MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
Ah yes and some of that crap may have been the same as was there 30 years ago.
Illini Football 2024
- Status
And our marching band plays every stanza of the opponents fight song. You can tell by the puzzled look of the visiting fans that they don't know their own song lasts that long.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
TRULY surprising to me but indeed super awesome news! It confirms my theory that attendance is generally 1-2 years behind a good season. In other words, the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024 attendance are the products of wins in 2022 that were in front of smaller crowds than they "should have been." You see this similarly in the fact that our basketball attendance was better in 2007 (#12 seed) and 2008 (most losses in school history! lol) than it was in 2003 (BTT champs) and 2004 (Big Ten champs and Sweet Sixteen). This is because 2005 caused a lagging effect of incredible fan support.
With that said, the rise in attendance has been awesome since Bret's first game here!!
2021 - Illini go 5-7 but score an upset on the road vs. #7 Penn State and are in quite a few games
41,064 vs. Nebraska
33,906 vs. UTSA
37,168 vs. Maryland (Friday night game)
30,559 vs. Charlotte
40,168 vs. Wisconsin for Homecoming
36,942 vs. Rutgers
27,624 vs. Northwestern
2022 - Breakout regular season at 8-4 including multiple weeks in the top 25
37,832 vs. Wyoming
33,669 vs. Virginia
37,579 vs. Chattanooga (Thursday night game)
44,910 vs. Iowa
45,683 vs. Minnesota
56,092 vs. Michigan State
45,574 vs. Purdue
2023 - Season starts with optimism after 2022 but barely misses a bowl game
48,898 vs. Toledo
49,099 vs. #7 Penn State
53,512 vs. FAU
46,703 vs. Nebraska (Friday night game)
54,205 vs. Wisconsin for Homecoming
53,157 vs. Indiana
42,310 vs. Northwestern
And now season tickets are up?? That is awesome. For some fun comparisons...
Non-Conference Home Opener: From under 38k in 2022 to nearly 49k in 2023
Friday Night Games: From about 37k in 2021 to 46k+ in 2023
Average Big Ten Saturday Home Game: From 38k or so in 2021 to over 53k in 2023
Highest Attendance: From barely breaking 41k in 2021 (very much due to Husker fans traveling, too...) to over 53k three different times in 2023
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
you are the King of all Attendance DataTRULY surprising to me but indeed super awesome news! It confirms my theory that attendance is generally 1-2 years behind a good season. In other words, the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024 attendance are the products of wins in 2022 that were in front of smaller crowds than they "should have been." You see this similarly in the fact that our basketball attendance was better in 2007 (#12 seed) and 2008 (most losses in school history! lol) than it was in 2003 (BTT champs) and 2004 (Big Ten champs and Sweet Sixteen). This is because 2005 caused a lagging effect of incredible fan support.
With that said, the rise in attendance has been awesome since Bret's first game here!!
2021 - Illini go 5-7 but score an upset on the road vs. #7 Penn State and are in quite a few games
41,064 vs. Nebraska
33,906 vs. UTSA
37,168 vs. Maryland (Friday night game)
30,559 vs. Charlotte
40,168 vs. Wisconsin for Homecoming
36,942 vs. Rutgers
27,624 vs. Northwestern
2022 - Breakout regular season at 8-4 including multiple weeks in the top 25
37,832 vs. Wyoming
33,669 vs. Virginia
37,579 vs. Chattanooga (Thursday night game)
44,910 vs. Iowa
45,683 vs. Minnesota
56,092 vs. Michigan State
45,574 vs. Purdue
2023 - Season starts with optimism after 2022 but barely misses a bowl game
48,898 vs. Toledo
49,099 vs. #7 Penn State
53,512 vs. FAU
46,703 vs. Nebraska (Friday night game)
54,205 vs. Wisconsin for Homecoming
53,157 vs. Indiana
42,310 vs. Northwestern
And now season tickets are up?? That is awesome. For some fun comparisons...
Non-Conference Home Opener: From under 38k in 2022 to nearly 49k in 2023
Friday Night Games: From about 37k in 2021 to 46k+ in 2023
Average Big Ten Saturday Home Game: From 38k or so in 2021 to over 53k in 2023
Highest Attendance: From barely breaking 41k in 2021 (very much due to Husker fans traveling, too...) to over 53k three different times in 2023
I know you deal in the digital world, but in an analog world you would have 25 bankers boxes of manilla folders full of data in your basement
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Excellent data!TRULY surprising to me but indeed super awesome news! It confirms my theory that attendance is generally 1-2 years behind a good season. In other words, the second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024 attendance are the products of wins in 2022 that were in front of smaller crowds than they "should have been." You see this similarly in the fact that our basketball attendance was better in 2007 (#12 seed) and 2008 (most losses in school history! lol) than it was in 2003 (BTT champs) and 2004 (Big Ten champs and Sweet Sixteen). This is because 2005 caused a lagging effect of incredible fan support.
With that said, the rise in attendance has been awesome since Bret's first game here!!
2021 - Illini go 5-7 but score an upset on the road vs. #7 Penn State and are in quite a few games
41,064 vs. Nebraska
33,906 vs. UTSA
37,168 vs. Maryland (Friday night game)
30,559 vs. Charlotte
40,168 vs. Wisconsin for Homecoming
36,942 vs. Rutgers
27,624 vs. Northwestern
2022 - Breakout regular season at 8-4 including multiple weeks in the top 25
37,832 vs. Wyoming
33,669 vs. Virginia
37,579 vs. Chattanooga (Thursday night game)
44,910 vs. Iowa
45,683 vs. Minnesota
56,092 vs. Michigan State
45,574 vs. Purdue
2023 - Season starts with optimism after 2022 but barely misses a bowl game
48,898 vs. Toledo
49,099 vs. #7 Penn State
53,512 vs. FAU
46,703 vs. Nebraska (Friday night game)
54,205 vs. Wisconsin for Homecoming
53,157 vs. Indiana
42,310 vs. Northwestern
And now season tickets are up?? That is awesome. For some fun comparisons...
Non-Conference Home Opener: From under 38k in 2022 to nearly 49k in 2023
Friday Night Games: From about 37k in 2021 to 46k+ in 2023
Average Big Ten Saturday Home Game: From 38k or so in 2021 to over 53k in 2023
Highest Attendance: From barely breaking 41k in 2021 (very much due to Husker fans traveling, too...) to over 53k three different times in 2023
And to think that 56,000 Michigan State game could have started a long string of 50,000+ games if not for the disappointing outcome.
The band plays the visitor's fight song that long because they need the time. The band only moves for the last like 25% of it, but the color guard and Illinettes are moving the whole time. I doubt they'd willingly play the fight song that long if there was a simple solution to that.
Since we have a GM for the football program now (Pat Embleton), I thought would be of interest. Why putting together a winning NFL team is so difficult. (betterletter.substack.com)
After all the talk about the 100th anniversary of the beat down, Michigan will be fired up for that game. I fear a loss by at least 3 tds.
Michigan players will not give 2 sh@ts about a game from 100 years ago. Your 3 TD prediction however is probably correct.
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
I would consider (if possible) bringing trash cans to bang for that Michigan game....
Definitely bring plenty of signs with asterisks on them....
Definitely bring plenty of signs with asterisks on them....
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
this:
mind blowing that they aren't in it already
mind blowing that they aren't in it already
Yeah, this is hard to believe - Eason in particular
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
WTF, Guenther is in but not these two. What a clown show.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
College football walk-ons are in jeopardy. What do Big Ten coaches think?
Illinois head coach Bret Bielema was a walk-on at Iowa and prides himself in developing players with the Fighting Illini.
www.nytimes.com
Coach is prominently featured in this article.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
I hope you guys are being just overly pessimistic Illini fans. We almost beat them in Ann Arbor two years ago and the principal players from that team went on to win a national championship and are for the most part gone (along with their coach). So why is it they are going to beat us by three TDs?
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
You said this 12 times last season
Joel Goodson
- dawgville
needs seasoning, obviously, but I really like his potential:
- Status