Indiana vs Southern Illinois - Game 1

  Another season of Indiana University football has begun.  Game one was last Saturday against Southern Illinois.  This season is an important one for the program as its the fifth year for Coach Wilson and the fan base is anticipating a winning season.

The set up

The late 4:00 p.m. start on Satudrday allowed for some great tailgating.  We started out the year with a bang.  The Tonsoni family arrived at 7:00 a.m. to begin the set up only to discover that we had to relocate this year due to new RV parking taking our old spot.  So we just moved a little to the west and occupied a good-sized piece of territory.  We were set up within a half hour and the party commenced.  We had breakfast burritos and Chicago style hot dogs plus plenty of chips, desserts, and drinks.

Bobby Urban visits early in morning

Nick Stoner with Brent Tonsoni

We had 56 people stop by the tailgate at some point during the pregame festivities.  This is on the high end of our normal tailgate attendance.  It's always nice to reunite with old friends and meet some new friends as well.  This week we had a few of IU's finest stop by the tailgate: Jeremy Gray, assistant athletic director; Nick Stoner, former IU wide receiver; and five IU basketball managers. Always nice to talk to people connected to IU athletics.  All represent what is great about IU athletics.

Amy Tonsoni with her boys

Brandon Tonsoni with Stef Mayhew

The game was exciting and concluded with an unexpected tight outcome. We are all happy with winning the football game but also worried that our defense is again a point of concern.  All respect to Southern Illinois but this game should have been decided much earlier than a defensive stop of a 2-point conversion with 19 seconds left.  I am holding out hope that our 2nd half performance was more of what we will see.


So week one is complete, the biggest issue was the extreme heat.  This large man does not deal with heat very well.  So, here's to reduced temperatures, better defense and more tailgating fun!


That's my take from the tailgate lot!

Delphi teachers at the tailgate