Just Curious

Western_101 · Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:58 pm

Just curious, does not Western hold a winning record against NIU in the era that Western was I-AA/FCS?

by my best effort I would produce the following:

1986 W
1987 L
1988 L
1989 L
1996 W
1999 W
2002 W
2009 L
2016 W

So, all of these contests were on the road at Huskie Stadium with the Huskies having 22 more scholarships. NIU can't manage to have a winning record against an in-State team that has significant less resources than the Huskies at their home stadium?

Not sure why I posted this, maybe I wanted to feel better about my school or at least our football team

Western_101 · Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:02 pm

We have a friend on the board that is a Huskies fan that indicates his location as "Major college football". Yet this person posts on a board where the Huskies can't even manage a winning record against the leathernecks with all contests at their field and 22 more scholarships.

Seems like a weird thing to boast about.

Makes me wonder how NIU would fair in the MVFC? when Western is a Middling team in the Valley mix.

Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:42 pm

Yes, we do have a winning record against NIU in that timeframe. Depends on the year, but I'd say NIU would be somewhere around the level of UNI if they were in our conference. Not quite as good as NDSU...occasionally as good as SDSU, but generally upper-middle.

We don't have much to go on for comparison, but Sagarin does rate all DI schools in one list and they have NIU as the 84th best DI team.
NDSU is at 19
SDSU is 58
NIU would be here
Illinois State at 95
Northern Iowa was 96
WIU at 120

So that gives you an idea.

GV Dad · Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:56 pm

Take away 22 scholarships and the MAC off there jerseys and they likely fall farther down that list.

Tere North · Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:37 am

GV Dad wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:56 pm Take away 22 scholarships and the MAC off there jerseys and they likely fall farther down that list.

Yet, in the MAC, they again played in a bowl game.

Western_101 · Sat Jan 26, 2019 1:54 am

ST_Lawson wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:42 pm Yes, we do have a winning record against NIU in that timeframe. Depends on the year, but I'd say NIU would be somewhere around the level of UNI if they were in our conference. Not quite as good as NDSU...occasionally as good as SDSU, but generally upper-middle.

We don't have much to go on for comparison, but Sagarin does rate all DI schools in one list and they have NIU as the 84th best DI team.
NDSU is at 19
SDSU is 58
NIU would be here
Illinois State at 95
Northern Iowa was 96
WIU at 120

So that gives you an idea.

Scott, out of curiosity, what is the highest we have been ranked in Sagarin? I seem to recall us being in the double digit 80s range from time to time. Generally speaking Sagarin is not a great indicator until about week four into the season. So I am aware that there can be some ratings/rankings those first four weeks that may not be truly indicative of a teams overall true strengths/weakness.

For Western to be hanging in or around the 100 mark year in and year out isn't too shabby. In any given year Western rates higher than 15-20 FBS squads. I think that is a very respectable statistic to throw out when we are on the recruiting trail.