PLAYER TO WATCH
Sophomore quarterback Matt Brown had a record-breaking season as a redshirt freshman in 2009 and looks to improve on those numbers in 2010. The reigning Missouri Valley Football Conference Freshman of the Year and a 2010 preseason All-MVFC First-Team selection, Brown completed 64.2 percent of his passes in 2009 and set an ISU freshman record with 2,369 passing yards while starting in 10 games for the Redbirds.
THE GAME
The 2010 football season officially gets underway tonight, when Illinois State welcomes Division II foe Central Missouri to Hancock Stadium for the first of six home games in 2010 for the Redbirds. The Redbirds, who are receiving votes in both of the national preseason polls, are coming off a winning campaign in 2009 and are looking to show that they deserved their 3rd place selection in the MVFC preseason poll.
THE SERIES
The Redbirds and Mules have met four times in the series history, but the two squads have not met since 1971. ISU and UCM played four times from 1967-71, with each team winning a pair of games at home. The two teams last met Sept. 18, 1971, at Hancock Stadium, with the Redbirds coming away with an 18-14 victory. Quarterback Steven Mardis threw for a touchdown and ran another in to lead ISU to the win.
THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his second season as the head coach of the Illinois State Redbirds (6-5). 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.
Central Missouri: Jim Svoboda (Northwestern (Iowa), 1983) is in his first season as the head coach at Central Missouri (0-0). Svoboda came to UCM after serving three years as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach at Division I-FCS member Montana 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, 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 Central Missouri is located in Warrensburg, Mo., and has an enrollment of 11,000 students. The Mules are NCAA Division II members and compete in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA).
- The Mules return 15 starters, including seven on offense, from a team that posted an 8-3 overall record last season and finished in a tie for second place with a 6-3 record in MIAA play.
- UCM will be led this season by first-year head coach Jim Svoboda. Prior to taking over the helm at UCM, Svoboda spent 10 seasons as the offensive coordinator at Northwest Missouri from 1994-2003, and helped the team win two national championships. He also spent three seasons at UCLA as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. Svoboda holds an overall record of 52-19 as a head coach, all at Nebraska Wesleyan from 1987-93.
- Senior Eric Czerniewski returns for his final season to lead the Mules on offense. A 2009 All-MIAA selection, Czerniewski started in all 11 games for the Mules and completed 230 passes for 2818 yards and 19 touchdowns.
- Senior defensive tackle P.J. South will anchor the UCM defense in 2010, coming off a stellar 2009 season which earned him All-MIAA honors. South recorded 35 tackles on the season, with 8.5 tackles-for-loss and a team-leading 4.5 sacks.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Illinois State's 6-5 record in 2009 and its season-ending win over nationally-ranked Northern Iowa propelled the Redbirds into the offseason and opened the eyes of the national media. Heading into the 2010 season, college football prognosticator Phil Steele picked the Redbirds 13th in his top 40 teams in the FCS in his annual preview magazine and The Sporting News tabbed ISU as the 16th team in the country in its preseason poll. In addition, ISU received votes and just missed out on top-25 selections in The Sports Network preseason poll and the FCS Coaches Poll.
MOVIN' ON UP
After being picked to finish eighth in last year's Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason poll, the Redbirds were picked to finish third in the 2010 poll behind Southern Illinois and South Dakota State. ISU received three first-place votes and finished just ahead of Northern Iowa in a tight three-team grouping from second through fourth places.
AN INFLUX OF TALENT
Since 1993, when the NCAA rules changed to allow FBS transfers immediate eligibility at the FCS level, Illinois State has had 67 players transfer from FBS schools. ISU's FBS transfers on this year's roster include: Bo Flowers (Illinois); Shelby Harris (Wisconsin); Leonard Hubbard (Wisconsin); E.J. Jones (DB, Minnesota); Ashton Leggett (Michigan State); Otis Merrill (Wisconsin); Milton Owens (Indiana); Adam Rebholz (Illinois); Marvon Sanders (Eastern Michigan); Erik Smith (Wisconsin); Albert Sparks (Buffalo); Xzavier Stewart (Kansas State).
THURSDAY NIGHTMARES
Illinois State's 2010 season opener against Central Missouri will mark the third time in four years the Redbirds have opened up on a Thursday night. The results of the past two Thursday openers may be giving some of the players and coaches nightmares, as ISU is 0-2 in those contest. The Redbirds dropped a 27-24 decision to Drake to open the 2007 season and were defeated 31-6 in last year's opener at Eastern Illinois.
A LEVEL ABOVE
When the Redbirds travel to Northwestern Sept. 11, it will be the 16th-straight season that Illinois State has played a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent. The last time the 'Birds didn't schedule an FBS game was in 1994. It will also mark the second-straight game against a member of the Big Ten Conference, after a 45-17 defeat at the hand of Illinois in 2009.
SMILE, YOU'RE ON CAMERA
Fans who are not able to make it out to Hancock Stadium this season to watch the Redbirds in person will have the opportunity to catch the 'Birds on national television twice in 2010. ISU will be broadcast to over 75 million homes on the Big Ten Network (BTN) for the second straight season, when it faces off against Northwestern on Sept. 11. Later in the season, the Redbirds will be broadcast to over 60 million televisions around the country when they face off against Missouri State on Sept. 25 at Hancock Stadium, as part of the Missouri Valley Football Conference's nationally-televised live broadcasts to be featured on Fox College Sports (FCS) and Fox Sports Midwest (FS Midwest).
GOTTA BEAT THE BEST, TO BE THE BEST
The Missouri Valley Conference portion of the schedule is always grueling for the Redbirds, however their road outside of the Valley in 2010 will not be much easier. In week two, ISU will head north to face Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and in-state foe Northwestern. The Widcats are coming off an 8-5 season and have gone to bowl games in the last two years. On the other end of the schedule, the Redbirds will end the season with their yearly contest with Eastern Illinois, who is ranked as high as No. 16 in the country in the FCS Coaches Poll. Add in preseason rankings for Southern Illinois, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa, and it looks to be a hard-fought road for the Redbirds in 2010.
REDBIRD QUARTET AMONG THE BEST
When the 2010 Missouri Valley Football Conference preseason team was announced, a quartet of Redbird players found themselves listed among the league's best. Sophomore quarterback Matt Brown, junior offensive lineman Nick Bledsoe, junior defensive tackle Eric Brunner and senior safety Kelvyn Hemphill were each selected to the team in a vote by the league head coaches, SID's and media members.
A LOT OF FAMILIAR FACES
When the 2009 Illinois State football team took the field, there were several new faces on the sidelines including an entirely revamped coaching staff. Stability has set in for the Redbirds in 2010 though, as 36 letterwinners and 18 starters (nine on offense and defense) return to the field to compete for a Missouri Valley Football Conference championship.
IT'S A FAMILY TRADITION
Football team are often viewed as one big family, but that analogy takes on a whole new meaning for the Redbirds. The Redbirds boast three second-generation players on its roster in Cal McCarthy, Colton Underwood and Tré Jones and also have a pair of brothers on the roster in Adam and Nathan Rebholz. If you add in Steve Nelson, whose brother Tom played for the Redbirds from 2005-08 and currently plays for the Cincinnati Bengals, Redbirds roots run deep for the 2010 squad.
WHATEVER HELPS THE TEAM
Several Redbird players are willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win in 2010, and they proved that in the offseason by switching from their natural positions to new areas. Freshmen Matt Younger and Casey Beck were recruited as a quarterback and tight end, respectively, but will be lining up at wide receiver and on the offensive line when the season starts. Jayme Comer also moved from his linebacker position midway through fall training camp to tight end to give that unit some needed depth and athleticism.
A QUICK TURNAROUND
ISU head coach Brock Spack took over the Redbird football program with the hope of turning around a program that had suffered two-straight losing seasons. After starting the 2009 season with a 1-3 record, with losses at Illinois and to nationally-ranked South Dakota State, things were not going as planned. However, the Redbirds rallied and won five of their last seven games to finish the season with 6-5 record and the team's first winning campaign since 2006.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics, tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
