League Leading Jackrabbits Next Up For The Redbirds

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: Oct. 29, 2016
Location: Normal, Ill.
Kickoff: 2 p.m. CT
Stadium: Hancock Stadium
Stadium Capacity: 13,391
Series: Tied 3-3
Watch: CSN Chicago/ESPN3

THE GAME
For the second-straight week, the Redbirds (3-5, 1-4 MVFC) will face off against a foe from South Dakota, this time in the form of the league-leading and nationally-ranked South Dakota State Jackrabbits (5-2, 4-0 MVFC) when ISU hosts SDSU at Hancock Stadium.  The game will be broadcast live on CSN Chicago and streamed live on ESPN3.

ILLINOIS STATE RADIO
WJBC (AM 1230, FM 93.7), the flagship station of Illinois State athletics, will serve as the host of the Country Financial Illinois State Radio Network.  

WATCH ON CSN CHICAGO and ESPN3
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, as part of the Illinois State Television Network.  Below are channel listings where the game can be found:

Comcast Cable – Channel 56/522
ATT Uverse – Channel 740/1740    
Comcast Xfinity – 37/200    
DIRECTV – Channel 665    
DISH Network – Channel 429/5429
DISH Network Hopper Channel – 412-19    
MEDIACOM – Channel 25/732

ESPN3 will also carry the telecast on WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN mobile app through participating Internet service providers. Kurt Pegler (play-by-play) and Chris Highland (color analyst) will call the action from Hancock Stadium. 

THE SERIES
Illinois State and South Dakota State have met six times previously and have split those games 3-3. The Jackrabbits got the better of the Redbirds last season in a 25-20 win in Brookings, S.D., but the Redbirds had won the three previous meetings in a row against SDSU. Overall, the Redbirds are 2-1 against the Jackrabbits at Hancock Stadium, with the lone home loss coming in 2009.

PLAYER TO WATCH 
Sophomore wide receiver Spencer Schnell had a breakout game last weekend at South Dakota. Schnell caught a career-best nine catches for a career-high 83 yards for the Redbirds against the Coyotes at the DakotaDome. Schnell also returned three punts for 50 yards in the game, with a long of 27 yards that set up a Redbird score. On the season, Schnell leads ISU with 43 receptions and has 319 yards and one touchdown.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his eighth season as the head coach at Illinois State (59-34). Spack, the 2014 MVFC Coach of the Year, has led the Redbirds to back-to-back shares of the MVFC title the past two seasons and FCS playoff appearances three times in the past four years.
South Dakota State: John Stiegelmeier (South Dakota State, 1979) is in his 20th season as the head coach at his alma mater (133-92). With Stiegelmeier at the helm, the Jackrabbits have reached the FCS playoffs five times (2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) and SDSU is one of only five FCS programs to reach the postseason each of the past four seasons.

THE @REDBIRDFB PROGRAM

• 6 FCS playoff appearances (1998, 1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015)
• 5-time FCS quarterfinalists (1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015)
• 2-time FCS semifinalists (1999, 2014)
• The team is 38-9 at home under Spack's guidance
• ISU is 21-3 at Hancock Stadium since 2013

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• South Dakota State University is located in Brookings, South Dakota, and has an enrollment of 12,589 students. The Jackrabbits are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at the newly renovated Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium (19,340).
• The Jackrabbits are 5-2 on the season, but lead the Missouri Valley Football Conference title race with a perfect 4-0 record in league play.
• Quarterback Taryn Christion was named STATS FCS National Offensive Player of the Week, after helping lead the Jackrabbits to their come-from-behind victory at top-ranked North Dakota State. Christion accounted for 444 yards of total offense (303 passing, career-high 141 rushing) in the win over the Bison.
• Last Saturday, South Dakota State scored a pair of touchdowns in the first four minutes of the game, and the Jackrabbit defense held Youngstown State out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter, as the Jacks took over sole possession of first place in the MVFC with a 24-10 victory over the Penguins in a battle of league unbeatens.
• For his efforts against the Penguins, defensive tackle Kellen Soulek was named the MVFC Defensive Player of the Week. Soulek was credited with a pair of sacks among his five tackles and also broke up a pass to lead the Jackrabbit defense in a battle of conference unbeatens. Soulek's two sacks tied a career high and were part of a six-sack effort by SDSU.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET (NOV. 7, 2015)
Illinois State was unable to pull out another comeback, falling to South Dakota State, 25-20, at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium in Brookings, S.D. ISU, trailing 25-14, scored a touchdown with just over one minute remaining, but could not come up with an onside kick as the Jackrabbits picked up the victory against the nationally-ranked Redbirds. Receiver Anthony Warrum led the Illinois State offense, exploding for a career-high 241 yards on eight catches, including three scores.

GETTING THE GROUND GAME GOING
Passing yards were hard to come by for the Redbirds early against South Dakota, but luckily the running game was moving forward at full speed for Illinois State against the Coyotes. Led by freshman DeMarco Corbin's career-best 108 yards rushing, ISU ball carriers ran for 233 yards and scored twice on the ground against USD. Jamal Towns also rushed for season-best 57 yards on nine carries and true freshman James Robinson scored for the second game in a row on an 17-yard touchdown run to finish with 44 yards on the day. The 233 yards marked the second-best rushing effort of the season for the Redbirds, behind their 271-yard effort in the season-opener against Valparaiso.

SCORING IMMEDIATELY
For the first time all season, the Redbirds scored on their opening drive of the game when freshman James Robinson scored from 17 yards out against the Coyotes. The run capped off a nine-play, 66-yard drive that gave the Redbirds a 7-3 lead after South Dakota scored a field goal on its first drive of the contest. The touchdown was just the third for the Redbirds in the first quarter all season and just the second offensive touchdown in the first 15 minutes of play, with Alejandro Rivera's pick-six against Valparaiso serving as the other first-quarter touchdown of the year.

WE'LL TAKE THAT
For the third game in a row, the Redbirds managed to pick off an opposing quarterback. Early in the third quarter against South Dakota, defensive back Davontae Harris stepped in front of an
Austin Simmons pass and leaped to intercept the pass, all while getting a foot down to maintain possession for the Redbirds. The interception was the first of Harris' career and was the sixth of the season for the Redbird defense. DraShane Glass leads the way with two picks, and La'Darius Newbold, Alejandro Rivera, Alec Kocour and Harris have one each.

AN EARLY TRICK
Even though Halloween was over a week away, the Redbirds had a trick up their sleeves for the Coyotes last Saturday. At a crucial point in the game, Redbird punter Reece Attard faked a punt and ran 15 yards for a first down on a perfectly executed fake punt that set up the final ISU touchdown of the game to bring the score within 3 points with just under eight minutes left.

GOING LONG
The big play in the passing game has been elusive at times for the Redbird offense this season, but it showed up in a big way against Southern Illinois for the Redbirds. Through six games, the Redbirds had just 18 passes over 20 yards, with three of those going for touchdowns. Against SIU, Jake Kolbe connected on three passes over 20 yards and two of those throws resulted in touchdowns for ISU. Kolbe connected on touchdown throws of 51 yards to Christian Gibbs and 38 yards to Anthony Warrum, while also finding Warrum for a season-long 42-yard connection in the game as well.  Kolbe would finish the game with 200 yards passing and tied his career-best with three touchdown passes, while showing that he could stretch the field and put points on the board for the Redbirds.

ROBINSON ROLLS TO SECOND 100-YARD EFFORT
In his second game as Illinois State's primary ball-carrier, true freshman tailback James Robinson proved that he is someone to watch in the future for the Redbirds.  After amassing 218 yards of total offense against Youngstown State, including his first career 100-plus yard rushing effort, Robinson followed it up with a career night against the Salukis in a victory for the Redbirds.  The Rockford, Illinois, native carried the ball a career-high 26 times for a career-best 122 yards and scored his first career rushing touchdown for the Redbirds.  His back-to-back 100-yard rushing games are the only two 100-yard efforts of the season for an ISU back this season.

A BETTER START
Heading into the team's game against Southern Illinois, the Illinois State offense had scored just 10 points in the first quarter all season, with the only touchdown coming in the season opener against Valparaiso.  After trailing 10-0 late into the opening quarter against SIU, the Redbirds scored their first touchdown of the game with just 49 seconds remaining in the first stanza on a 14-yard run by freshman James Robinson. ISU is now 2-0 in games when it scores a first quarter touchdown, but have still been outscored by opponents 30-17 in the opening frame.

KEENE EARNS MVFC DEFENSIVE HONORS
Playing against one of the highest-scoring offenses in the league, Illinois State junior defensive tackle Dalton Keene stepped up to help the Redbirds hold the Salukis back and record a much-needed win. For his efforts, Keene was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week. The Jacksonville, Illinois, native finished with nine tackles and was credited with 1.5 sacks against the vaunted Saluki offense. On one of those sacks, Keene forced a fumble by SIU quarterback Josh Straughan, which the SIU quarterback recovered. He also blocked a field goal in the game, the second time he's done that in his career, to help the Redbirds keep the Salukis off the scoreboard at the time and give the Redbirds the advantage.