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Illinois State University Athletics

Football Mike Williams

Redbirds Take To The Road To Face No. 5/6 Bison

PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior wide receiver Tyrone Walker caught a career-high ten passes in Illinois State's 20-13 win over South Dakota State Saturday night at Hancock Stadium. The Indianapolis, Ind., native finished with a season-high 143 yards receiving, which included a 29-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter that put the Redbirds up 20-6. Walker now leads the Redbirds on the season with 22 grabs for 240 yards (15.5 ypc) and five touchdowns.

THE GAME
Coming off a 20-13 win at home against South Dakota State, Illinois State will face its second-straight opponent from the Dakotas Saturday when the Redbirds (2-2, 1-1 MVFC) travel to Fargo, N.D., to face the No. 5/6 ranked North Dakota State Bison (3-0, 0-0 MVFC).

THE SERIES
Illinois State and North Dakota State have met four times on the gridiron, with the series tied at 2-2. The Bison won the first two contests in convincing fashion in 2007 (54-28) and 2008 (25-7), but the Redbirds have won the last two meetings in 2009 (27-24) and 2010 (34-24) under the leadership of Brock Spack.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his third season as the head coach of the Illinois State Redbirds (14-12). 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

North Dakota State: Craig Bohl (Nebraska, 1982) is in his ninth season as the head coach at North Dakota State (64-30), including a 5-3 mark against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams over the past five seasons. Bohl led the NDSU program to its first-ever NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision I (FCS) playoff appearance in 2010 dropping a 38-31 overtime decision at eventual national champion Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals.

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

  • North Dakota State University is located in Fargo N.D., and has an enrollment of 14,407 students. The Bison are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at the Fargodome (18,700).
  • The Bison return 43 letterwinners and 13 starters from last year's team that finished with a 9-5 overall record and a 4-4 mark (T-3rd) in Missouri Valley Football Conference play.
  • The Bison earned a spot in the 2010 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs for the first time in school history and were eventually knocked out in the quarterfinals by the eventual national champions Eastern Washington.
  • NDSU pulled off another upset over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent with a 37-24 win at Minnesota last Saturday. Marcus Williams had two defensive touchdowns for the Bison, including a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown to seal the game.
  • Since moving to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in 2006, North Dakota State has a 5-3 record against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams after its win over Minnesota. The Bison also have FBS wins over Ball State, Central Michigan and Kansas.
  • 2011 Sports Network Walter Payton Award Watch List member D.J. McNorton leads the way for the Bison on offense. Last season, McNorton rushed for 1,559 yards and 15 touchdowns and has already rushed for 172 yards and four scores in 2011. He is joined in the backfield by Sam Ojuri, who has 252 yards rushing and two touchdowns in the backfield as well.
  • NDSU is led by a pair of seniors on the defensive side of the football in linebacker Preston Evans and defensive end Coulter Boyer. Evans ranks second on the team with 12 tackles in addition to a sack and Boyer leads the squad with four sacks and five tackles-for-loss to go along with 12 stops.

TIES WITH THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

  • Illinois State head coach Brock Spack is very familiar with North Dakota State wide receivers coach Kenni Burns. Burns played running back for four years at Indiana (2003-06), where he lettered three times for the Hoosiers, while Spack was the defensive coordinator at Purdue. Burns is also a Springfield, Ill., native and alum of Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, the alma mater of Illinois State linebacker Leonard Hubbard.
  • ISU assistant coach Jim Williams and North Dakota State offensive line coach Scott Fuchs coached together for two years at Nebraska-Omaha. Williams was an assistant from 2001-04, and Fuchs was an assistant at Nebraska-Omaha from 2003-06.
  • Redbirds assistant head coach Spence Nowinsky and North Dakota State head coach Craig Bohl both served as assistant coaches at Wisconsin. Nowinsky was a graduate assistant defensive line coach from 1999-2002, and Bohl was a linebackers assistant coach for the Badgers from 1987-88.
  • ISU offensive line coach George Barnett and North Dakota State offensive line coach Scott Fuchs both worked as assistant coaches at Grand Valley State. Barnett was the offensive line coach from 2008-09, and Fuchs was as assistant at Grand Valley State in 2007.
  • ISU's Isaac Rinehart (St. Thomas Academy) and North Dakota State's Frank Veldman (Eastview H.S.) are both from Eagan, Minn., although they went to different high schools.
  • Patrick Dougherty (Loyola Academy), Nate Palmer (Simeon H.S.), Evan Pegues (Hubbard H.S.), Erik Smith (Bolingbrook H.S.) and North Dakota State's Josh Lisenby (De LaSalle Institute) are all from Chicago, although they went to different high schools.
  • Current Illinois State Athletics Communications graduate assistant Lauren McLaughlin graduated from North Dakota State, where she played volleyball from 2007-10.

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 one broadcast already in the books, the slate will continue at North Dakota State (Oct. 1) and will be produced by the North Dakota NBC Network, but because of an agreement with NDSU and Illinois State's partnership with Comcast SportsNet Chicago, the game will be aired live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus. 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.

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 four games of the season. The Redbirds held South Dakota State (Sept. 24) to just eight rushing yards in the first half and 71 total in the team's 20-13 victory. With those yards, ISU opponents are now averaging just 62.5 yards per game on the ground, which ranks No. 4 in FCS football.

RANKED FOE WOES
When Illinois State squares off against No. 5/6 North Dakota State, the numbers will not be in the Redbirds' favor when it comes to picking up a win. ISU is 29-70-1 all-time against ranked Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponents and the team is just 3-5 in the last three seasons when facing off against ranked foes. 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.

MONEY IN THE BANKS
Illinois State freshman cornerback Mike Banks set a new career high in tackles and recovered a key fumble late in Illinois State's win over South Dakota State (Sept. 24). For his efforts, Banks was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Week by the conference office Sunday. Banks recorded a career-high seven stops and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter to help preserve a 20-13 victory over the Jackrabbits in the Redbirds' conference home opener. The University Park, Ill., native finished with five solo stops and two assists and recovered the fumble forced by Ben Ericksen, which prevented a would-be tying touchdown for the Jackrabbits.

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
When the Redbirds have found their way to the red zone this season, they have come away with points on every occasion. 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) to stay perfect on the season at 11-for-11. Nine of those red zone scores have been touchdowns, with just two 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 143 yards receiving against the South Dakota State (Sept. 24), Tyrone Walker moved his career receiving yards total to 1,799, which made him just the seventh receiver in school history to top the 1,700 receiving yards plateau. It also marked Walker's seventh-career performance of 100 or more receiving yards and moved him into 6th place on the all-time career receiving yards list, moving him past Jason Horton (1,778). In addition, his career-high 10 catches moved him into 6th place on the all-time receptions list with 118 career receptions, passing Brian Brown (115) and his touchdown catch in the third quarter tied him with Clarence Collins for third on the career receiving touchdowns list with 20.

MR. DEPENDABLE
Senior running back Ashton Leggett has been the most consistent player for the Redbirds through the first four games of the season and led the way against South Dakota State (Sept. 24) on the ground. Leggett 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. The Muskegon, Mich., native also recorded his second multi-touchdown performance of the season and he currently ranks fourth in the MVFC and 14th in FCS football with 107.5 rushing yards per game.

OTIS STEPS UP
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
Illinois State 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.

SPEED KILLS
Junior safety Ben Ericksen used his exceptional closing speed and came up with a game-saving turnover late in the fourth quarter for the Redbirds that preserved the team's 20-13 win over South Dakota State (Sept. 24) at Hancock Stadium. The Greendale, Wis., native popped the ball loose from SDSU receiver Brandon Hubert at the four-yard line as he was going in for the game-tying score and Mike Banks came up with the loose ball to preserve the seven point lead at the time for the Redbirds. Ericksen also recovered a fumble in the third quarter and finished the game with a pair of tackles.

OFF TO A ROUGH START
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits found it very tough to get anything going early in its 20-13 loss to Illinois State (Sept. 24). The Redbird defense held South Dakota State without a first down and only 20 total yards (13 rush, 7 pass) in the first quarter and did not allow the Jacks to pick up a third-down conversion until the third quarter, after they previously went 0-for-7 prior to the conversion.

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