Let me start with this:
If any Northwestern fan ever mocks our program, you rip them to pieces for being a Mickey Mouse operation. I felt like I was at a high school football game today.
STADIUM:
Their stadium is the worst stadium in the B1G and likely the P5. It would be a bottom third stadium in the old Big East. You couldn't even walk around the stadium. You actually had to walk outside the stadium and back in just to get to the endzone side. There is no bottom walk way like we have in the stands, so if you go inside at the 10 yard line and want to walk to the other 10, you need to be under the bleachers missing all the action.
Their concessions are run by college students (which I think is better than our operation) but the options also stunk. It was high school level. Pretzel, hot dog, candy, M&Ms. Hot chocolate no we don't sell that.
Their announcer has some very cheesy sayings during the game. Their pre-game entrance I swear to you was like your local HS football team. Some fireworks you get at Shoprite they shoot off and run out of a little plastic tube.
Video board you cant see on the visitors side. A school that raising an ungodly amount of money and you don't have a video board that everyone can see? Their concrete was peeling in some sections of the stadium, just a total shithole. It was like Birmingham Bowl bad based on what my friends said.
FANS/TAILGATING
Their fan support is a bunch of old rich people who sit on their hands. We were standing in their version of Scarlet lot, 15 minutes before the game with parking spaces empty so close to the stadium that I could hit the stadium with a football. It was dead quiet outside the stadium, really weird. Our tailgating scene kicks their ass. Some of the worst I have seen and I've been on 7-8 road games now.
Their student section was 2 sections. 2. It was the equivalent of our student section at the RAC.
CAMPUS
Their campus was REALLY nice. Their new fieldhouse is unbelievable. Sits right on Lake Michigan. It's big time. Their soccer stadium has a view of Chicago. Really cool. Buildings were extremely well kept and nice. They had gigantic fraternities that the school must own. Just massive brick buildings.
FOOD/BAR SCENE
This is obviously open to interpretation but their surrounding neighborhoods were really nice homes. Old but very well kept. Very green scenery. No trash, no bums, no grafitti. A lot of virtue signaling political signs that had me eye rolling. Evanston is like a Chatham, Montclair, Madison type of town with a football stadium dropped in it. Tons of places to eat and drink. I tried a lot of different ones the past 2 days. A lot of great breakfast places.
GETTING THERE
Easy enough from the airport, Uber/Lyft is the easiest way. Short and quick.
Overall, I would recommend going to check it off the list but I don't plan to be back until I have visited all the other B1G schools. The big take away for me was Pat Fitzgerald is one of the best coaches in CFB. What he has done with that school, with that piss poor support and piss poor stadium is an absolute miracle.
If any Northwestern fan ever mocks our program, you rip them to pieces for being a Mickey Mouse operation. I felt like I was at a high school football game today.
STADIUM:
Their stadium is the worst stadium in the B1G and likely the P5. It would be a bottom third stadium in the old Big East. You couldn't even walk around the stadium. You actually had to walk outside the stadium and back in just to get to the endzone side. There is no bottom walk way like we have in the stands, so if you go inside at the 10 yard line and want to walk to the other 10, you need to be under the bleachers missing all the action.
Their concessions are run by college students (which I think is better than our operation) but the options also stunk. It was high school level. Pretzel, hot dog, candy, M&Ms. Hot chocolate no we don't sell that.
Their announcer has some very cheesy sayings during the game. Their pre-game entrance I swear to you was like your local HS football team. Some fireworks you get at Shoprite they shoot off and run out of a little plastic tube.
Video board you cant see on the visitors side. A school that raising an ungodly amount of money and you don't have a video board that everyone can see? Their concrete was peeling in some sections of the stadium, just a total shithole. It was like Birmingham Bowl bad based on what my friends said.
FANS/TAILGATING
Their fan support is a bunch of old rich people who sit on their hands. We were standing in their version of Scarlet lot, 15 minutes before the game with parking spaces empty so close to the stadium that I could hit the stadium with a football. It was dead quiet outside the stadium, really weird. Our tailgating scene kicks their ass. Some of the worst I have seen and I've been on 7-8 road games now.
Their student section was 2 sections. 2. It was the equivalent of our student section at the RAC.
CAMPUS
Their campus was REALLY nice. Their new fieldhouse is unbelievable. Sits right on Lake Michigan. It's big time. Their soccer stadium has a view of Chicago. Really cool. Buildings were extremely well kept and nice. They had gigantic fraternities that the school must own. Just massive brick buildings.
FOOD/BAR SCENE
This is obviously open to interpretation but their surrounding neighborhoods were really nice homes. Old but very well kept. Very green scenery. No trash, no bums, no grafitti. A lot of virtue signaling political signs that had me eye rolling. Evanston is like a Chatham, Montclair, Madison type of town with a football stadium dropped in it. Tons of places to eat and drink. I tried a lot of different ones the past 2 days. A lot of great breakfast places.
GETTING THERE
Easy enough from the airport, Uber/Lyft is the easiest way. Short and quick.
Overall, I would recommend going to check it off the list but I don't plan to be back until I have visited all the other B1G schools. The big take away for me was Pat Fitzgerald is one of the best coaches in CFB. What he has done with that school, with that piss poor support and piss poor stadium is an absolute miracle.
