Future Football Schedules

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Jason Svoboda

The Bird Level
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2019 (do not play North Dakota State)

08/31 - at Kansas
09/07 - vs Dayton
09/14 - vs Eastern Kentucky
09/21 - vs Eastern Illinois
09/28 - open date
10/05 - at South Dakota
10/12 - vs Western Illinois (Homecoming)
10/19 - vs South Dakota State
10/26 - at Illinois State
11/02 - vs Southern Illinois
11/09 - at Northern Iowa
11/16 - vs Youngstown State
11/23 - at Missouri State



2020
(do not play North Dakota)

09/05 - at Eastern Illinois
09/12 - at Middle Tennessee State
09/19 - vs Lindenwood (D2)
09/26 - at South Dakota State
10/10 - vs North Dakota State
10/31 - vs Illinois State
11/14 - vs South Dakota
TBA - vs Missouri State
TBA - vs Northern Iowa
TBA - at Youngstown State
TBA - at Southern Illinois
TBA - at Western Illinois


2021
(do not play North Dakota)

09/11 - at Northwestern
09/18 - at Eastern Kentucky
09/25 - vs South Dakota State
10/02 - at South Dakota
10/30 - at North Dakota State

2022 (do not play South Dakota)

09/10 - at Purdue
10/29 - at South Dakota State
11/05 - vs North Dakota

2023 (do not play South Dakota)

09/02 - vs Eastern Illinois
09/09 - at Indiana
09/16 - at Ball State University
11/18 - at North Dakota

2024

08/31 - at Eastern Illinois
09/07 - at Purdue

2025

09/06 - vs Eastern Illinois
9/13 - at Indiana

2026

09/05 - at Eastern Illinois
09/19 - at Purdue

2027

9/11 - at Indiana
 
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2-3 things stand out. First the removal of Eastern Illinois, which actually bothers me a bit. Our rivalry has gone on for decades and I think that is a bit short-sided. The addition of Butler, which is a total surprise but a good decision (although I knew about a few months ago). They said they would NEVER play us again after we ran up a 63-0 score, and to be honest, it makes sense. I would rather play 1-AAA (as it used to be called) non-scholarship D-1, such as Butler, Drake or Dayton, as opposed to NAIA squads that TRULY can whip your ass because of eligibilty rules. I love the Penn State MONEY GAME (and I plan to be there, as a former Pennsylvania guy), and the future dates with IU and Purdue, again for money. RP has done us well, as they say~
 
Well, there are some open dates in '12 and '13.

Is EIU definitely OFF the schedule OR are we still working out the date?

Unless we're playing the TOP NAIA schools (Carroll, Sioux Falls, St Frank's [FW]) I expect to beat NAIA schools (and FCS-Non scholie) and Div II and Div III.
 
You're right, 4Q. Only the best of the NAIA have a shot at us but trust me, those really good NAIA teams are very tough! I seriously doubt that Butler will be anywhere near as competitive as St. Francis and Quincy have been.
 
Well, there are some open dates in '12 and '13.

Is EIU definitely OFF the schedule OR are we still working out the date?

Unless we're playing the TOP NAIA schools (Carroll, Sioux Falls, St Frank's [FW]) I expect to beat NAIA schools (and FCS-Non scholie) and Div II and Div III.
There are a couple non-scholarship,FCS conferences that are very good ie. IVY, Patroit League, We will know soon enough as Butler plays Youngstown State this year early in season (Sept 11, 2010 I think)
 
I'm pretty sure ISU plays at Minnesota after 2012. I read that in the Twin Cities paper a while back.
 

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There are a couple non-scholarship,FCS conferences that are very good ie. IVY, Patroit League, We will know soon enough as Butler plays Youngstown State this year early in season (Sept 11, 2010 I think)
University of Dayton is quite strong in the Patriot. It will be interesting to see if Butler is competitive in that game against Youngstown State. I still think that a NAIA champ like St. Francis would beat Butler rather handily but maybe not.
 
Factual error on my part, I meant the Pioneer League that Butler plays in, and Dayton has been the cream of the crop in that league for a long time, but you're right, they did lose to Butler last year. That was a rarity however. Two games before last year's victory, they lost to Dayton, like 61-0! Patriot League has Holy Cross, Lehigh and Colgate! Sorry about that.
 
The last thing we should do is start talking about running up the score agaisnt anyone. Butler now has a solid program, and has done well in the Pioneer league the last couple of seasons. That is a strong conference with Jacksonville, Drake, San Diego, and Dayton all having had very good teams in the last 5 years.

I also agree that we need to try to get Eastern Illinois BACK on the schedule.
 

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You're right, 4Q. Only the best of the NAIA have a shot at us but trust me, those really good NAIA teams are very tough! I seriously doubt that Butler will be anywhere near as competitive as St. Francis and Quincy have been.

Why would you think that? Is it because of the scholarship situation?

Butler beat Central Connecticut State to cap their season in the Gridiron Classic. CCSU is from the NEC conference which has an autobid to the playoffs now and a minimum of 30 or so scholarships. CCSU finished 9-3 with quality games with Leigh (28-21 W) and William & Mary (13-44 L), W&M lost to eventual champion Villanova. The PFL teams beat NEC team 3 out of the 4 years in the Gridiron Classic despite being disadvantaged in scholarships.
 
Geze, let me do some research here and I will get back to you. Bottom line, the top tier of NAIA teams have scholarships, do NOT play by NCAA rules (less academic rules and other differences), and are serious football teams. Maybe it's me but it would seem we are saying the same thing, but I am too tired to comment right now and I will need more info to make a legit comment. What I said, or what I meant to say, is that the high level NAIA teams are VERY good teams and would normally be VERY competitive and even better against many of 1-AA teams like Indiana State. The low end of the NAIA teams couldn't beat University of Indianapolis. I know that Butler last year was an awesome team. No argument there. I just believe that the BEST of the NAIA should be, and are, competitive with the best of the D1 non-scholarship schools like Butler, Dayton or Drake and as our TRESS showed last year, they are competitive against 1-AA as well. No reason to lose sleep over that. That's a fact and it has been proven.
 
just look at the University of Sioux Falls, an NAIA team, they beat the University of North Dakota last year, UND is basically I-AA now too, so the top tier NAIA teams are really good. USF is moving to D-II I believe now also.

Geze, let me do some research here and I will get back to you. Bottom line, the top tier of NAIA teams have scholarships, do NOT play by NCAA rules (less academic rules and other differences), and are serious football teams. Maybe it's me but it would seem we are saying the same thing, but I am too tired to comment right now and I will need more info to make a legit comment. What I said, or what I meant to say, is that the high level NAIA teams are VERY good teams and would normally be VERY competitive and even better against many of 1-AA teams like Indiana State. The low end of the NAIA teams couldn't beat University of Indianapolis. I know that Butler last year was an awesome team. No argument there. I just believe that the BEST of the NAIA should be, and are, competitive with the best of the D1 non-scholarship schools like Butler, Dayton or Drake and as our TRESS showed last year, they are competitive against 1-AA as well. No reason to lose sleep over that. That's a fact and it has been proven.
 
Geze, let me do some research here and I will get back to you. Bottom line, the top tier of NAIA teams have scholarships, do NOT play by NCAA rules (less academic rules and other differences), and are serious football teams. Maybe it's me but it would seem we are saying the same thing, but I am too tired to comment right now and I will need more info to make a legit comment. What I said, or what I meant to say, is that the high level NAIA teams are VERY good teams and would normally be VERY competitive and even better against many of 1-AA teams like Indiana State. The low end of the NAIA teams couldn't beat University of Indianapolis. I know that Butler last year was an awesome team. No argument there. I just believe that the BEST of the NAIA should be, and are, competitive with the best of the D1 non-scholarship schools like Butler, Dayton or Drake and as our TRESS showed last year, they are competitive against 1-AA as well. No reason to lose sleep over that. That's a fact and it has been proven.

To say the Top 10 of NAIA is competitive with a great number of DI-AA schools is very true. What I'm disputing is you saying;

"I seriously doubt that Butler will be anywhere near as competitive as St. Francis and Quincy have been."

St. Francis had a down this year by missing the playoffs but is still a great program but Quincy finished with a losing record. I know comparing common opponents can only take us so far but St. Francis did lose to a D2 Mizz. S&T ('09) that Butler had beaten twice ('07, '08).

This season would be a good measuring stick for how the PFL fares in other leagues with Butler's games against Youngstown and Taylor (NAIA Top 25 team in '09). And before anyone wants to say BU will be destroyed by YSU, remember that in '07 a PFL team beat a MVFC team (Drake vs Ill. St.). So long story short it can happen, they said the same thing when App. St. played Mich. and look how that turned out.
 
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LC, I am probably being a little hard in Butler football, but I have lived in Indy for more than 35 years and watch them closely. They did have a great season this past football season, but if you followed them, they won many of their games in the last moments with amazing, almost miraculous comebacks and I simply felt their season my have been a bit of an anomoly. Like I had commented earlier, the previous two seasons were pretty bad for them, including that 60+ point rout by Dayton in 2007. I don't know the stats on how many starters are back this coming season or anything about their recruits but historically, they are a basically average team. I believe the time that St. Francis beat the Trees, they were coming off a national championship-- I think, but don't hold me to that. They were a VERY big and talented team and I felt many of our fans never really knew just how good they were. Quincy, well that was our young team learning about themselves and how to win and not much more. No argument from me on any of this. Just some thoughts to chat about, IMO.
 

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With all of these future money games with Big Ten schools, you would think Indiana State is trying to make a play to put themselves in consideration for reorganization into the Big Ten. JK I believe there is a minimum attendance requirement for two-three years which is larger than the maximum capacity at Memorial Stadium along with the fact we don't have the money or alumni support/following anywhere remotely close to what they are looking for. Too bad those teams won't schedule us in basketball.
 
LC, I am probably being a little hard in Butler football, but I have lived in Indy for more than 35 years and watch them closely. They did have a great season this past football season, but if you followed them, they won many of their games in the last moments with amazing, almost miraculous comebacks and I simply felt their season my have been a bit of an anomoly. Like I had commented earlier, the previous two seasons were pretty bad for them, including that 60+ point rout by Dayton in 2007. I don't know the stats on how many starters are back this coming season or anything about their recruits but historically, they are a basically average team. I believe the time that St. Francis beat the Trees, they were coming off a national championship-- I think, but don't hold me to that. They were a VERY big and talented team and I felt many of our fans never really knew just how good they were. Quincy, well that was our young team learning about themselves and how to win and not much more. No argument from me on any of this. Just some thoughts to chat about, IMO.

I feel that I should dispute the claim that Butler has been historically an average team. If you look back in their history (I have had relatives play at Butler) they have had a traditionally successful program. But in the past 15 years or so they have not been much to talk about like you said. Prior to '09, their last conference championship was '94, or something like that.

I watched them too and yes a great deal of their success came down to last minute drives or field goals to win, but thats just the character of the team. They played them all close. It's frustrating as a fan but effective nonetheless as your team learns how to be comfortable playing in close games or from behind.

They graduated 9 senior of the '09 team. Only two starters on offense were seniors and I think there were only two full-time starters on defense.

Jeff Voris, since his arrival, has increased the win total each of this years there: 3-8, 4-7, 6-5, 11-1. That's why I don't think their program's rise is an anomoly. It looks more to me as a gradual progression of success.
 
LC, I would love to see them have a great season this fall and based on your numbers they really should. As I had said above, I have no clue what there upperclassman graduating figures were so if they only lost 9 seniors, they better be good. I usually go to Butler Bowl for one game every year and believe me, there are usually fun to watch. If they are smart, they will take advantage of all this great Butler PUB this year and continue to recruit some good players. Bottom line, I just want to see our Trees improve enough to be really competitive against them in 2 years, or better yet, kick their ass. Something tells me we will hold our own.
 
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