Don't imagine if this would be the case, if we were scheduled to play Western Illinois instead with a bowl bid on the line.

Great scheduling RG . .a nice regular season match-up that only Fresno State fans care about . . .

Posted by peterborich on November 18, 2009 at 12:02 PM  |  Suggest Removal

Western is currently 1-9 on the season, with an almost certain 10th loss this Saturday when they play South Dakota State (which lost to Minnesota last weekend 16-13). So, there probably wouldn't be anywhere close to a full house if the Illini were playing WIU, bowl bid on the line or not.

Posted by cjcohen on November 18, 2009 at 12:43 PM  |  Suggest Removal

Methinks it would a much larger crowd for the Fresno State and, certainly, a more excited crowd. The possibility of going to a bowl does excite Illini Nation. The turn-out by Illini fans in Evanston last November for a 5-6 team is clear evidence of this. Half the fans in the stadium were of Illini ilk.

Of course, now that I think of it, under the current regime, we'd have trouble beating the 1-9 Leathernecks anyway . .

Posted by peterborich on November 18, 2009 at 2:48 PM  |  Suggest Removal

It doesn't matter if 10 people actually show up on December 5th. There were 40,000+ season tickets sold this year, so to Ron Guenther, the attendance is 40,000+, regardless of how many people actually show up for this scheduling abomination. All he cares about is the money that's already in the bank, and not one bit about putting a quality product on the field.

Posted by IlliniOllie on November 18, 2009 at 7:03 PM  |  Suggest Removal