I always wondered. Why did we play Washington State at Soldier Field on a Thursday night right before Labor Day.
This has been one of the many head scratchers to me about how the DIA chooses to schedule its games.
I was at that game and had to take 1 1/2 days of vacation to attend. Something like only 40.000 people showed up.
I remember in 1994, we were originally supposed to play three non-conference games at Memorial Stadium. Besides, WSU, we were to play Mizzou, and NIU. During that era, we normally only played two non-con games at home so it was then decided to move one of these games to Chicago.
I always questioned why they chose WSU instead of Mizzou or NIU and then moved it to a Thursday night. My guess is that at the time, ESPN used to show Thursday night games and the DIA wanted ESPN to pick it up. That never happened and the game was never televised.
To me, it would have made more sense to move the NIU game to Chicago and keep it on a Saturday. That way more people would be able to make the drive from Champaign and you could get the NIU fans to attend as well. Does WSU even have a strong alumni and/or fanbase in Chicago?? Even Mizzou would have made a little more sense as they have some alumni and fans in the area.
Yes, the Bears had a home game against the Vikings the day after the NIU game but that should have not been an excuse as our game with WSU was followed up two days later with Notre Dame playing Northwestern at Soldier Field, (I guess I sort of just answered part of my originally question about playing on Thursday) followed the next day by the Bears playing the Buccaneers.
As for the game itself, it stunk. We came in ranked something like #21 and the WSU defense had its way with Johnny Johnson all night. And we only had about 200 yards of offense that night. If I remember, Ty Douthard was injured for that game. The only TD between either of the teams was on a WSU fumble recovery and we lost 10-9. We had a chance to win late in the 4th with a FG attempt but I think it was a 46 yard attempt and it was missed.
This has been one of the many head scratchers to me about how the DIA chooses to schedule its games.
I was at that game and had to take 1 1/2 days of vacation to attend. Something like only 40.000 people showed up.
I remember in 1994, we were originally supposed to play three non-conference games at Memorial Stadium. Besides, WSU, we were to play Mizzou, and NIU. During that era, we normally only played two non-con games at home so it was then decided to move one of these games to Chicago.
I always questioned why they chose WSU instead of Mizzou or NIU and then moved it to a Thursday night. My guess is that at the time, ESPN used to show Thursday night games and the DIA wanted ESPN to pick it up. That never happened and the game was never televised.
To me, it would have made more sense to move the NIU game to Chicago and keep it on a Saturday. That way more people would be able to make the drive from Champaign and you could get the NIU fans to attend as well. Does WSU even have a strong alumni and/or fanbase in Chicago?? Even Mizzou would have made a little more sense as they have some alumni and fans in the area.
Yes, the Bears had a home game against the Vikings the day after the NIU game but that should have not been an excuse as our game with WSU was followed up two days later with Notre Dame playing Northwestern at Soldier Field, (I guess I sort of just answered part of my originally question about playing on Thursday) followed the next day by the Bears playing the Buccaneers.
As for the game itself, it stunk. We came in ranked something like #21 and the WSU defense had its way with Johnny Johnson all night. And we only had about 200 yards of offense that night. If I remember, Ty Douthard was injured for that game. The only TD between either of the teams was on a WSU fumble recovery and we lost 10-9. We had a chance to win late in the 4th with a FG attempt but I think it was a 46 yard attempt and it was missed.
