SETTING THE SCENE
Date: Nov. 22, 2014
Location: Normal, Ill.
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. CT
Stadium: Hancock Stadium
Stadium Capacity: 13,391
Series: SIU leads 39-34-3
TELEVISION BROADCAST
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus, as part of the Illinois State Television Network. Below are channel listings where the game can be found:
- Comcast Cable – Channel 74/102
- ATT Uverse – Channel 741
- Comcast Xfinity – 201
- DIRECTV – Channel 665-1
- DISH Network – Channel 453
- DISH Network Hopper Channel – 412-41
- MEDIACOM – Channel 127
THE GAME
There is a lot at stake, when No. 7 Illinois State (9-1, 6-1 MVFC) hosts in-state rival Southern Illinois (6-5, 3-4 MVFC) Saturday on Senior Day at Hancock Stadium. With a win, the Redbirds would secure at least a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference championship and the first 10-win regular season in school history. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., with the game broadcast live on CSN Chicago.
THE SERIES
The Redbirds and Salukis will meet for the 77th time on the gridiron on Saturday, with SIU leading the all-time series 39-34-1. The Salukis have been dominant in the series of late, winning six out of the last seven contests overall. The Redbirds have not defeated SIU at Hancock Stadium since 2006, when ISU earned a 37-10 win over SIU in a battle of ranked opponents.
PLAYER TO WATCH
Junior running back Marshaun Coprich continued to amaze at South Dakota, as he rushed for a career-high 221 yards and two touchdowns in a 45-26 win over the Coyotes. For his efforts, Coprich was named the MVFC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, his second such honor of the season. The Victorville, California, native leads the MVFC with his average of 152.3 yards per game and 19 touchdowns and is second in yards with 1,523.
THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his sixth season as the head coach at Illinois State (42-25). Spack led the Redbirds to their first playoff victory since 2006, just the third nine-win season in school history and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award during the 2012 season.
Southern Illinois: Dale Lennon (North Dakota, 1985) is in his seventh season as the head coach at Southern Illinois (48-33) and his 18th overall as a collegiate head coach (150-64). He guided the Salukis to back-to-back Missouri Valley Football Conference titles and NCAA playoff appearances in 2008 and 2009.
THE #REDBIRDFOOTBALL PROGRAM
- Four FCS playoff appearances (1998, 1999, 2006, 2012).
- Three-time FCS quarterfinalists (1999, 2006, 2012).
- The team is 26-6 at home under Spack's guidance.
- The Redbirds started the season 7-0; first time since 1932.
- ISU has won 11 games in a row at home dating back to 2013.
- The team set a program-record cumulative GPA of 2.94 in the Spring 2014 semester.
THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
- Southern Illinois University is located in Carbondale, Illinois, and has an enrollment of 17,964 students. The Salukis are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at Saluki Stadium (15,000).
- The Salukis finished the 2013 season with a 7-5 overall record, including a 5-3 record in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which tied SIU for second place. The Salukis return 18 starters for the 2014 season.
- Head coach Dale Lennon earned his 150th win as a head coach two weeks ago at Missouri State. Lennon has 48 wins in his seven seasons as head coach of the Salukis and SIU has 12 wins over Top-25 teams under Lennon, including one this year at Eastern Illinois.
- The Salukis have had a very challenging schedule in 2014 on their way to a 6-5 record, with losses in four out of their last five games overall. Eight of the 10 FCS opponents the Salukis will play this year have been ranked in the top-25 at some point this season.
- The Salukis are led on offense by tight end MyCole Pruitt. The Walter Payton Award Watch List selection leads the team with 71 receptions for 790 yards and has hauled in 12 touchdown passes for SIU's offense, which is averaging 29.5 points per game.
- Much like the Illinois State defense, the Southern Illinois defensive unit is deep and has already had 16 players record at least a half-TFL and 14 players have been in on a sack. The group is led by outside linebacker Tyler Williamson, who leads the team with 5.5 sacks and has added 7.0 tackles for loss to go along with 69 total tackles.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET (NOV. 16, 2013)
Southern Illinois rallied with 14 unanswered second-half points to defeat Illinois State, 24-17, at Saluki Stadium. The Redbirds struggled offensively, tallying just 268 total yards with three turnovers. Blake Winkler finished 9-for-21 for 110 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Seniors Milton Colbert and Phil Dudley each had three receptions and Colbert paced the receivers with a career-high 70 receiving yards. Defensively, Pat Meehan tallied a career-best 15 tackles and added a half of a sack. Colton Underwood finished his storied Redbird career with a 3.5 tackle-for-loss effort, which tied a career-best, and added three pass breakups, three quarterback hurries and one forced fumble.
THIRD TIME'S A CHARM?
After a 45-26 win at South Dakota, Illinois State improved to 9-1 on the season and 6-1 in Missouri Valley Football Conference play. The Redbirds head into the final weekend of the regular season tied with defending national champion North Dakota State atop the league standings. It marks the third time in the last four years that ISU has been in position to win at least share of the conference crown in the final game of the regular season, with losses in 2011 to UNI and 2012 to North Dakota State ruining the Redbirds' championship hopes. With a win against Southern Illinois in the regular-season finale, the Redbirds would earn just their second conference title in league history, who won the championship outright in 1999 with a perfect 6-0 mark in conference play.
NINE IS FINE
Just three times in school history had the Redbird football program won nine games or more, until ISU picked up its ninth win of the 2014 season with a 45-26 win at South Dakota last weekend. The Redbirds improved to 9-1 on the season to mark the fourth nine-win season in school history and just the second with a nine-win regular season. Each of the previous seasons with nine wins resulted in playoff appearances for the Redbirds (1999, 2006 and 2012).
PICK 6
For the second time this season, the Redbirds intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown when Josh Burch returned a pick 46 yards for a score late in the victory at South Dakota (Nov. 15). With his interception, Burch became the 10th different player to record an interception this season, and the second Redbird to take one to the house, joining teammate Jalen Battle who returned an interception 12 yards for a touchdown in the season opener against Mississippi Valley State. The Redbirds have become quite good at scoring on defense under head coach Brock Spack, as ISU has scored 11 times on defense with seven of those touchdowns coming off of interceptions and the other four off of fumble returns.
REDBIRDS HOLD STEADY IN TOP 10 OF NATIONAL POLLS
The Illinois State football team picked up its ninth win of the season in impressive fashion with a 45-26 victory at South Dakota. With the win, the Redbirds (9-1, 6-1 MVFC) solidified their spot in the Top 10 of both national Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) polls. ISU remained at No. 7 in the FCS Coaches Poll and kept its No. 8 ranking in The Sports Network FCS Top 25, following their win over the Coyotes. The Redbirds were previously ranked as high as No. 6 in both polls three weeks ago and have been ranked for 10 consecutive weeks.
HOME SWEET HOME
When the Redbirds opened the newly-renovated Hancock Stadium last September, they knew they had a great new stadium to call home. Since that renovation, the Redbirds have shown their appreciation for the upgrade and ripped off a school-record 11 straight wins. The streak bests the longest previous home winning streak set from 1998-2000. That streak started with a 48-14 win over Youngstown State (Nov. 14, 1998) and came to an end after a 14-12 defeat at the hands of the Penguins (Oct. 7, 2000).
TO BE THE BEST, YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST
The road to 8-1 for Illinois State has not been easy, as the Redbirds have had to knock off four teams ranked in the FCS polls. The Redbirds have earned wins against No. 24 Eastern Illinois (34-14), No. 22 South Dakota State (45-10), No. 20 Indiana State (20-18) and, most recently, No. 10 Youngstown State (35-21). In addition, ISU's only loss was to No. 22 Northern Iowa, who knocked off No. 1 North Dakota State (Nov. 8).
IN RARE COMPANY
Illinois State running back Marshaun Coprich has rushed for 100+ yards in every game this season for the Redbirds. He's the ninth player in league history to have 10+ 100-yard games in a season, but only the second to reach it in 10 tries (Pat Paschall, North Dakota State, 2009).
REDBIRD BLOCK PARTY
The Redbirds suffered a pair of blocked punts at the hands of UNI (Nov. 1), that led to costly points on the scoreboard. The following week, the Redbirds decided to get into the act by blocking a pair of field goal attempts in their win over No. 10 Youngstown State (Nov. 8). Defensive lineman Collin Keoshian blocked a 50-yard attempt by YSU kicker Joey Cejudo as time expired in the second quarter and fellow defensive lineman Bradon Prate got his long arms up and got a hand on a 45-yard attempt in the third quarter to help keep the Penguins scoreless in the second half. The two blocks upped the team's total to four on the season, which includes a field goal block from Teddy Corwin and a blocked punt by Cameron Meredith. Keoshian added to that total with a blocked extra point attempt at South Dakota (Nov. 15) to move the season total to five.
RUSHING UP THE LIST
Running back Marshaun Coprich moved past former Redbirds standout Sha-Ron Edwards (2003) up to third place on the ISU's single-season rushing yards list with a total of 1,523 yards, after rushing for a career-high 221 yards and two touchdowns at South Dakota (Nov. 15). The Walter Payton Award Watch List member also added to his school record for most-consecutive 100-plus yard rushing performances with his 10th straight to start the 2014 season. In addition, Coprich moved up to sixt on the career rushing list with 2,478 yards, just 67 yards away from passing Pierre Rembert (2,544) for fourth place. His 19 touchdowns on the season are second-most all-time, one short of the record of 20 by Toby Davis in 1992, and his 28 career rushing scores tie him for second with Rembert and Willie Watts behind Davis (37).
AUSSIEKER BECOMES ISU ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER
With nine points scored in ISU's 45-26 win at South Dakota (Nov. 15), Redbird placekicker Nick Aussieker became the school's all-time leading scorer. The Wildwood, Missouri, native was 6-for-6 in extra point attempts and connected on a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to up his career scoring total to 272 points, one more than Stephen Carroll, who scored 271 points in his career from 2001-04. Aussieker has now scored 66 points on the season and is 9-for-10 on field goal tries.
COMING OUT FIRING
For the fifth time this season, the Redbirds scored a touchdown on their first series of the game when junior running back Marshaun Coprich scored a 56-yard rushing touchdown on the team's first drive at South Dakota (Nov. 15). It marked the sixth time this season that the Redbirds have come away with points on their opening drive (5 TD, 1 FG).
LIEDTKE NAMED MVFC LINEMAN OF THE WEEK
After helping Illinois State rush for nearly 300 yards and improve to 9-1 on the season in a win at South Dakota, senior offensive lineman Mike Liedtke was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week (Nov. 17) by the league office. Liedtke graded out at 96 percent and helped the Redbirds rush for 293 yards and a season-best four touchdowns on the ground in a 45-26 win over the Coyotes. He was credited with five knock downs in the contest and led the way for running back Marshaun Coprich, who extended his school-record streak of 100-plus yard rushing performances to 10 in a row with a career-best 221 yards and two scores against South Dakota.
