IU opener at Lucas Oil indicates new Big Ten future

Everyone from country singer Kenny Chesney to Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday to AMA Supercross racer James Stewart has performed at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, but a Division 1 collegiate football team has never played there.

That will change Saturday.

IU and Ball State will meet at 7 p.m. Saturday on Lucas Oil Stadium’s artificial turf in each team’s season-opening game. Each program has undergone large changes since the construction of the stadium in 2008, and both have new coaches: Kevin Wilson for IU and Pete Lembo for Ball State.

“They’re both opening on the road, so to speak,” Stadium Director Mike Fox said, “and they’re both brand new coaches, so everything is new for everyone.”

However, Lucas Oil Stadium isn’t completely new to hosting any college football, as it is the site of an annual game between two historically black colleges the first weekend of October, known as the Circle City Classic.

Saturday’s game, Fox said, will be much different.

One of the most visible changes taking place will be the atmosphere outside the stadium, he said.

For most games, parking is reserved for suite owners and employees who don’t usually spend much time in the parking lot. Fox expects a large amount of tailgating for the game, however, as much of the parking has been devoted to RVs and alumni buses, among other vehicles likely to tailgate.

Certain elements of the game will be different, but the current IU team is no stranger to lacing up cleats in an NFL locker room.

Last season, it traveled to FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins, for a game that senior linebacker Jeff Thomas sees as much more of a road game than Saturday’s will be.

“It’s like a hometown crowd,” Thomas said. “Last year, when we played at Washington, D.C., it was like going to Penn State, you know. It was like, 80,000 (people) and 75,000 were Penn State (fans), so it’s going to be great.”

In attendance for the game will be also employees from the Big Ten Conference. They will attend this game and Colts home games in order to assess how everything will work when Lucas Oil Stadium hosts the first Big Ten championship game Dec. 3.

Though Saturday will mark his first game as Indiana’s head football coach, Wilson understands the importance of the Big Ten championship game for the state.

“With our fan base in the Big Ten, that’s going to be like the Super Bowl the first week of December,” Wilson said.

Coincidentally, Lucas Oil Stadium is also set to host Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, 2012.
Wilson and the Hoosiers have been preparing more for the new opponent than for the new venue. Based on his time spent in the Big Ten with Northwestern, Wilson remembers Mid-American Conference opponents as tough tests.

Wilson is doing what he can to encourage fans to attend, but he is aware that to earn steady attendance his team needs to be a worthwhile on-field product.

Fox said while the atmosphere outside of the stadium will definitely be hot and filled with the scent of charcoal and gasoline, the feel inside the stadium will depend largely on student turnout.

“So much of it depends on how many students show up to support both Ball State and Indiana, because ... each student section is in the end zones, and that could be pretty crazy,” Fox said. “It just depends on if they decide to show up or not.”