Article Options

Moccia tries to conjure up crowd for Saturday's playoff game

By Todd Hefferman, The Southern

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11:44 PM CST

CARBONDALE - Now that he managed to land another first-round home playoff game, Southern Illinois University Athletic Director Mario Moccia has to conjure up a crowd for Saturday's football game.

No. 8/9 SIU (9-2) hosts No. 10 New Hampshire (9-2) Saturday at 1 p.m. in the first meeting between the two programs. Tickets are $19, $15 and $6 and available at the SIU Ticket Office.

With the students out for Thanksgiving break this week, getting fans to the game could prove difficult. SIU has averaged 7,470 fans to its last four home playoff games. To try to entice the students that are around, the chancellor's office offered up 500 tickets for students Tuesday.

"We have been in this situation before, so, obviously, we'll work with the local media to get the word out," Moccia said. "We'll work with the community to make sure they're aware. We'll hit the season-ticket holders, starting (Sunday night) with e-blasts. The community has been pretty good about helping us out with tickets, and the students here, getting tickets into their hands, so, we'll just do everything we can to get a good crowd."

The weather could help sales, as the National Weather Service is calling for partly sunny skies with a high of 48 degrees on Saturday. The elements took a turn for the worse during SIU's last two home games of the regular season, which might have led to the reduced numbers. The Salukis' game against South Dakota State drew a season-low 5,829 fans, while the Nov. 8 contest against Western Illinois drew 7,676.

Prior to those two games, the Salukis had been drawing more than 10,000 on average.

Moccia declined to say how much he bid for the three rounds of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, but did say he bid more than last season. The NCAA takes in a couple different factors to decide who gets a home game and who has to hit the road, including potential ticket sales, the financial commitment, and a school's location.

Regardless of how many fans turn out Saturday, the first meeting between the Salukis and Wildcats could be a classic. SIU has won seven straight games and managed to win one of the toughest conferences in the country, the Missouri Valley Football Conference. New Hampshire won the North Division of the Colonial Athletic Association, arguably the toughest conference in the country, as a record-tying five teams from the CAA made the NCAA's 16-team field Sunday.

"Our whole season has been extremely competitive," SIU coach Dale Lennon said. "I think the talent we've seen is definitely on par with what we'll see across the rest of the country, and it's pretty much been the makeup each week. We've had to fight and battle for every win that we've got, and we've been tested."

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 351-5087