PLAYER TO WATCH
In his first two games as a Redbird, junior wide receiver Marvon Sanders has made an immediate impact. The Eastern Michigan transfer caught eight passes for 113 yards in the season-opening victory against Central Missouri and hauled in a pair of passes last weekend at Northwestern. The Ypsilanti, Mich., native leads all Redbird receivers with 10 catches for 130 yards on the season, good for an average of 13.0 yards-per-catch and 65.0 yards per game receiving and has also returned two punts.
THE GAME
After a pair of non-conference games to start the season, Illinois State will travel to Brookings, S.D. Saturday to open Missouri Valley Football Conference play against the No. 20 ranked South Dakota State Jackrabbits at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium. The Redbirds and Jackrabbits each head into the game after suffering losses last Saturday, with ISU falling to Northwestern 37-3 and SDSU was defeated by No. 16 Delaware in its season-opener.
THE SERIES
Illinois State and South Dakota State will square off for the third time Saturday. The Jackrabbits have won both of the previous match-ups between the two schools, including a 38-17 defeat over the Redbirds last year at Hancock Stadium.
THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his second season as the head coach of the Illinois State Redbirds (7-6). 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
South Dakota State: John Stiegelmeier (South Dakota State, 1979) is in his 14th season as the head coach at his alma mater (83-61). He has led the Jackrabbits to eight consecutive winning seasons, including the school's first six campaigns at the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) level.
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
- South Dakota State University is located in Brookings, S.D., and has an enrollment of 12,376 students. The Jackrabbits are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium (15,000).
- The Jackrabbits return 37 letterwinners (19 offense, 15 defense, 3 special teams) from last year's squad that finished with an 8-4 overall record in second place in the conference standings and advanced to the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs.
- SDSU is led by head coach John Stiegelmeier, who is in his 14th season as the head coach at his alma mater (83-61). Under Stiegelmeier's guidance, the Jackrabbits have posted eight consecutive winning seasons, including the school's first six campaigns at the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) level, and in 2009 he led SDSU to the program's first postseason appearance in 30 years.
- The Jackrabbits were picked to finish in second place in the 2010 Missouri Valley Football Conference race, according to a poll conducted by league coaches, sports information directors and media that was released in early August.
- Despite suffering a 26-3 loss to No. 16 ranked Delaware last Saturday, the Jackrabbits are ranked 20th in the Sports Network/Fathead.com poll and are 21st in the FCS Coaches' poll this week.
- The Jackrabbits are led on offense by senior running back Kyle Minett, a third-team All-America selection by the Associated Press last season and a member of the preseason watch list for the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the FCS ranks after posting back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
- First-team all-MVFC performer senior Derek Domino returns for his third season as a starter at linebacker for SDSU, after leading the team with 100 tackles and sharing the team lead with five interceptions in 2009.
GOTTA BEAT THE BEST, TO BE THE BEST
The Missouri Valley Conference portion of the schedule is always grueling for the Redbirds and this year it doesn't get easier. The Redbirds will face their first ranked opponent of the season Saturday against No. 20 South Dakota State. ISU will also face No. 5 Southern Illinois at home on October 2 and will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, on October 23 to face off against No. 10 UNI. Although ISU is 27-67-1 all-time against ranked opponents, it did win its last game against a ranked foe (22-20 win over UNI in 2009 season finale).
LINEBACKER U
Penn State is often considered "Linebacker U" because of its prowess to produce All-American linebackers. However, Illinois State's starting linebackers looked they could take own that title as well as all three Redbird starters tied or set new career highs in tackles against Northwestern. Middle linebacker Josh Howe set a new career high with 14 tackles, which included nine solo stops, and outside linebackers Austin Davis and Mike Zimmer each tied their career-best with 11 stops each. Davis also tied a career with two tackles-for-loss and scooped a fumble and returned it 36 yards in the third quarter.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Illinois State sophomore quarterback Matt Brown has only played in 13 games as a Redbird, but he has already moved into the top-10 on the Illinois State career passing yards list. With his 138 yards passing Saturday at Northwestern, Brown moved into sole possession of 10th place on the school's career passing yards list with 2,805 yards, passing Brian Chaney (2,758) and Lester Anderson (2,760).
MR. VERSATILITY
After sitting out the entire 2009 season behind all-American kicker Zach Kutch, senior kicker Steven Fetzer is certainly making up for lost time in 2010. Fetzer was very busy against Northwestern last Saturday in Evanston, as the Mahomet, Ill., native scored the Redbirds' only points of the day, courtesy of a 23-yard field goal early in the first quarter. He also punted six times during the game and averaged 40.5 yards-per-punt, with a long of 57 yards, and pinned the Wildcats inside their own 20 yard line in the third quarter. On the season, Fetzer is 3-for-3 in field goal attempts and is averaging 39.5 yards per punt in 11 attempts, with three punts downed inside the 20 yard line.
THEY HAVEN'T MISSED A BEAT
The Redbirds' passing offense ranked first in the Valley with an average of 246.4 yards-per-game and finished the season ranked No. 20 in the nation in passing offense in 2009. Based off what the offense has done through the first two games of the season, the Redbirds haven't missed a beat. The Redbirds currently rank 21 in the country in passing offense (246.50) and 27th in total offense (386.00).
KICK IT THE OTHER WAY
Sophomore Ben Ericksen showed how dangerous he could be as a kick returner last season and returned the opening kickoff of the 2010 season 85 yards for a touchdown against Central Missouri. On the season, Ericksen is averaging 29.7 yards per return and currently ranks first in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and 15th in the nation in that category. If he keeps up that pace, teams are sure to find a way to kick it away from the speedy wideout and to the other waiting returner.
FBS WOES
Missouri Valley Football Conference member North Dakota State proved it wasn't a slouch last weekend with an upset win over Kansas and the Redbirds were a point of knocking off Kansas State to kick off the 2006 season, but FBS opponents have historically given the Redbirds fits. Illinois State is now 3-32 all-time against FBS opponents following the team's loss at Northwestern, with the last win coming against Akron (25-3) on Sept. 14, 1991. The Redbirds also have wins against Western Michigan (Sept. 12, 1987) and Eastern Michigan (Sept. 19, 1981).
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 is receiving votes and just missed out on top-25 selections in The Sports Network preseason poll and the FCS Coaches Poll.
WE'RE 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.
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