Tim Beckman is 5-18 (very likely 5-19 by the time you actually read this) versus FBS college football teams during his tenure at Illinois. It is a fact that the Northern Illinois football team has three wins over Big Ten teams in the past two years. Beckman has just one. It is a fact that NIU has the second most victories of any FBS team (Oregon is first) over the past four years.
Also, if the Fighting Illini were to play the Huskies this year (they won’t), Las Vegas might deem NIU the favorite.
All that said, what you see below still reeks of desperate mid-major amateurism:
Yes, that’s a full page ad in yesterday’s Chicago’s Tribune; and it was paid for by some bold trash-talking NIU alumni. Not only does it call out Tim Beckman and his Fighting Illini, it also takes a direct shot at Pat Fitzgerald and his Northwestern Wildcats. Fresh off the Huskies 23-15 victory at Northwestern, the ad pokes fun at NU’s much maligned marketing slogan “Chicago’s Big Ten Team.”
There’s nothing quite like smack-talking a team that is 1-9 over it’s last ten games (Northwestern) or a team that is 8-18 (Illinois) in it’s last 26. You would think that the NIU fan base, having earned the MAC’s first ever BCS berth in 2012, would be above such grabbing of low hanging fruit. You would also think that these NIU supporters would have a sense of humility given:
-their team was badly blown out in that Orange Bowl appearance by Florida State.
-the 2013 season ended poorly for NIU, with humiliating losses in both the MAC Championship and their fourth tier bowl game
-Illinois is actually undefeated, 4-0, all time versus NIU, having last met in 2010
Of course, this isn’t actually about Xs and Os. It’s really about hearts and minds. A summer poll showed that Illinois is still the most popular college football program in the state. Even in lean times like these. It’s common knowledge that the most popular team in Chicago, by a wide margin, is Notre Dame. Northwestern’s often criticized marketing slogan has done nothing to change that fact.
As the ad ran on a Friday, Tim Beckman, Pat Fitzgerald and NIU Coach Rod Carey were not available for comment. They will not be able to comment publicly until tonight at the earliest.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post.