PLAYER TO WATCH
Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Brown is coming off one of the best games of his young career and will be playing in front of a hometown crowd Saturday against Southern Illinois. The Marion, Ill., completed 30 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns in last Saturday's 27-24 road win at North Dakota State. The 30 completions and 320 yards set new career highs for the ISU starter and his 20 yard scramble late in the fourth quarter against the Bison set up the game-winning touchdown run to secure the road victory for ISU.
THE GAME
Illinois State will wrap up a two-game road trip Saturday when it travels to Carbondale, Ill., to take on No. 6 ranked Southern Illinois. The Redbirds will look to build on the momentum gained from a 27-24 come-from-behind victory last Saturday at North Dakota State. The Salukis head into their Homecoming game as winners of three-straight after defeating Western Illinois 30-10 last Saturday in Macomb, Ill.
THE SERIES
Southern Illinois leads the all-time series 36-32-3 and have won four out the last six meetings between the two schools. The Redbirds have dropped two straight to the Salukis, after winning back-to-back games against their in-state rivals in 2005 (61-35) and 2006 (37-10)
THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his first season as the head coach of the Illinois State Redbirds (2-3). Prior to taking over the program at ISU, Spack spent 12 seasons as the defensive coordinator at Purdue, where he guided the Boilermakers to the top-ranked defense in the Big Ten Conference in 2002 and the 13th-best defense in the nation in 2003. He coached in 11 bowl games while at Purdue, including a Rose Bowl appearance in 2001.
Southern Illinois: Dale Lennon (North Dakota, 1985) is in his second year as the Southern Illinois head coach (12-4). In his first season at SIU, Lennon led the Salukis to a 9-3 overall record and Missouri Valley Football Conference title. The Salukis fell in the first round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs to New Hampshire 29-20. He is 1-0 all-time against Illinois State.
THE PROGRAM
Illinois State was home to the Missouri Valley Football Conference's Defensive Player of the Year each season from 2002-06. The Redbirds had at least one player selected in the NFL Draft each year from 2005-07. In each of the past four years, ISU student-athletes have contributed more than 2,000 hours of community service to the Bloomington-Normal area. Redbird student-athletes posted a school-record 3.13 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) during the spring 2009 semester.
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
•Southern Illinois University is located in Carbondale, Ill., and has an enrollment of 20,983. The Salukis compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
•The Salukis return 43 lettermen and 18 starters from last year's MVFC championship team that posted a 9-3 overall record and a 7-1 mark in MVFC play (T-1st).
•SIU is led on offense by senior running back Deji Karim, who has rushed for 561 yards and five touchdowns for the Salukis in four games this season. Defensively, 2008 All-MVFC First-Team linebacker Brandin Jordan leads the way with 28 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
•The Salukis have started the season 3-1, with their only loss coming in the season opener to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member Marshall. Since the loss, the No. 6 ranked Salukis have won three straight games and have scored an average of 38 points in those contests. SIU will be playing its final Homecoming game in McAndrew Stadium Saturday, as the long-time facility will be replaced by a new facility going up across the street from the stadium next season.
TIES WITH THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
•Southern Illinois offensive line coach Phil Meyer is a 1979 graduate of Illinois State. He was a member of the ISU coaching staff in 1978 as a student assistant and then received his master's degree in 1980 after spending time as a graduate assistant coach for the Redbirds.
•Southern Illinois' Richard Wilson was a high school teammate of Illinois State's Cliffton Gordon and Josh Howe at Marian Catholic High School.
•Southern Illinois' Ryan Kernes, who is from Bloomington, Ill., will join Illinois State's Mike Cross, Zach Liming, Billy Dickson, Jake Detmers, Nathan Rebholz, Marcus King and Cody White as student-athletes from the Bloomington-Normal area at Saturday's game.
•Illinois State's Steven Fetzer and Southern Illinois' Jason Seaman were high school teammates at Mahomet-Seymour High School.
•ISU's E.J. Jones and SIU's marc Cheatham both transferred to their respective schools from Minnesota.
GREAT START AND FINISH
Illinois State quarterback Matt Brown had quite the opening act during Saturday's 27-24 win at North Dakota State. Brown completed 20-of-23 passes for 213 yards and two scores before halftime. He continued to perform well after the intermission en route to a career-best 30-of-42 passes completed and a career-high 320 yards. Brown saved his best for the Redbirds' last drive of the game when he completed 3-of-4 passes and scrambled for 20 yards while leading an eight-play, 68-yard scoring drive to put Illinois State on top for good. Brown's 320 yards are the most by a Redbird quarterback since Luke Drone threw for 342 against Drake in 2005.
FOR THE RECORD
Redbird senior wide receiver Eyad Salem hauled in a career-best and school-record-tying 14 receptions in Illinois State's 27-24 win over North Dakota State Saturday. Salem tied Laurent Robinson and Dwayne Smith at the top of Illinois State's single game receptions chart. The mark ties four others for third-most catches in a game in Valley history, and second-most in a MFVC football game behind UNI's Eddie Galles (16 vs. SIU in 2003). Salem also finished the game with 172 yards receiving. Through five games, Salem is the Redbirds reception leader with 38 grabs on the season.
CORRALLING THE HERD
Senior punter Kevin Mazur kept the Bison deep in their own territory all afternoon Saturday, averaging 41.8 yards per punt in the victory. Mazur punted four times, with two of those punts pinning NDSU inside its own 20-yard line. He had a long punt of 49 yards and his 37-yard coffin kick late in the first quarter trapped the Bison on their own three yard line. In his first full season as the Redbirds' punter, Mazur has punted 23 times and is averaging 37.5 yards per kick. He has pinned opponents inside the 20 yard line six times and has induced nine fair catch calls.
TWICE IS NICE
Illinois State senior kicker Zach Kutch connected on two field goals in a game for the first time in his career at North Dakota State (Oct. 3). The Milton, Fla. native converted a 38-yard try in the first quarter and a 23-yarder in the fourth. A 40-yard try from Kutch was blocked in the third quarter, but he converted on all three PATs to stay perfect on the season (12-for-12). The two makes at North Dakota State were the first inside 40 yards for Kutch, who had hit three field goals in the previous four games.
THE CERTIFICATE IS IN THE MAIL
Eyad Salem tied a school record with 14 catches, including three on Illinois State's final scoring drive, and Kevin Mazur averaged nearly 42 yards per punt as the Redbirds outlasted North Dakota State, 27-24, to win their first Missouri Valley Conference game in the Fargodome Saturday. For their performances, Salem and Mazur were named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive and Special Teams Players of the Week, respectively, by the league office Sunday (Oct. 4). The award for Salem, a 2008 All-Valley Football First-Team selection and 2009 Preseason All-Valley pick, was the first of his career at Illinois State. The honor was the second for Mazur, who won the league's special team honor for the weekend of Sept. 9, 2006, when he was the ISU placekicker. It was the third weekly honor of the year for the Redbirds, as running back Cliffton Gordon earned Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 20).
FANTASTIC FROSH
Illinois State true freshman wide outs Ben Ericksen and Tyrone Walker combined for nine catches and 86 yards against North Dakota State. Ericksen caught the first five passes of his career, in his first collegiate appearance, for 26 total yards. Walker had the second-most yards for the Redbirds with 60 on four catches. Walker is third on the team with 18 receptions through five games and second with 188 yards.
GETTING THE BALL IN THE RIGHT HANDS
For the first time in 2009, Illinois State did not turn the ball over on offense at North Dakota State. Redbird quarterback Matt Brown attempted 43 passes - the second-highest amount this season - but didn't throw an interception. Brown and Drew Kiel combined on 30 attempts without an interception in the season-opener at Eastern Illinois (Sept. 3), but the Redbirds coughed up the ball on a fumble against the Panthers. Brown, Geno Blow and Cliffton Gordon ran the ball 30 times without a fumble against the Bison.
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