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BirdGrad2011
Guest
With all due respect. 2024 is not 1978. We’ve seen teams not particularly dominate FCS then do well in FBS pretty regularly. Hell, App State was probably a decade late after their dominance and has done very well. Also, we beat them last time we played. Just saying.I've never claimed that we were equal to or better than the MAC. We've lost the last 3 meetings. You have to go back to 2012 when we went up to E. Mich and won 31-14 to find a victory against the MAC. I have said that there isn't much of a difference. If you put the teams in generic uniforms and neutral stadiums, fans wouldn't be able to pick out the MVFC from the MAC, so it's not an eye test - quality of play sort of thing.
My first year as a student at Illinois State was 1978. I'll bet you can't guess how many MAC teams we played that year. 6. Over half of the 11-game schedule consisted of MAC Conference opponents and Illinois State competed as a D-I Independent. This was prior to FBS and FCS so it was D-I, D-II, or D-III. Yes, we competed at the Highest Level, but we didn't do it very well. We went 1-5 against the MAC, beating only E. Mich. Sound familiar? Fans were so excited to be competing against the MAC that someone rearranged the letters on the marquee outside the football stadium to say "ISU Sucks." It was hard to argue. The FB team was 0-9 at the time. We weren't competitive at that level, but fans want to circle back anyway. Why not, most of you didn't live through any of that.
I know I go overboard on history but it's surprising how often it repeats itself.
1978 Football Schedule - Illinois State University Athletics
The official 1978 Football schedule for the Illinois State University Redbirdsgoredbirds.com