All season and pre season we looked ahead to this one. On the 2016 NIU football schedule, it’s “circle the date” time and it comes Wednesday. Yes, the day after tomorrow, November 9th, the Huskies will take on MAC powerhouse Toledo, in their only game this season that has its own brand name- the “Chi-Town Showdown.”
It’ll be at U.S. Cellular Field, Guaranteed Rate Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox.
By the way, Twitter really had a lot of fun at the expense of the White Sox and their stadium name change. You can see the best those over at this link.
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/768563368294703106
GAME INFO:
Toledo Rockets (7-2, 4-1 MAC) vs. NIU Huskies (3-6, 3-2 MAC)
Chicago, Illinois | Guaranteed Rate Field | 27,764
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 | 7 p.m. (CT) | ESPN2
Chicago White Sox television announcer Jason Benetti (play-by-play) joins Kelly Stouffer (analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (sidelines)
Radio: AM 560 WIND (Chicago) | WLBK AM 1360/FM 98.9 (DeKalb) | Sportsfan 1330 AM (Rockford) | TuneIn
SPREAD: Toledo -7
SERIES HISTORY: Toledo holds a 29-14 advantage in the series between the two schools, however, NIU has won seven of the last eight meetings, including six straight. The six consecutive wins over the Rockets is NIU’s longest winning streak in the series, while Toledo won 11 straight from 1990-92; 97-2004. This is the first neural site meeting between NIU and Toledo.
This will be the first football game ever contested at the 25 year old facility. The novelty aspect alone makes it the NIU football season’s headliner, but it takes on even more importance when you consider that the Huskies have not and will not face a Power 5 conference team this season.
NIU football made a very smart move in getting this game at this venue, and they marketed it by holding their annual Chicago Media Day this summer at The Cell itself, instead of at a more traditional venue.
The field is being prepped for some ?. pic.twitter.com/57MS0JGatF
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) November 7, 2016
NIU A.D. Sean Frazier offered an idea as to why it’s taken a quarter century for us to see a gridiron at the cell.
“That’s a great question. I think the novelty of football games in facilities like this kind of grew, and maybe because we have so many other facilities that it could go to, we have Soldier Field, every division one school has their own stadium, it does affect the revenue breakdown that once you take it out of your own stadium, you lose money,” Frazier exclusively told The Sports Bank.
“So there would have to be made up money at that side. Maybe all those factors kind of went into it.”
Frazier also articulated some of the specifics that go into making the White Sox home the backdrop for this special event and the challenges within.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some of the attendance numbers and how the game runs, and what we’ve learned from some of the other games that have been in ballparks and we’re taking the best from that.”
“We’ve put a full size (football) field down which is another issue.”
Interesting that he mentioned the field. You’ll recall the last time a college football game was played in a Chicago baseball stadium- 2010’s Wrigleyville Classic between Northwestern and Illinois. To that game’s credit, it was an ESPN College Gameday on site contest, but everyone remembers that Wrigley Field clash for one reason first and foremost.
There wasn’t enough space between one end zone and the wall, forcing both teams to drive in the same direction all game. Making this more odd and infinitely more notorious, this reality wasn’t realized until the Monday before for some unexplained reason.
Obviously, NIU football, Toledo and the MAC have already taken this basic need into account for this marquee match-up.
The NIU football team has played at historic Soldier Field three separate occasions. The Huskies faced Iowa at the lakefront site in 2007 and 2012 and Wisconsin in 2011. Since 2010, NIU has posted a 15-1 record in league games played on either Tuesday or Wednesday. The only team to defeat the Huskies during that time was Ohio (Nov. 24, 2015).
Here is a sneak peek at the field converted from baseball to football. Take a look:
Prediction: Toledo 31, NIU Football 20
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.