It may just be that Hill needed an opponent on that date and that was who was available. It’s not like there’s a bulletin board, though that could be handy. Hill got so much right that I can hardly fault him on this.
That is an even better question to ask. Nobody wants to go to Salt Lake, play at elevation, and against a packed house on the road. More teams are recruiting Utah for sure but it was amazing he got Michigan for a return trip.
I am a fan of this game as long as NIU does good things after losing to Utah. Other than that it really isn’t a good game for Utah. Same as the Turds game being at the end of the season.
Little to no benefit for Utah. Kids are increasingly being lured out of state. The direct competition just isn’t there anymore.
One advantage: by playing east of the Mississippi they may get some more visibility, such as to the Chicago press. Maybe even to some of those Illinois and Wisconsin farm boys — years of throwing hay bales make good linemen. That said, I recognize that the Chicago press mostly focuses on the Bears, Notre Dame and Northwestern. Definitely need NIU to do something good in the MAC this year.
Wtf are you talking about? Hill is a hero, Whitt is obviously annoyed with this road game, and clearly this is not a good preseason game for us. I don’t think we’re really stretching to point that out. Or are you focused on the assertion of a bribe? (If so, yeah, not a good look.)
NIU is a good team. So is CFU but there is a better rationale to play that team in the preseason. I don’t think any of this is that controversial.