Game Times Announced

[Adunk33]

9/1- 6:30 p.m.- St. Xavier
9/8- 6:30 p.m.- Eastern Illinois
10/6- 2 p.m. - Western Illinois
10/13- 2 p.m.- Southern Illinois
10/27 - Noon- South Dakota State
11/17- Noon- Youngstown State.

Nice mix of times. They should definitely open the tailgate lots earlier for those two 6:30 games.

 

[Redbirdwarrior]

Ugh. That SXU game is still on there...

I'll be at Maggie's till about 5:45 then wobble the 20 min to Hancock.

 

[Birdswin]

No fan of the Noon game times - I would much rather have at least 1:00 or 2:00. Shutting down a tailgate at 11:30 has an odd feel to it.

 

[DaveBird10]

Love the 6:30 and 2 games times, makes for good tailgating. The noon games i get but don't really like it, wish we had a home night game that was a conference game like we usually do but that's alright, i get it. Looking forward to tailgating and football season.

 

[Chi-bird]

I don't mind noon games for the last game of the season (as it starts getting a little colder), but agree that 1 p.m. is much better.

 

[MadBird]

Noon's not great, especially if you're coming like, say, from Madison, so you'd have to leave by maybe 7am to start your tailgate by 10, only to shut down, as Birdswin points out, an hour and a half later. Just my personal beef!! :x Just come down the night before, I guess!

At least we're not in the "big time" TV schedule of 11am game time, just head to the game after breakfast!

Love the night games tho, not sure why exactly, but to me there's nothing like a good night football game at Hancock.

 

[Adunk33]

As someone who is ready for a nap around 6pm during the noon and 2pm starts, I'm not a huge fan of night games. I love the long tailgating that comes with the 6:30 games, not so much a fan of sitting through the game after 6 hours of tailgating.

 

[JHBird]

Ugh. That SXU game is still on there...

I'll be at Maggie's till about 5:45 then wobble the 20 min to Hancock.

:text-+1:

That's exactly what we would expect from a Redbird Warrior! Be sure to try the sheppard's pie sometime .....it's awesome.

I love the night games, especially earlier in the year when it's not too cold.

 

[fourthandshort]

agree noon is bit too early for couple reasons .. earliest game times should be 1 or 2pm .. certainly 1pm is needed for late season due to sun setting.

 

[Total Red]

I'm liking the schedule. I think we have to give credit where due. All the other state FCS programs only have 5 home dates - we have 6. In addition to season tickets I've been trying to do one road trip every year. This year I'm thinking Fargo/NDSU. I've never been there and I'm not getting any younger so it's time to pull the trigger on that one.

Even Northern only has 5 home games for their 12 game schedule and they have the day/night thing reversed from a fan-friendly perspective. They'll play the final two home games in November on Wednesdays so those will be night games. That only leaves them with 3 possible day games and two of those dates are in September when the day games can get too hot. They also open at Iowa.
We tried that and I was there. It was a broiling hot summer day in Iowa City and they were literally carrying people out due to the heat. The first half of September football is meant to be played at night and November football is meant to be played during the day. We have it right, NIU has it wrong.

As far as the noon starts go maybe you could consider doing the bulk of your tailgating after the game. I don't tailgate much but if I did I'd consider sleeping in and arriving just in time to do a mini-tailgate of coffee, bagels, granola bars before the game and you can save the heavyweight beef/brats/beer for postgame. I've been to some Big 10 venues (like Iowa City) and the serious tailgaters aren't in a hurry to go anywhere after the game.
And of course there's always the Super-Serious tailgaters. I'm guessing these are retired folks with 30-foot Winnebago's or other RV's. They arrive on Thursday and leave on Sunday but not to worry. They have enough food/drink onboard to travel the Oregon Trail and back.
Maybe that's what my retirement needs to look like.

 

[bb fan]

A Wednesday night game in November. Sounds like what college football should be about... MACACTION!!!

 

[Adunk33]

Full schedule:
Still waiting on @Colo State and @UNI but we have the rest of the times.

9/1- 6:30 p.m.- St. Xavier
9/8- 6:30 p.m.- Eastern Illinois
9/22- ??? @Colorado State
9/29 2 p.m- @Missouri State.
10/6- 2 p.m. - Western Illinois
10/13- 2 p.m.- Southern Illinois
10/20- 2:30 p.m. @ North Dakota State
10/27 - Noon- South Dakota State
11/3- ???? @ Northern Iowa
11/10- Noon- @Indiana State
11/17- Noon- Youngstown State.

 

[Chi-bird]

Anyone know when the tv/broadcast schedule is released?

 

[Adunk33]

Brought over from another thread....

Assuming we go 2-1 in OOC to start season, our MVFC opener is on road against MoST ... yes we travel there again due to fact we can't play all 9 conf games ... but this the MUST win game that buys our defense 5 weeks to find itself and be ready for MVFC gauntlet that follows. Offense should be able to chew up clock and 1st downs regularly to help defense stay fresh .. but they will eventually have to be ready to hold their own as we face top tier conf teams.

I just noticed this morning that for the second year in a row that we play @Mo State, and home against Western, both games we played last year. I know there is one team we don't play two years in a row (UNI the past two, and South Dakota the next two) but was surprised to see the @Mo State and home vs Western were not flipped.

 

[fourthandshort]

Brought over from another thread....

Assuming we go 2-1 in OOC to start season, our MVFC opener is on road against MoST ... yes we travel there again due to fact we can't play all 9 conf games ... but this the MUST win game that buys our defense 5 weeks to find itself and be ready for MVFC gauntlet that follows. Offense should be able to chew up clock and 1st downs regularly to help defense stay fresh .. but they will eventually have to be ready to hold their own as we face top tier conf teams.

I just noticed this morning that for the second year in a row that we play @Mo State, and home against Western, both games we played last year. I know there is one team we don't play two years in a row (UNI the past two, and South Dakota the next two) but was surprised to see the @Mo State and home vs Western were not flipped.

the home and home math stopped working when MVFC went to 10 teams, since we can't play all 9 opponents every year. So this flaw in home and home scheduling is inevitable .. we lucked out as it happens ... getting MoST on road twice in exchange for getting WIU at home twice ... though we forgot to show up 2nd half last year and lost. Glad we get same crack at them at home again this year.

 

[Reggie Redbird]

Brought over from another thread....

Assuming we go 2-1 in OOC to start season, our MVFC opener is on road against MoST ... yes we travel there again due to fact we can't play all 9 conf games ... but this the MUST win game that buys our defense 5 weeks to find itself and be ready for MVFC gauntlet that follows. Offense should be able to chew up clock and 1st downs regularly to help defense stay fresh .. but they will eventually have to be ready to hold their own as we face top tier conf teams.

I just noticed this morning that for the second year in a row that we play @Mo State, and home against Western, both games we played last year. I know there is one team we don't play two years in a row (UNI the past two, and South Dakota the next two) but was surprised to see the @Mo State and home vs Western were not flipped.

Something tells me Ozark is ecstatic about another road trip to MoSt.

 

[crazzymark]

The Birds will beat CSU.....BY 20...this team will be fun to watch and the QB will be a suprise for all...GO ISU AND WIN EVERY GAME!!!!

 

[fourthandshort]

I'm liking the schedule. I think we have to give credit where due. All the other state FCS programs only have 5 home dates - we have 6. In addition to season tickets I've been trying to do one road trip every year. This year I'm thinking Fargo/NDSU. I've never been there and I'm not getting any younger so it's time to pull the trigger on that one.

Even Northern only has 5 home games for their 12 game schedule and they have the day/night thing reversed from a fan-friendly perspective. They'll play the final two home games in November on Wednesdays so those will be night games. That only leaves them with 3 possible day games and two of those dates are in September when the day games can get too hot. They also open at Iowa.
We tried that and I was there. It was a broiling hot summer day in Iowa City and they were literally carrying people out due to the heat. The first half of September football is meant to be played at night and November football is meant to be played during the day. We have it right, NIU has it wrong.

As far as the noon starts go maybe you could consider doing the bulk of your tailgating after the game. I don't tailgate much but if I did I'd consider sleeping in and arriving just in time to do a mini-tailgate of coffee, bagels, granola bars before the game and you can save the heavyweight beef/brats/beer for postgame. I've been to some Big 10 venues (like Iowa City) and the serious tailgaters aren't in a hurry to go anywhere after the game.
And of course there's always the Super-Serious tailgaters. I'm guessing these are retired folks with 30-foot Winnebago's or other RV's. They arrive on Thursday and leave on Sunday but not to worry. They have enough food/drink onboard to travel the Oregon Trail and back.
Maybe that's what my retirement needs to look like.

TR .. it is not often I disagree with you. But with regard to getting home games scheduled, we could and should have been able to get a D-I patsy to fill the STX spot .. and done so easily. Combined with FBS and EIU game every year, we are guaranteed to alternate getting 6 and 5 home games every year. Only variable being, this assumes we get a road FBS payday game every year .. which we don't always. But the EIU game makes Lyons job a whole lot easier. And with EIU at home this year ... we should fully expect a 6 home game year. Other D-I patsies were available. Might have had to pay them to fly instead of STX taking bus .. but games were available.

This was all about budget and possibly laziness ... except we are supposed to be a premier FCS level program with strong financial condition. Lyons should have made a D-I patsy game happen ... no matter what. He should have donors with money eager to ensure budgets don't get in way of logical decessions .. he apparently doesn't have that pull with donors.

If we're sitting 7-4, correction 6-4 .. when selection committee is voting ... Lyons better hope they look realy hard at our 5-3 MVFC record as qualifying us into playoff . in theory it should, but much stranger things have happened when the door closes to vote on teams. And then all eyes should turn to Lyons.

 

[StLRedbird]

Agreed w everything you said, 4th. It sounds like you believe we should have been able to get an FCS cupcake here for a buy game. Probably true.

Regardless of that, there were folks here on the board that found FCS schools w 2018 home dates that fit our schedule and wanted either a pay game or H&H. That means this decision was financially motivated, right?

And regardless of even that, season tix have been sold. Our only real way to show our displeasure is to no-show in big numbers. Crowd support should not matter in this game