I am still a relatively young man, so the number of football seasons I have experienced is relatively small next to some of the old timers. But as long as I have been a college football fan I have never seen an Illini football schedule that the fanbase is entirely satisfied with.  So it may be very cliche and a little too picky to say this but, I do not like this years football schedule.

There may not be the glaringly poorly scheduled game like last year's debacle at Ford Field in Detroit, (seen on computers everywhere as the low point in the season.) But this schedule seems to simultaneously overreach and shortchange its fanbase, which is very impressive when you think about it.

The problems I have with it are probably selfish, but as a fan and ticket purchaser, it is my American right to compain. For starters we are once again saddled with only six home games. Six home games in the brand new multimillion dollar football stadium. I suppose I can't really complain that we are still in the St Louis Arch Rivalry game, but when coupled with a second neutral site game with Western Michigan last year, and the start of a home and home with Cincinnati this year, it makes two consecutive years without the full compliment of home games that many D-1 BCS conference teams enjoy.

If you cant tell there is a push on this schedule to get more national exposure. The only for sure prime time game on this schedule looks to be the @ Indiana game, and the home game against Illinois State. Anyone who went to the Michigan game in 2007 will tell you that a full memorial stadium at night, with a good team in town, is a great experience we need to recreate more often. Last year it was a blow out against Indiana, this year, at the very least it will be the home opener. We need more prime time games. From a purely selfish point of view, it is really effing difficult to get up drink some beers, grill some burgers, and play some bags, and still make it to an 11am kickoff. It may work better for East Coast television programming but it makes for an awful game day experience.

We have home games against  Penn State and Michigan early enough in the year that there will be enough interest to justify the 3pm or 7pm programming slots. Please Big Ten conference, put more games in primetime.

Crappy game day experiences brings me to my next point, WTF is the reasoning behind the last two home games. Lets take the Northwestern game first.  What would a Memorial Stadium sound like without the student section? Well if the Illini are not nationally relevant, say top 25, by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, you will see just that. I understand that there more than likely be very little competition for the Illini in terms of television broadcast, but playing the game on the day after Thanksgiving will no doubt have an effect on the student showing.

As for the December 5th game against Fresno State, I understand the reasoning to some degree. The old meme of Big Ten teams sucking in December and January because of the long layoff  probably doesn't hold any real water, but it does provide justification for this crazy bit of scheduling. You cant fight geography, and I can tell you from experience that winters in Champaign are not pleasant, and the difference of two weeks can mean an awful lot in terms of weather.

All in all this is a schedule that takes a bye week in the nicest football playing month of the year, in favor of playing two games in the frigid cold. Its a schedule that ends with a fizzle against two non conference opponents. And worst of all, I have a bad feeling that most of those TBA's are going to work out to be 11am central kickoffs once the season rolls around.

Don't agree with me? Let me know.