First-Round FCS Playoff Tilt At Central Arkansas Awaits The Redbirds

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: Nov. 26, 2016
Location: Conway, Ark.
Kickoff: 2:04 p.m. CT
Stadium: Estes Stadium
Stadium Capacity: 9,000
Series: ILS leads 1-0
Watch: ESPN3

THE GAME
A 4-1 finish to the regular season, including three-consecutive wins to end the slate, brought Illinois State (6-5, 4-4 MVFC) back to the FCS playoffs for the third season in a row. The Redbirds will travel to Conway, Arkansas, in the first round to square off against the Central Arkansas Bears (9-2, 8-1 Southland), a team that has won eight of its last nine games overall and is making its first playoff appearance since 2012. 

THE SERIES
Illinois State and Central Arkansas have met just once previously, a Sept. 9, 2006, contest held at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Illinois. The Redbirds came away with a hard-fought, 18-3, victory in that contest in the Bears' first year in the FCS. Illinois State has faced members of the Southland Conference several times, posting a 6-3 overall record against current league members, including a postseason tilt against Northwestern State in the 1998 FCS playoffs.

PLAYER TO WATCH 
Just when his team needed him the most, senior All-American wide receiver Anthony Warrum stepped up and became a key reason the Redbirds made their third-straight trip to the FCS playoffs. The Fishers, Indiana, native tallied 25 catches for 452 yards with seven touchdowns during ISU's 4-1 finish to end of the regular season. Warrum has recorded back-to-back 100-plus yard efforts heading into the playoffs and is just 44 yards short of recording his second-consecutive 1,000-yard season.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his eighth season as the head coach at Illinois State (62-34). Spack, the 2014 MVFC Coach of the Year, has led the Redbirds to back-to-back shares of the MVFC title in 2014-15, three-straight FCS playoff appearances and four playoffs appearances in the past five years.
Central Arkansas: Steve Campbell (Troy State, 1987) is in his third season as the head coach at Central Arkansas (22-12). Campbell is 136-42 overall as a head coach, including an NCAA Division II national championship at Delta State in 2000.

@REDBIRDFB IN THE PLAYOFFS

• 7 FCS playoff appearances
• 5-time FCS quarterfinalists
• 2-time FCS semifinalists (1999, 2014)
• 1-time FCS finalist (2014)
• 8-6 overall record in FCS playoffs

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• The University of Central Arkansas is located in Conway, Arkansas, and has an enrollment of 11,900 students. The Bears are members of the Southland Football Conference and play their home games at First Security Field at Estes Stadium (9,000). 
• The Bears concluded their regular season 9-2 overall and posted an 8-1 mark in the Southland Football Conference in 2016. UCA went into their last regular-season game against Sam Houston State on an eight game winning streak with a chance at the Southland Football Conference title, but four first-half turnovers snapped the streak and cost them the championship.
• Despite the loss against SHSU, Bears' senior wide receiver Desmond Smith had a historic day, surpassing Michael Norvell (2001, 03-05) as UCA's career leader in receptions. Smith caught nine passes for 73 yards and now has 217 career receptions, passing Norvell's 213. Smith also drew closer to Aaron Fairooz (2003-06) for the school mark for career receiving yards record (2,797 yards). Smith now has 2,743.
• UCA's rushing defense, ranked No. 1 in the nation, held top-ranked SHSU to 15 yards on 14 carries in the opening 30 minutes. For the game, SHSU had only 69 yards on the ground on 35 rushes. UCA also held SHSU under its season average for total offense, allowing an even 500 yards to a team putting up 592 per game.
• The Bears' nine regular-season victories is the most for the Bears since 2012, when UCA made its last playoff appearance.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET (SEPT. 9, 2006)
Placekicker Kevin Mazur connected on four field goals and Jake Rourke hauled in a 61-yard touchdown pass from Luke Drone, as the Redbirds held Central Arkansas to just a field goal in an 18-3 win over the Bears at Hancock Stadium in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Running back Pierre Rembert rushed for 139 yards on 27 attempts and wide receiver Pierre Jackson hauled in nine passes for 113 yards to lead the ISU offensive attack. The Redbird defense held the Bears to just 63 yards rushing on 29 attempts, as linebacker Kye Stewart led the way with 14 tackles and Jarek Thomas chipped in with three TFLs.

MAKE IT THREE
When Illinois State heard its name called on the NCAA FCS selection show, the Redbirds punched their third-straight ticket to the playoffs for the first time in program history. ISU will be making its seventh playoff appearance overall, and had previously advanced to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons in 1998-99. The four playoff appearances in the last five years for the Redbirds is also unprecedented for the ISU football program, but one streak the team hopes to continue in the future.

A WINNING TRADITION
When the Redbirds closed out their 37-0 shutout win over Missouri State in the regular-season finale, they secured a winning campaign with a 6-5 overall record and a 4-4 mark in MVFC play. The plus .500 effort is the seventh in the last eight seasons under the leadership of head coach Brock Spack, who began his tenure at ISU with 6-5 records in both 2009-10. That consistency of winning has not been seen at Illinois State since the 1940's, when the Redbirds posted seven winning seasons in eight years from 1943-50 under the guidance of coaches Howard Hancock and Edwin Struck. Overall, the Redbirds have amassed a 62-34 (.646) record under the leadership of Spack overall and are 23-3 at Hancock Stadium since 2013.

WARRUM IN A WORLD OF HIS OWN
All-American wide receiver Anthony Warrum did his best to make sure his senior season did not end prematurely. Warrum caught 25 passes for 452 yards with seven touchdowns during Illinois State 4-1 finish to the regular season. With 956 yards, the Fishers, Indiana, native is just 44 yards away from recording his second-straight 1,000-yard season. If he hits that mark, he will record just the eighth 1,000-yard receiving season in school history and become the only player in ISU history to post multiple seasons with over 1,000 yards. In addition, with one touchdown reception, Warrum could become the only receiver to post 10 or more receiving touchdowns in a season as well.  

DOUBLING UP
For the first time in nearly a year, the Redbirds had a pair of runners each rush for over 100 yards in a victory. Senior Jamal Towns rushed for 134 yards, including a 50-yard touchdown run, and redshirt freshman DeMarco Corbin tallied 102 yards in the shutout win over Missouri State.  The 100-yard effort was the second in three games for Towns and Corbin's effort was also his second of the season, following a 108-yard performance at South Dakota.  The last time the Redbirds had a pair of 100-yard rushers was in the second round of the FCS playoffs in 2015, when Marshaun Coprich (217) and Tre Roberson (111) each eclipsed the 100-yard mark in a win on Dec. 5 over Northern Iowa.

TOUGH ON SENIOR DAY
For the second-consecutive year, the Redbird defense saved one of their best performances for the final game of the year on Senior Day at Hancock Stadium.  In a wicked snowstorm in 2015, Illinois State held South Dakota to just 155 yards of total offense in a 46-0 shutout win over the Coyotes. In near perfect conditions for late November in 2016, the Redbird defense buckled down and allowed Missouri State just 193 yards of total offense in a 37-0 shutout victory over the Bears. The 2015 propelled the Redbirds to a No. 2 overall seed in the FCS playoffs, and ISU's convincing victory over MSU in 2016 helped the Redbirds earn ISU an at-large playoff spot.

A TON OF YARDS
In just his first full season as the starting quarterback at Illinois State, Jake Kolbe has had to battle injury, adversity and setbacks in order to become a leader for his team. Through it all, Kolbe has continued to improve and his performance in the team's win over No. 11 Western Illinois put him in rare company.  Kolbe threw for 265 yards, moving his season total to 2,249 yards at the time to become just the seventh quarterback in school history to throw for over 2,000 yards in a season. Only 14 times has a Redbird quarterback thrown for 2,000 yards in campaign, and his  2,495 yards rank him No. 7 on the single-season passing list, just behind Matt Brown's 2,665 yards thrown in 2010.

TAKE IT TO THE HOUSE
For the second time this season, a Redbird defender took an interception the other way for a touchdown when La'Darius Newbold put his name on the score sheet against South Dakota State. Newbold snagged the Taryn Christion pass and ran 92 yards up the sideline to ice the game for the Redbirds and give them the win over the No. 7 ranked Jackrabbits.  Newbold was one of three Redbirds to intercept Christion on the day, who had just three interceptions all season prior to the game, and joined teammate Alejandro Rivera as Redbirds to score off an interception return this season.

MAKE THEM ONE DIMENSIONAL
In a two-week stretch, the Redbirds faced two of the top passing offenses in the league in No. 7 South Dakota State and No. 11 Western Illinois. The Redbirds focused on stopping the run, holding the Jacks to just 83 yards rushing and the Leathernecks to just 68 yards on the ground in a pair of wins. Despite yielding a fair share of yards to both passing attacks, ISU still ranks No. 3 in the league in passing defense (210.7 yards per game). 

PUTTING POINTS ON THE BOARD EARLY
Scoring early and often has not been easy for ISU this season, however the team has made it a point of emphasis during its 4-1 finish and the results cannot be challenged. In back-to-back wins over No. 7 South Dakota State and No. 11 Western Illinois, the Redbirds scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns to take early leads. It marked the only two times the Redbirds had scored more than one touchdown in the opening quarter of play and ISU had now out-scored opponents 55-47 in the first quarter, a drastic change from earlier in the season when the Redbirds had scored just 10 points in the first quarter through the first six games of the season. In the season finale versus Missouri State, the Redbirds scored 20 first-half points, thanks to 17 points in the second quarter against the Bears.