Washington, Illinois To Meet At Soldier Field In 2013

Per Illinois’ official athletic website FightingIllini.com, the football program’s 2013 non-conference

tilt against Washington will be played at Soldier Field

.

The Chicago Bears’ home hosted Iowa and Northern Illinois in 2007, and Wisconsin vs. NIU last season. This coming campaign, Soldier Field is host to a rematch between NIU and Iowa on opening week, as well as Notre Dame vs. Miami on Oct. 6. The Chicago Football Classic, an annual affair between two HBCU teams, has been played in the stadium since 1997. This year’s installment pits Albany State against Kentucky State.

This trip to Soldier Field will undoubtedly prove to be a better move than Illinois’ last regular season foray into Chicago. The Illini played Big Ten rival Northwestern at Wrigley Field in 2010. The nickname Friendly Confines was only meant for baseball, apparently. The red brick wall running around the ballpark was too close to one end zone, so all offensive drives went the same direction.

Any recent occurrences of the ball only moving one direction at Soldier Field were the result of Rex Grossman.

Soldier Field has a pretty extensive college football legacy, which the current string of games is reigniting. The Chicago College All-Star Game was played there for over four decades. In 1958, an All-Star lineup that included Illinois alum Ray Nitschke trounced the Detroit Lions, 35-18.

Some of the stadium’s top collegiate match-ups are detailed on the Bears’ official website, including Army vs. Navy in 1926. A year later, the Notre Dame-USC rivalry set college football’s single game attendance record with 123,000 packed in.

The renovated Soldier Field has a capacity of less than half that, so Illini and Husky fans: no excuses.