[NU Sports] attendance and defense (my 2 favorite subjects)

[WildElk2 at aol.com]

Per Roy's link. 12 1-A schools are in trouble for not  maintaining 15, 000 
per game attendance.  6 schools are from the MAC, which  scored many improbable 
upsets in 2004 (BUGS over Purdue and Marshall over Kansas  St. to name two) , 
but save Ohio over a bad Pittsburgh team in 2005, had very  little to cheer 
about last season.
   BUGS avg. was 14,500. I was shocked to see it was so low, but  BUGS 
underachieved, and to gain national exposure on ESPN2 played many games  during the 
week; thereby driving attendance down.
   The USA Today studied Temple's approach to home scheduling. To  get their 
attendance above the 12,500 they had last season, they have decided  they will 
not play any more paycheck games; opting for series with teams that  are a 
day's drive away, such as Rutgers, Navy, Penn St. and Navy.
   I think this is a great idea.  As Steven pointed out last  fall, it was 
great fun seeing 35,000 in the seats for NIU rather than the 20,000  for Ohio. ( 
Which I saw in person).
   While we can schedule NIU, Miami and since were scheduling  1-AA , SIU, 
other teams always command an audience, such as Navy and  Stanford.  As far as 
geographical distance, it would be nice if Notre Dame  came to Evanston like 
the old days. Most of us list members would play in South  Bend twice for the 
opportunity for NDU to lose in Evanston once every three  years....I know, ain't 
goin happin...
   Defense.  Has anyone bought Phil Steele's Big 10  preview?  By far and 
away the most UNBIASED pre-season mag on the  market.  Loaded with facts that are 
correct and cite historical evidence (  I consider it the best annual I've 
ever read)  ,  Phil asks the  question that if our D returns to it's 2003 and 
2004 days (avg. 25 points per  game) if this will compensate for losing Baz.  As 
shocked as I was,  statistical data states that we avg. 20 ppg. while 
allowing 25, we archived a  9-7 record in Big 10 play (* 25 ppg. based on Big 10 
games only) in 2003 and  2004.
   So, what I'm throwing out for discussion, is if we can cut our  ppg. to 25 
(in Big 10 play) , what would our chances be?
   My take:  with all our problems that we are all aware of,  our schedule is 
less than conducive.  Consider: 4 of our first 6 games on  the road.  The 
OSU, Michigan, Iowa trifecta late in the season. FoxSports  ranks our schedule 
the 3rd toughest in the country.
   Still, we have a pretty good team.
 
 This post is begging for more, but I'm not like our relentless Cats;  time 
for bed.   GO CATS!!
 
Trust the Plan,         Go Cats  !!!!                   Eric