I remember a little while ago when I was a student at Ball State and it seemed like payday body bag games littered the schedule week in and week out. The price of supporting an athletic program on a shoestring budget in the late 90s/early 00s was watching as the likes of Clemson, Florida, Kansas State, and countless others bodied the Cardinals week in and week out. It was not tons of fun.
So each non-conference game on the road against a P5 program gives me a bit of pause. The fact that Saturday’s game against the Illinois Fighting Illini is against a B1G opponent not named “Indiana” gives me even more.