No. 6 Redbirds Look to Bounce Back Against In-State Rival Salukis

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: Nov. 14, 2015
Location: Carbondale, Illinois
Kickoff: 2:00 p.m. CT
Stadium: Saluki Stadium
Stadium Capacity: 15,000
Series: SIU leads 39-35-3
Watch: ESPN3

THE GAME
After suffering its first loss of the season to a FCS opponent, Illinois State (7-2, 5-1 MVFC) will look to get back to its winning ways on the road against in-state rival Southern Illinois (3-6, 2-4 MVFC) Saturday at Saluki Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

THE SERIES
This will be the 78th meeting in the series between Illinois State and Southern Illinois, which began in 1929.  The two teams have split the past four contests overall, but the Salukis have dominated the series in recent history with wins in six of the last eight games overall.  ISU is 2-4 against SIU under the leadership of head coach Brock Spack, with a win last year in the regular-season finale by a score of 44-29 which secured the Redbirds a share of the conference title for the first time in 15 years.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his seventh season as the head coach at Illinois State (53-28). Spack led the Redbirds to their first Missouri Valley Football Conference title in 15 years in 2014, and set the school record for wins with 13 while being named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award.
Southern Illinois: Dale Lennon (North Dakota, 1983) has posted a 51-40 record in eight seasons as the head coach at Southern Illinois and is 153-73 in 19 seasons as a head coach. He guided the Salukis to back-to-back MVFC titles in 2008-2009 and was named the MVFC Coach of the Year in both seasons. 

PLAYER TO WATCH
Illinois State junior wide receiver Anthony Warrum has been putting up stellar performances all season for the Redbirds and he had his best effort of the year at No. 11 South Dakota State. The Fishers, Indiana, native set a career high with 241 yards receiving on eight receptions and tied his career-best with three touchdown catches for the Redbirds against the Jackrabbits. The performance earned him Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.

THE @REDBIRDFB PROGRAM

• Five FCS playoff appearances (1998, 1999, 2006, 2012, 2014)
• Four-time FCS quarterfinalists (1999, 2006, 2012, 2014)
• Two-time FCS semifinalists (1999, 2014)
• The team is 34-6 at home under Spack's guidance
• ISU's current 17-game home winning streak is the longest in the FCS
• The team tied a program-record cumulative GPA of 2.94 in the Spring 2015 semester

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• Southern Illinois University is located in Carbondale, Illinois, and has an enrollment of 17,292 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 2014 season with a 6-6 overall record and a 3-5 mark in MVFC play, which tied them for seventh place in the league standings.  SIU returns 27 letterwinners and 10 starters from last year's team.  
• SIU is 3-6 on the season and 2-4 in Valley Football play, but that record is remarkably deceiving.  The Salukis have lost by less than a touchdown in each of those defeats and have lost by a field goal or less in five of those games, including a one-point loss (48-47) to FBS foe Indiana in the season opener.  
• The Southern Illinois offense leads the conference in total offense, scoring offense, passing offense and first downs, and also ranks in the top-11 nationally in all four categories. 
• Much of that offensive success is due to the leadership from quarterback Mark Iannotti. He leads the MVFC in total offense, passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage, and points responsible for per game. He ranks in the top-15 nationally in total offense (3rd), points responsible for (5th), passing yards (7th), passing yards per game (7th), completion percentage (11th) and passing touchdowns (13th).
• The Saluki defense brings a balanced attack, as Chase Allen, Kenny James and Markese Jackson all rank in the top-5 of the MVFC and top-25 nationally in tackles per game.  Allen and James are tied for the team lead with 102 stops each, which tie them for third in the conference in that category.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET (NOV. 22, 2014)
Quarterback Tre Roberson racked up 413 yards of total offense and accounted for four touchdowns, as he led No. 7 Illinois State to a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference Championship, after the Redbirds defeated Southern Illinois, 44-29, at Hancock Stadium. Roberson posted one of his most impressive performances of the season, throwing for 319 yards and tossing three touchdowns, while rushing for 94 yards and a score in an offensive explosion for the Redbirds.  Wide receiver Cameron Meredith finished with 182 yards with a touchdown for his third-straight 100-plus yard game, and Lechien Neblett finished with 125 yards to go along with two scores as well.

REDBIRD AIR ATTACK
Heading into Saturday's game, the South Dakota State defense had not allowed an opposing FCS quarterback to throw for over 200 yards against them this season.  That all changed against Illinois State, as quarterback Tre Roberson and wide receiver Anthony Warrum each set season bests through the air against the Jackrabbits.  Roberson finished the game with a season high 317 yards passing with three touchdowns, all to his favorite target Warrum.  Eight of Roberson's 14 completions fell in the hands of Warrum, who set a career-best with 241 yards receiving and tied a season best with three receiving touchdowns.  Christian Gibbs also averaged 20 yards per catch on the day, making several leaping grabs over the middle to finish with 60 yards on three grabs to balance the air attack.

MAKING IT LOOK EASY
The passing game has been dynamic at times for the Redbirds this season and one big reason for that is the play of junior wide receiver Anthony Warrum.  With another stellar performance against the Jackrabbits (Nov. 7), Warrum showed that he can get open against any opposing defense and score on the big play.  Warrum finished with eight catches for 241 yards with three scores to earn MVFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. His 13 touchdowns tie the school single-season record set by Rickey Garrett in 1998 and his 241 yards pushed his receiving yards total to 1,031.  That makes Warrum just the seventh player in school history to go over the 1,000-yard mark and moves him up to No. 6 on the ISU single-season receiving yards list.  His 241 yards were also the fifth-highest single-game mark in school history.

PICKS A PLENTY
The Redbirds had just six interceptions heading into the game against No. 11 South Dakota State, but picked off three passes against the Jackrabbits to up the team's total to nine on the season.  It marked the second time this year the Redbirds have intercepted three passes, tying the trio of picks in the win over Northern Iowa.  Alec Kocour grabbed two of the interceptions from his safety position to up his season total to a team-leading three interceptions and senior defensive back Josh Burch recorded the first interception of the game for the Redbirds against the Jackrabbits.  With his two interceptions, Kocour became the first Redbird player to record multiple picks in a game since Ben Ericksen snagged two against Missouri State in 2012.

REDBIRD TRIO AMONG NATION'S BEST
The three-headed monster of the Redbird defense has been terrorizing opposing defenses all season and in doing so the trio have cemented themselves high in the FCS national rankings:

Marshaun Coprich - RB
Rushing Touchdowns - 3rd (13)
Rushing Yards - 3rd (1,215)
Rushing Yards Per Game - 3rd (135.0)
Scoring - 10th (8.9)

Tre Roberson - QB
Passing Yards Per Completion - 1st (20.45)
Passing Yards Per Attempt - 2nd (10.36)
Passing Efficiency - 7th (161.2)

Anthony Warrum - WR
Receiving Touchdowns - 3rd (13)
Receiving Yards - 3rd (1,031)
Receiving Yards Per Reception - 3rd (23.98)
Receiving Yards Per Game - 4th (114.6)
Scoring - 5th (9.3)

MINIMIZING MISTAKES AND PENALTIES KEY TO SUCCESS
Illinois State head coach Brock Spack has preached focus and attention to detail in his seven seasons as head coach and stressed the importance of not beating yourself to his teams. The 2015 Redbirds seemed to have embraced this concept, as they rank among the FCS leaders in fewest penalties and turnovers.  ISU ranks No. 2 in the country in fewest penalties with just 38 total and No. 15 in turnovers lost with just 10 total (four fumbles, six interceptions).  

ROAD WARRIORS
As good as the Redbirds have been at home over the past two seasons, with 17-straight home wins (longest in the FCS), they have been equally as tough on the road especially in Missouri Valley Football Conference play.  The Redbirds have won five of their last seven MVFC road contests overall and will have to continue that strong play on the road with two-straight road games to start the month of November.  The Redbirds wrap up that two-game road swing Saturday at Southern Illinois, looking to stay atop the league standings and get closer to clinching a second-straight league title.  Overall, the Redbirds are 8-3 in road contests over the past two seasons, while compiling an overall record of 20-4 in that time.

TO BE THE BEST, YOU HAVE TO BEAT THE BEST
It is an impressive feat for any team to be 5-1 in the toughest conference in FCS football, but to have four wins over Top-25 ranked teams during that stretch makes what the Redbirds have done to this point extremely impressive.  Only 11 teams in the FCS have two or more wins against Top-25 teams, and more than half of those teams are in the MVFC.  The Redbirds have the best record among those teams at 4-1

IN RARE COMPANY
Senior All-American running back Marshaun Coprich holds nearly every career and single-season rushing record in Illinois State history, but his performance against No. 21 Indiana State (Oct. 31) put him in rare company once again.  With 165 yards rushing against the Sycamores, Coprich moved over 1,000 yards on the season and over 1,000 yards for the second-straight year.  Only Toby Davis (1991-92) and Willie Watts (2000-01) had previously achieved that feat and the trio are the only three in school history to post multiple 1,000-yard seasons.