NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State football team suffered its first loss of the season last weekend at Missouri State, but looks to bounce back this Saturday when it hosts in-state rival Western Illinois at Hancock Stadium. ISU head coach Brock Spack will preview the matchup against the Leathernecks on Thursday at The Brock Spack Show, live from Schooners in Bloomington, beginning at 6 p.m.
Ranked No. 14 in the AFCA Coaches poll and No. 15 in the STATS FCS Top 25, the Redbirds (3-1, 0-1 MVFC) welcome in the Leathernecks (2-2, 1-0 MVFC) for the first of three home games for ISU in the month of October. ISU and WIU will meet for the 101st time Saturday, with Western Illinois leading the all-time series 56-41-3. The Leathernecks opened up Missouri Valley Football Conference last weekend with a 45-38 win over Youngstown State at home to improve to .500 on the season.
Coach Spack will talk with co-hosts Dick Luedke and Ted Schmitz and they will welcome senior linebacker Zackary Mathews to the show as this week's player guest. The Rockford, Illinois, native leads the team with 39 total tackles with 3.0 TFLs this season and ranks fourth in the MVFC with 9.8 tackles per game. Against Missouri State, Mathews smashed previous career-bests with 16 total stops and 10 solo tackles against the Bears.
Schooners is located at 810 East Grove Street in Bloomington, and sits just off the corner of Grove Street and Clinton Boulevard. For those who can't make it out to Schooners to watch the show live, it will be broadcast on WJBC 1230 AM in the Twin Cities and streamed live on GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also listen to the show via the TuneIn app by searching "Illinois St. Redbirds Sports Network."
Fans that missed last week's live Q&A with Coach Spack presented by Country Financial will also have the opportunity to submit questions again this week. Tune into the ISU Redbirds Facebook page this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. to ask questions and watch to see if they make the live broadcast.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Â Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
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