PLAYER TO WATCH
Senior cornerback E.J. Jones was responsible for three turnovers on defense that catapulted the Redbirds to a 34-24 win over No. 14 North Dakota State. The senior from Edwardsville, Ill., intercepted two passes against the Bison to run his career total to 11, which ties him for fifth on the Redbird career list. Jones also forced a game-changing fumble in the third quarter, when he collided hard with Mohler on a scramble deep in Illinois State territory that stopped a would-be score and led to the go-ahead score for ISU.
THE GAME
Coming off a big Homecoming win over No. 14 North Dakota State, the Illinois State football team will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to take on No. 19 Northern Iowa at the UNI Dome Saturday. The Redbirds (4-3, 3-2 MVFC) snapped a two-game losing streak with the win over the Bison and will look for another thrilling win over the Panthers (3-3, 2-1 MVFC), who are coming off a 19-14 win over South Dakota last weekend.
THE SERIES
Northern Iowa leads the all-time series against the Redbirds 17-9. The Redbirds ended the 2009 season with a come-from- behind 22-20 win over No. 9 UNI, which snapped a three-game losing streak to the Panthers. ISU's last win at the UNI Dome came on Oct. 26, 2002, with the Redbirds coming away with a 31-20 victory over the Panthers.
THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his second season as the head coach of the Illinois State Redbirds (10-8). After starting the 2009 season with a 1-3 record, with losses at Illinois and to nationally-ranked South Dakota State, the Redbirds won five of their last seven games to finish the season with 6-5 record and the team's first winning campaign since 2006.
Head Coach Brock Spack | ISU Coaching Staff
Northern Iowa: Mark Farley (Northern Iowa, 1986) is in his 10th season as the head coach at Northern Iowa (85-37). In Farley's nine years at the helm, UNI has won at least a share of five MVFC titles and advanced to the quarterfinals (2003, 2007), semifinals (2001, 2008) and the national title game in 2005.
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, including a school-record 3,500 hours in 2009-10.
- Redbird student-athletes matched a record with a department-wide 3.13 grade-point average during the fall 2009 semester, while posting a 3.0 mark in six of the last seven semesters.
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
- The University of Northern Iowa is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and has an enrollment of 13,080 students. The Panthers are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at the UNI Dome (16,324).
- The Panthers return 37 letterwinners and 35 starters from last year's team that finished with a 7-4 record overall and a 5-3 mark in MVFC play. UNI missed out on a playoff berth in 2009 for the first time since 2006, but have appeared in postseason play 14 times since 1985.
- The Panthers sit just a half-game out of first place in the Valley Football standing with a 2-1 record, tying them with Indiana State just behind Western Illinois with a 3-1 record.
- UNI is led on offense by their dynamic junior quarterback Tirrell Rennie, a two-time All-America pick at Ellsworth Community College. In his first season with the Panthers, Rennie has rushed for a team-high 601 yards and six touchdown while throwing for 874 yards and three touchdowns.
- Northern Iowa boasts the league's best defensive unit, which allows just 320 yards per game to opposing offenses. Most of that is due to heavy focus on stopping the run, which the Panthers lead the Valley in by allowing just 79.7 yards per game on the ground. UNI also has a league-high 22 sacks, led by Ben Boothby's 5.5 through six games.
TIES WITH THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
- ISU head coach Brock Spack, and UNI recruiting coordinator Jerimiah Johnson both have coaching experience at Wyoming. Spack served as assistant coach for the Cowboys from 1995-96, while Johnson was a graduate assistant video coordinator during the 2002 season.
- Illinois State's Assistant Athletics Director for Facilities and Operations Peyton Deterding graduated from Northern Iowa in 1998.
- Matt Lyons, Director of the Panther Scholarship Club, earned his master's degree in kinesiology and recreation at Illinois State in 2010. While at Illinois State, Lyons spent two years as the development associate for The Redbird Club and created the Young-TRC, a donor level group for young alumni from conception.
- UNI head coach Mark Farley lettered at Northern Iowa from 1983-86 and was a three-year starter at linebacker. As a player, Farley and the Panthers were 2-0 against Illinois State and as a head coach, Farley is 5-4 against the Redbirds.
- UNI assistant coach Rick Nelson (offensive line/recruiting coordinator) cut his teeth in the coaching ranks as an offensive line coach for Missouri Valley Football Conference member Missouri State from 1989-99.
- Also formerly on staff at Missouri State was UNI co-defensive coordinator Chris Klieman, who oversaw the Bears' secondary in 1999. Klieman also worked at Western Illinois from 1994-96.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Big Ten Conference transfers Ashton Leggett (Michigan State) and Erik Smith (Wisconsin) were waiting for a day where both would rush for over 100 yards and the duo achieved that feat against No. 14 North Dakota State. Leggett rushed for a career-high 146 yards on the ground and Smith finished with a career-high 113 yards on the ground, to help ISU rush for a season-high 287 yards on the ground. The duo became the first pair of Redbirds to rush for over 100-plus yards in the same game since Oct. 4, 2008, when Geno Blow (119) and Walter Mendenhall (103) did it against Indiana State. Last year, only one MVFC team (Southern Illinois vs. Southeast Missouri State) had two running backs reach 100 yards in the same game, but Valley schools have already accomplished the feat seven times this season.
WHAT A DEBUT!
Many times a player will change positions in the offseason to help the team out or to earn more playing time, but very seldom does a player change mid-season like Redbird junior Cliffton Gordon did. After spending his first two years at ISU as running back and toting the ball from the backfield in six games this season, Gordon was moved to linebacker prior to the North Dakota State game. The snaps at linebacker were the first for Gordon in his entire career on defense, including his time at Marion Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Ill. The switch did not seem to faze Gordon, as he recorded four tackles against the Bison from his outside linebacker position, which included two solo stops.
KNOCKING OFF RANKED FOES
In a season where over half of the teams in the Missouri Valley Football Conference have been nationally ranked, the Redbirds have a pair of wins over ranked MVFC foes in 2010. ISU is now 2-1 against ranked opponents this season, with the win over No. 14 North Dakota State on Homecoming (Oct. 16) and at No. 20 South Dakota State (Sept. 18). It marked the first two wins in the same season against ranked opponents for the Redbirds since 2006, when they beat Eastern Illinois twice and No. 7 Southern Illinois on Homecoming. The Redbirds will face off against ranked foes for the next two weeks as well, with this week's game against No. 19 UNI and next weekend's contest at No. 18 Western Illinois.
LEGGETT MAKES IT LOOK EASY
Junior running back Ashton Leggett amassed 207 all-purpose yards and scored a pair of touchdowns to lead the Redbirds to a 34-24 win over No. 14 North Dakota State (Oct. 16) on Homecoming at Hancock Stadium. That performance earned Leggett Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Week honors, joining teammate Marvon Sanders as Redbird winners of the weekly honor. The Michigan State transfer rushed for a career-high 146 yards on 24 carries and caught three passes for 61 yards to lead the Redbirds on offense. Leggett recorded his seventh rushing touchdown of the season in the third quarter from one yard out to give ISU the lead at 24-17 and later caught a screen pass from Matt Brown and rumbled 49 yards for the final score of the day to give ISU the 34-24 victory over the Bison.
MR. SMITH GOES TO NORMAL
Since transferring to Illinois State from Wisconsin during the off-season, sophomore running back Erik Smith was waiting for a breakout day on the field for the Redbirds. The Bolingbrook, Ill., native made that happen against No. 14 North Dakota State (Oct. 16), when he rushed for a career-high 113 yards on 16 carries. A large chunk of those yards came on one carry, when Smith broke open for a 73-yard dash in the third quarter that set the go-ahead touchdown. The rush is the longest of the season for a Redbird ball-carrier and fourth-longest rush by a MVFC player this season.
A UNIFIED FRONT
The Illinois State offensive line has been unified force this season, with the same five starters lining up each weekend for the Redbirds. The group, which consists of Dane Zumbahlen (LT), Nick Bledsoe (LG), Cal McCarthy (C), Keenan Wimbley (LG) and Chris Riley (RT), had its best game of the season No. 14 North Dakota State (Oct. 16). The line did not allow a sack to a Bison defense that headed into the game with 15 on the season and paved the way for the first pair of Redbirds to rush for over 100-plus yards in the same game since Oct. 4, 2008. Ashton Leggett (146) and Erik Smith (113) ran through holes made by the line to help ISU rack up a season-high 287 yards on the ground.
DOUBLE DIGITS FOR SPACK
With his team's win over No. 14 North Dakota State (Oct. 16), ISU head coach Brock Spack improved his record to 10-8 in his second season. By hitting that mark in his 18th game, Spack became the quickest Redbird coach to win 10 games since Gerry Hart earned his 10th victory in his 15th game in 1973. Of the coaches between Hart and Spack, Denver Johnson was the next quickest with his 10th win in his 24th outing as the Redbirds' head coach.
A VISIT FROM LORD STANLEY'S CUP
The Stanley Cup -- the most revered sports trophy in the world -- made an appearance at the 2010 Homecoming ceremonies at Illinois State University. Chicago Blackhawks Senior Vice-President for Business Operations Jay Blunk, a 1986 Illinois State alum, accompanied the Cup to his alma mater as the honored alum representing the School of Communication. Fans got a good look at the Cup, when it traveled in the Homecoming Parade through campus, and took the field for a pre-game ceremony at Hancock Stadium before the Redbirds took on North Dakota State. The Illinois State players also got to touch the Stanley Cup as they took the field for the game against the Bison. Maybe some of the magic from the cup helped the Redbirds, as they defeated No. 14 NDSU by a score of 34-24.
BOOMER'S CALL TO THE HALL
The most decorated player in Illinois State football history will take his place among the university's greatest athletes, when former Redbird linebacker Boomer Grigsby is inducted into the Percy Family Athletics Hall of Fame during Homecoming Weekend. A three-time Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the only player in league history to accomplish this feat, Grigsby was also a three-time Buck Buchanan Award finalist, as the nation's top NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) defensive player. Grigsby owns the Missouri Valley Football Conference and the Illinois State career tackles records with 580, which was an NCAA record mark at the time, and was a consensus All-American in both 2003 and 2004, but was voted an All-American by the Sports Network for three-straight years (2002, 2003 and 2004). The Canton, Ill., native went on to play three seasons in the NFL, after being drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2005 NFL Draft.
WALKING INTO THE ENDZONE
Sophomore Tyrone Walker found the end zone just three times as a freshman, but has already scored five times through seven games this season for the Redbirds. Walker caught a career-high two touchdown passes against Indiana State (Oct. 9) to up his season total to four and caught a 25-yarder from Matt Brown in the team's win over No. 14 NDSU (Oct 16). Walker's 131 yards receiving against the Sycamores also set a new career high for the Indianapolis, Ind., native, and marked his third-career 100-plus yard receiving performance as a Redbird.
BALL HAWK
Senior cornerback E.J. Jones was responsible for three turnovers on defense that catapulted the Redbirds to a 34-24 win over No. 14 North Dakota State (Oct. 16). The senior from Edwardsville, Ill., intercepted two passes against the Bison to run his career total to 11, which ties him for fifth on the Redbird career list. Jones also forced a game-changing fumble in the third quarter, when he collided hard with NDSU quarterback Jose Mohler on a scramble deep in Illinois State territory that stopped a would-be score and led to the go-ahead score for ISU. However, Jones has long way to go to approach the school record of 23 career interceptions, set by Illinois State Hall of Famer and NFL star Mike Prior.
YOUNGER IS BETTER
After making his first career start against Indiana State (Oct. 9), Matt Younger has made a big impact in the passing game for the Redbirds. Younger hauled in an impressive 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Brown in the corner of the end zone against the Sycamores and recorded three catches for 38 yards and TD against No. 14 North Dakota State (Oct. 16). On the season, Younger has five catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns, pretty impressive considering he started fall camp as a quarterback before being moved to wide receiver.
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