Sept. 18, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Following the release of both The Sports Network I-AA Top-25 Poll and College Sporting News Coaches Poll on Monday, the Illinois State football team was ranked No. 6 according to each publication. In addition, senior linebacker Cameron Siskowic earned The Sports Network National Defensive Player of the Week honor and was named a I-AA.org All-Star after his 22-tackle performance against No. 18 Eastern Illinois.
The Redbirds are now the highest-ranked team from the Gateway Football Conference in both polls. Joining the `Birds in the top 25 are Southern Illinois (No. 8 CSN, No. 10 TSN), Youngstown State (No. 10 CSN, No. 8 TSN) and Northern Iowa (No. 13 CSN, No. 12 TSN). Dating back to the final poll of the 2005 season, Illinois State has been ranked five straight weeks.
Siskowic, a 2006 Buck Buchanan Award candidate, collected a career-best and game-high 22 tackles in the 44-30 win over No. 18 Eastern Illinois. He also added a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.
With his 22 tackles, 14 of which came in the second half, Siskowic notched the most stops by a Redbird since Gean Gilot collected 23 tackles against Western Kentucky in 2003. Siskowic now has 45 tackles on the season, which not only leads the Gateway, but all of I-AA.
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