the rose bowl going into this year, because we blew a chance at the CFP.

Let’s beat Purdue and do our best to get to Pasadena.
 
#157      
Illiniam1984
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Ugh, what a bummer ... guess that MSU loss really was that deflating. Such a shame we tripped up at such a pivotal moment as far as getting the casual fan excited.

Oh well, beat Purdue and make it to Indy. Then get as much orange in that building as possible!
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Like I said the fanbase is so used to losing that when there is one blip in the road or obstacle they stop supporting the team. It’s going to take more wins and time. The weather isn’t helping either.
 
#158      
Illiniam1984
We are starting to see some exposure on national TV and if we can get to a New Years Day Bowl that would be a big plus especially in front of recruits. I know some of you would rather see us play a lesser opponent in a bowl game but actually I would rather they play against a team like a Bama and say we competed against a top school and put up a fight if we made it a game. Also, you never know what could happen. That would be huge for recruiting.
 
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#159      
Mr. Tibbs
Illiniam1984 said:
Like I said the fanbase is so used to losing that when there is one blip in the road or obstacle they stop supporting the team. It’s going to take more wins and time. The weather isn’t helping either.
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correct

lots of people, my wife included, will not sit through a game when its 38-44 degrees out.
and Im not going down alone
 
#160      
Toews
It’s hard to think of a single bigger football game for the football program than this one. At least since 2007. Win this game and you almost certainly go to a Big Ten title game in Bret’s second year. Lose and this season will be considered a success but a huge missed opportunity. Because of that, this game will dictate the buzz and fan enthusiasm around the program for next year and maybe even help build a base for years to come. A loss means a huge drop off in fan enthusiasm for next year and a continuation the perception of a program that can’t get out of its own way even if we win 8 games in a supposed rebuilding year. Just a massive game for the program.
 
#161      
DeonThomas
Illiniam1984 said:
Like I said the fanbase is so used to losing that when there is one blip in the road or obstacle they stop supporting the team. It’s going to take more wins and time. The weather isn’t helping either.
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Mr. Tibbs said:
correct

lots of people, my wife included, will not sit through a game when its 38-44 degrees out.
and Im not going down alone
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On the other hand, cold/bad weather often tends to favor teams that run the ball. I think that fares well for Bret and the boys. It just might be a special day in Champaign!

Having grown up in Illinois, we're not going to let 25-44 degree temps deter us! Bags are already packed with lots of orange for a Thursday departure!! Sure is nice to be able to catch a game at the Assembly Hall too.
 
#162      
SuperMetroid
How big is this game? If we win we eliminate 3 teams:
- Purdue
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin/Iowa loser
Northwestern is already out

It would then be a 3-team race between us, the Iowa/Wisconsin winner and Minnesota (assuming they beat NU). We’d have a game lead on both plus all tiebreakers. Minnesota still has to play Iowa and Wisconsin too.

BEAT PURDUE
 
#163      
DeonThomas
SuperMetroid said:
How big is this game? If we win we eliminate 3 teams:
- Purdue
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin/Iowa loser
Northwestern is already out

It would then be a 3-team race between us, the Iowa/Wisconsin winner and Minnesota (assuming they beat NU). We’d have a game lead on both plus all tiebreakers. Minnesota still has to play Iowa and Wisconsin too.

BEAT PURDUE
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Nicely stated.

In other words, if we win it becomes a 2-team race. And we will control our own destiny.
 
#166      
ThunderousBear
Weather is killing attendance but worse it's killing games. Got so unlucky with the wind in that MSU game. Wrong direction blowing strong at the wrong time at so many critical moments. Not too often you outgain your opponent by 150 yards and lose a field position battle.
 
#167      
Stevegarbs
Mr. Tibbs said:
correct

lots of people, my wife included, will not sit through a game when its 38-44 degrees out.
and Im not going down alone
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Same here, the wind for MSU was brutal. No way I'm talking her into it.
 
#172      
willillini
LGIllini said:
Yeah - I didn't like how he chalked everything up to "not executing", rather then admitting his play calling was garbage at times.
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let's not go all "anti play calling" when we screw up a punt and put the ball on the ground. minus a bit a poor blocking up front and
two really bad plays we played the same way we have all year. just like IU, lets learn from it and move on. we may have for the first
time been just a touch up tight given what is at stake instead of the aggressive, nothing to lose attitude.
 
#173      
Birdus
I know that this has probably been posted before and I don't know about social media right now but the gradual increase in attendance that fans really want to see will only be won through sustained success. This year is an outlier. If we continue to have success in the foreseeable future, more and more people will get on board with season tickets. Most people that come now are coaxed into coming with special offers etc. That is needful but you can only take that so far. Success breeds trust and confidence that the product on the field as well as the game day experience matches their expectations associated with the winning brand.
 
#174      
illinoistradition
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Maybe I’m more tuned in since I’ll be attending, but it’s really disappointing how little our social media seems to be making a push to increase ticket sales. You have a deflated fan base after last week, so offer some more deals to get a few extra thousand fans in there for a HUGE home game.
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100% agree. Not even new deals--promote the 4-pack! $99 for almost any 4 tickets to a Big Ten West championship game (essentially) is a great deal, but if people don't know about it, then what is the point?
 
#175      
Fighter of the Nightman
illinoistradition said:
100% agree. Not even new deals--promote the 4-pack! $99 for almost any 4 tickets to a Big Ten West championship game (essentially) is a great deal, but if people don't know about it, then what is the point?
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Yeah, I am not even giving an opinion on what pricing should be (although, given last week and the weather and that this is the final game ... I would be in favor of free student tickets and see no downside). However, to not be BLASTING this on social media and hyping up the importance of the game seems like an uncharacteristic blunder for our PR team this year.

As we diehards have reiterated here, this is the biggest game we have played in since at least 2007 and our biggest home game in 20+ years, easily. I'm not going to "fight against logic" here given the years of losing our fans have endured, but we want to become a big time football program and we are pretty much playing for a trip to the BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME ... and having an attendance of 45k and a half-empty upper deck because we lost one game and the weather will be a bit cold will be a pathetic look on national TV for this program, sorry to burst anyone's bubble. We can explain away the logistics of it all we want, but the programs we want to compete against will have packed houses this weekend (Iowa has sold out its 70k-seat stadium vs. Wisconsin, for example). I know a lot of us are still getting used to this "being good at fooball" thing, but do we all realize how pathetic of an excuse "sunny and cold" is for not attending a football game to win your division, at least in the eyes of a national audiance??

It seems like a simple decision for the DIA, if you ask me ... giving up some revenue for this one game to make Memorial Stadium appear to be a snake pit for this one is WELL worth it in the long run and for sending a message that Illini Football can become a winner and a place recruits want to be.
 
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