PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior linebacker Evan Frierson led the way for the Illinois State defense last week against No. 5 North Dakota State. The transfer from Washington, D.C., led the team with nine total tackles, recorded a sack and finished the game with two tackles-for-loss against the Bison. He also forced a fumble when he sacked NDSU quarterback Brock Jensen in the third quarter.
THE GAME
Illinois State (2-3, 1-2 MVFC) will attempt to get back on track with a win and will hit the road for the second-straight week when it travels to Springfield, Mo., for a Missouri Valley Football Conference contest against the winless Missouri State Bears (0-5, 0-2 MVFC) at Plaster Field.
The Redbirds lead the all-time series against the Bears 16-14-1, thanks in part to a thrilling 44-41 double-overtime win over the Bears last year at Hancock Stadium that featured 957 yards of total offense, including two ties and three lead changes. ISU has won the last two meetings against MSU and nine of the last 12 games in the series overall.
Last Meeting
September 25, 2010
Normal, Illinois
No. 25 Redbirds Win 2OT Thriller, 44-41, over Missouri State
The 25th ranked Illinois State football team earned a thrilling 44-41 double-overtime win over visiting Missouri State, Saturday night at Hancock Stadium. The Bears tied the game with a field goal at the end of regulation, but kicker Steven Fetzer was the hero for the Redbirds when he connected on a 39-yard attempt to give ISU the victory.
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his third season as the head coach of the Illinois State Redbirds (14-13). With ISU's 27-23 win over Eastern Illinois in the 2010 season finale, the Redbird coaching staff led by head coach Spack became the first staff at ISU to post back-to-back winning seasons in its first two seasons at the helm in over 60 years.
Head Coach Brock Spack | ISU Coaching Staff
Missouri State: Terry Allen (Northern Iowa, 1979) is in his sixth season at the helm of the Missouri State football program (23-37). Last season, Allen's Bears went undefeated at home, marking the first time since 1992 that an MSU team had gone unbeaten at Plaster Sports Complex, and knocked off three Top-25 opponents in No. 20 Youngstown State, No. 18 Western Illinois and No. 17 North Dakota 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 five 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
- Missouri State University is located in Springfield, Mo., and has an enrollment of 23,092 students. The Bears are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at the Plaster Field (16,300).
- The Bears return 35 letterwinners and nine starters from last year's team that finished with a 5-6 overall record and a 4-4 mark (T-3rd) in Missouri Valley Football Conference play.
- MSU is 0-5 for the first time since 1994, when it started 0-6 under head coach Jesse Branch (finished 4-7). Likewise, no Terry Allen-coached team (at Northern Iowa, Kansas or Missouri State) has ever opened the season with more than two straight losses.
- Missouri State faced off against of pair of ranked Football Bowl Subdivision opponents in the first three weeks of the season and came away with a pair of losses. The Bears opened the season against No. 15 Arkansas in Fayetteville with a 51-7 defeat and two weeks later were defeated 56-7 by No. 12 Oregon at Autzen Stadium.
- Adding to the tough schedule to start the year, the Bears had to face off against two of the MVFC's perennial powerhouses in No. 13 Southern Illinois and No. 2 Northern Iowa. The Bears nearly pulled off the upset in Carbondale Sept. 24, but lost a narrow 20-18 decision to the Salukis. Last weekend, the Panthers scored 35 unanswered points to pick up a 42-7 win at the UNI Dome over the Bears to keep them winless through five games this season.
- The Bears are led on offense by senior running back Chris Douglas, who notched a career-high four pass receptions last week against UNI and averaged 5.9 yards per carry. Over the last two games, Douglas has 23 carries for 138 yards (6.0 yards per carry) with a touchdown and 163 all-purpose yards.
- The redshirt freshmen duo of safety Mike Crutcher and linebacker Andrew Beisel are tied for the team lead in tackles with 37 stops apiece through five games, including a team-high 22 solo stops by Crutcher.
TIES WITH THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
- Missouri State head coach Terry Allen was the head coach at league member Northern Iowa from 1989-96. During that time, Illinois State was just 2-6 against the Panthers, with both wins coming against nationally-ranked Northern Iowa teams. Since taking over at Missouri State, Allen is 2-3 against the Redbirds.
- Illinois State assistant coach Jim Williams will be reuniting with a former coaching colleague today. Missouri State's assistant head coach/defensive coordinator D.J. Vokolek was on the staff at Nebraska-Omaha with Williams during the 2001 and 2002 seasons.
- Dr. Bill O'Neill, former Missouri State special assistant to the athletics director, was a 1964 graduate of Illinois State.
WE'LL TAKE THAT
Through the first three games of the season, North Dakota State had not turned the ball over at all. That all changed early in the first quarter against Illinois State (Oct. 1), when ISU linebacker Austin Davis forced a fumble from NDSU wide receiver Warren Holloway and Ben Ericksen recovered to give the Bison their first turnover of the year. The Redbirds weren't done though, as Evan Frierson sacked NDSU quarterback Brock Jensen in the third quarter and forced a fumble on the play that was recovered by Davis.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Illinois State quarterback Matt Brown has a lot of offensive weapons at his disposal on game days, and he involved most of them at North Dakota State (Oct. 1). The Redbird junior quarterback threw passes to 12 different Redbird players in the game, including his first passes of the year to tight ends Casey Cline, James O'Shaughnessy and Jordan Church. Redshirt freshman wide receiver Lechein Neblett led the way with nine catches for 78 yards, but running back Ashton Leggett set a new career high with five receptions for 31 yards out of the backfield. Transfer wide receiver Milton Colbert also caught his first pass in a Redbird uniform, which resulted in ISU's 43-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
MR. 6000
With his 270 yards passing against No. 5 North Dakota State (Oct. 1), ISU junior quarterback Matt Brown became just the fourth quarterback in school history to throw for over 6,000 yards in his career. The Marion, Ill., native is currently fourth on the ISU all-time list with 6,202 yards and is just 36 yards behind John Coppens in third place with 6,238 yards. In addition, Brown needs just four completions against Missouri State to pass Coppens on the school's career completions list (554) to move up to third place in just his third season running the Redbird offense.
LIKE RUNNING INTO A BRICK WALL
Opponents have found it very difficult to get anything going in the running game against the Redbird defense through the first five games of the season. The Redbirds held 2011 Walter Payton Award Watch List candidate D.J. McNorton to just 56 yards (Oct. 1) and the nationally-ranked Bison to just 124 yards rushing. With those yards, ISU opponents are now averaging just 74.8 yards per game on the ground, which ranks No. 5 in FCS football.
LOOK WHAT I FOUND
Illinois State quarterback Matt Brown did everything he could to get his team a touchdown in the fourth quarter against No. 5 North Dakota State (Oct. 1) and one of his newest targets was the beneficiary. Late in the quarter, Brown was forced out of the pocket, scrambled away from would be tackles and heaved a 43-yard bomb to the endzone which fell into the hands of Michigan State transfer Milton Colbert. The catch and touchdown were the first of the season for Colbert, who was one of 12 players to catch a pass from Brown against the Bison.
NEBLETT STEPS UP
When Illinois State senior wide receiver Marvon Sanders left the game against No. 5 North Dakota State with a broken hand, redshirt freshman wideout Lechein Neblett knew he needed to step up and fill the void. The Madison, Wis., native did just that when he hauled in a career-high nine passes for a career-high 78 yards against the Bison. A man of many talents, Neblett also returned a punt and a kickoff for the Redbirds in the game.
EVAN THE TERRIBLE
With the way junior transfer linebacker Evan Frierson has been tormenting opposing defenses this season, he may have earned himself a place among the league's most feared linebackers. The Washington, D.C., native led the way for the Illinois State defense against No. 5 North Dakota State (Oct. 1) with nine tackles, a sack and two tackles-for-loss. He also forced a fumble when he sacked NDSU quarterback Brock Jensen in the third quarter. On the season, Frierson ranks second on the team with 31 tackles and three sacks and leads the team with seven tackles-for-loss.
SMILE, YOU'RE ON CAMERA
Illinois State will have five of its 11 regular-season games distributed by national and regional television outlets, the most in the history of the program. With two broadcasts already in the books, the Redbirds will be back on Comcast SportsNet Chicago for the Oct. 29 game at Southern Illinois, which was moved to a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. To round things out, the Oct. 22 matchup between the Redbirds and Indiana State at Hancock Stadium and the regular-season finale on Nov. 19 against Northern Iowa will be available on ESPN3.com, as part of an agreement with the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
RANKED FOE WOES
With Illinois State's loss at No. 5 North Dakota State (Oct. 5), the Redbirds fell to 29-71-1 all-time against ranked Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponents. The 'Birds picked up a pair of wins over ranked adversaries in 2010 with wins at No. 20 South Dakota State and at home against No. 14 NDSU, marking the first time the team had knocked off two ranked opponents in the same season since 2006. With four ranked teams still left on the schedule for the Redbirds in 2011, those numbers could improve a bit.
MONEY IN THE BANKS
Illinois State freshman cornerback Mike Banks topped his previous career high of seven tackles set in Illinois State's win over South Dakota State (Sept. 24) when he recorded a new best of eight stops against No. 5 North Dakota State (Oct. 1). In the past two games, Banks has accounted for 15 tackles and recorded his first career tackle-for-loss with a half TFL agains the Bison. For his efforts against the Jackrabbits, Banks was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Week by the conference office.
HOME SWEET HOME
Hancock Stadium has been kind to the Redbirds over the past three seasons and Redbird fans have been treated to high-scoring games and a lot of wins. Under head coach Brock Spack, the Redbirds have posted an 11-2 record at Hancock Stadium, including a 2-0 record at home so far in 2011 after a 20-13 win over South Dakota State in the conference home opener (Sept. 24). Spack has also won all of his home openers in three seasons with the Redbirds and has not lost at home to a non-conference opponent.
SPREADING THE RED
Prior to a 1-for-3 effort in the red zone against No. 5 North Dakota State (Oct. 1), the Redbirds had come away with points on every previous trip inside their opponent's 20-yard line. Illinois State's offense was a perfect 3-for-3 in the red zone at Eastern Illinois (Sept. 1), scored on both of its red zone opportunities against Morehead State (Sept. 10), was 4-for-4 at Youngstown State (Sept. 17) and 2-for-2 against South Dakota State (Sept. 24). The Redbirds are now to stay perfect on the season at 12-for-14 inside the red zone, with nine of those red zone scores coming by way of touchdowns and three coming on field goals off the leg of Nick Aussieker. Last season, the Redbirds went 28-for-37 (76 percent) in the red zone and scored touchdowns 49 percent of the time.
WALKING UP THE CHARTS
With his 26 yards receiving against No. 5 North Dakota State (Oct. 1), Tyrone Walker became just the sixth receiver in school history to record over 1,800 career receiving yards. Walker now has 1,825 in three seasons with the Redbirds and ranks sixth all-time on the ISU list. In addition, with his five catches against the Bison, Walker moved into fifth place on the school's career receptions list with 123, passing Jason
Horton (121).
MR. DEPENDABLE
Senior running back Ashton Leggett has been the most consistent player for the Redbirds through the first five games of the season. Leggett is currently averaging 100.6 yards per game for the Redbirds and currently ranks third in the MVFC and 21st in FCS football with that average. The Muskegon, Mich., native rushed for 98 yards after a career-high 29 carries, scored a pair of red zone touchdowns and picked up vital third-down conversions of six, one and five yards late in the game that allowed the Redbirds to run out the clock in a win over South Dakota State (Sept. 24) native also recorded his second multi-touchdown performance of the season and rushed for a season-high 125 yards on 25 carries at Youngstown State (Sept. 17).
OTIS MY MAN
With a very young and inexperience secondary, a veteran needed to step up and make plays against South Dakota State (Sept. 24) and senior Otis Merrill did just that. Merrill recorded a career-high eight tackles, including six solo stops, against the Jackrabbits to help the team preserve its victory.
IT'S A BLOCK PARTY
For the third-consecutive week, Illinois State had a kick blocked but also blocked one of its own against NDSU (Oct. 1). NDSU blocked a Nick Aussieker field goal just before halftime, but the Redbirds answered when Eric Brunner blocked a Ryan Jastram extra point attempt in the third quarter. The week before, the Redbirds had an extra point blocked for the second-consecutive week, when Nick Aussiker's PAT was blocked by South Dakota State (Sept. 24) following ISU's first touchdown in the first quarter. Youngstown State blocked a Redbird PAT attempt the previous week (Sept. 17). Not to be outdone, ISU blocked an extra point attempt for the second-straight week by blocking an Kyle Harris PAT in the second quarter against SDSU and the Redbirds also blocked a PAT attempt at Youngstown State.
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