Homecoming Matchup With The Sycamores Up Next For No. 7 Redbirds

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: Oct. 26, 2019
Time: 2 p.m. CT
Site: Normal, Illinois
Stadium: Hancock Stadium
Capacity: 13,391
Series: ILS leads 37-31-2
Last: INS won 28-23 (Nov. 10, 2018)
Watch: ESPN3
Listen: WJBC AM 1230 / 93.7 FM / TuneIn

THE GAME
After picking up a pair of key road wins the past two weeks against a pair of in-state rivals, No. 7 Illinois State (5-2, 2-1 MVFC) returns to the friendly confines of Hancock Stadium for its annual Homecoming contest, as the Redbirds host Indiana State (3-4, 1-2 MVFC) to begin a two-game homestand.

THE SERIES
The Redbirds and the Sycamores will meet for the 71st time, with Illinois State holding a 37-31-2 advantage over Indiana State in the all-time series which dates back to 1936. The Redbirds have won six out of the last eight contests overall against the Sycamores, however Indiana State has won two of the last three in the series with a pair of wins in Terre Haute. Indiana State has not won a game in Normal since 1997 and the Redbirds are 7-3 against the Trees under the leadership of Brock Spack.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his 11th season as the head coach at Illinois State (79-47). Spack led the Redbirds to three-straight FCS playoff appearances from 2014-16 and guided the Redbirds to back-to-back shares of the MVFC title in 2014-15. He is the second winningest coach in ISU football history, trailing only Edwin Struck (86).

Indiana State: Curt Mallory (Michigan, 1992) is in his third season as the head coach at Indiana State (10-19). Mallory earned MVFC Coach of the Year honors and was named a finalist for the STATS FCS Eddie Robinson Award in 2018, after leading the Sycamores to the biggest turnaround in college football at 7-4 after an 0-11 campaign in 2017.

THE @REDBIRDFB PROGRAM

• 7 FCS playoff appearances (1998, 1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016)
• 5-time FCS quarterfinalists (1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015)
• 2-time FCS semifinalists (1999, 2014)
• The team is 50-13 at home under Spack's guidance
• ISU is 33-7 at Hancock Stadium since 2013
• The team set a program-record cumulative GPA of 3.01 in the Spring 2019 semester

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• Indiana State University is located in Terre Haute, Indiana, and has an enrollment of 13,584 students. The Sycamores are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at Memorial Stadium (12,764).
• The Sycamores turned the ball over a season high four times during a 42-23 loss to No. 3 South Dakota State last Saturday at Memorial Stadium to fall to 3-4 on the season. The Jackrabbits scored 28 points in the second quarter after entering the quarter tied at seven to improve to 6-1 on the year.
• Running back Peterson Kerlegrand collected his third 100-plus rushing game of the season against the Jackrabbits, after accumulating 107 yards on 19 attempts. He leads the Sycamores on the season with 557 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
• Linebackers Clayton Glasco and Jonas Griffith have dominated the defensive side of the ball for the Sycamores in 2019, doubling their teammates in tackles. Griffith is leading Indiana State with 62 tackles while Glasco has made 59 stops with the next best mark in tackles on the squad being 36. 
• Quarterback Kurtis Wilderman, who made his first career start under center, finished with 196 yards passing with a pair of touchdowns through the air last week.

 LAST TIME VS. THE SYCAMORES (11/10/2018)
A 21-point second-quarter output for Indiana State erased a 10-point first quarter lead for Illinois State, as the Redbirds fell by a final score of 28-23 to the Sycamores in front of 4,016 fans on at Memorial Stadium. Quarterback Brady Davis threw for 294 yards with two touchdowns in his first game back from injury and wide receiver Spencer Schnell led the Redbirds in receiving with 11 catches for 155 yards and two scores.

PROTECTING THE NEST 
Opposing teams coming to Hancock Stadium have not felt very welcome in the past 11 seasons, as Redbird teams led by Spack have not been very accommodating in the win column to visitors. ISU is a combined 50-13 at home during Spack's tenure and have gone 33-7 at Hancock Stadium since the renovation of the facility in 2013. 

HE CAN DO IT ALL
With so much attention paid to James Robinson by opposing defenses, there has been room for other Redbird offensive players to take charge. Against Western Illinois, it was transfer running back Jeff Proctor's turn, as he was the change of pace the Redbirds needed in their defeat over the Leathernecks. Proctor led the Redbirds in rushing (81 yards) and receiving (46 yards) to account for 127 yards of total offense in the game. His one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter capped off the scoring for the Redbirds and a career day for Proctor, who set personal bests in rushing and receiving against WIU with his first career score as a Redbird.

TURNOVERS A PLENTY
Call it a mixture of giveaways by the Leathernecks and takeaways by the Redbirds, but whatever it was the result was five turnovers by Western Illinois in the Redbirds' road win. The five turnovers (3 fumble recoveries, 2 interceptions) were a season high for the Redbirds and they took advantage of the Leatherneck mistakes, turning them into 14 points. The interceptions by Devin Taylor and Christian Uphoff were their first of the season for both and upped the team's total to eight on the year, with eight different players recording picks.

STATE CHAMPS
For the second-straight year, Illinois State completed a season sweep of its fellow FCS Land of Lincoln foes to take home the unofficial state title. The Redbirds picked up road wins at Eastern Illinois, Southern Illinois and Western Illinois, with the last two coming in the past two weekends. With ISU's win at Western Illinois, the team improved to 10-2 against the Leathernecks under the leadership of Brock Spack and the team has now won 9 of the last 10 games against WIU. Had it not been for a loss at NIU, the Redbirds would have had a clean sweep of state of Illinois foes.

SACK MASTERS
For the second time this season, the Illinois State defense racked up nine sacks against an opponent as the Redbird lived in the backfield in their win over Southern Illinois. The Redbirds recorded nine sacks and 12 TFLs in their victory in Carbondale, matching the nine sacks accrued in a win at Eastern Illinois earlier in the year. A total of six different players recorded a sack, with Romeo McKnight leading the way with three and Jason Lewan adding two. Linebackers Ty DeForest and Tuvone Clark, Iowa transfer Brandon Simon and safety Clayton Isbell also got in on the act for ISU. Illinois State currently ranks second in the FCS with 4.71 sacks per game, but leads the country with 33 sacks overall.

ROBINSON MOVES UP THE RECORD BOOKS
James Robinson has already cemented his legacy as one of the best running backs in school history, and his performance against the Saluki helped him move up in the record books. With his 150 yards rushing, Robinson moved up to No. 3 on the ISU career rushing yards list with 3,221 passing Willie Watts (3,210). He is now just 413 yards away from catching Toby Davis at No. 2 with 3,702 yards, well within his reach with five games left to play in the season. The Rockford, Illinois, native also ranks No. 2 in the ISU career record books in yards per carry (5.63) and second in rushing with 38.

FLYING HIGH IN NATIONAL POLLS
Illinois State currently sits at No. 7 in the FCS Coaches Poll and at No. 8 the STATS FCS Top 25. Four MVFC teams are ranked again in the polls this week, including North Dakota State (No. 1), South Dakota State (No. 3), Illinois State (7) and Northern Iowa (11) . The Redbirds have been ranked in every poll so far this season, with a high ranking of No. 6 in the FCS Coaches Poll.

REDBIRDS OWN THE RED ZONE
Thanks to an increase in sacks and TFLs through seven games this season, the Illinois State defense finds itself in the Top 30 in FCS football in total defense. Another key reason for that success has been the team's ability to keep opponents from scoring in the red zone. Opponents are scoring just 52.2 percent of the time when inside the Redbirds' 20 yard line, which is the No. 1 mark for a defense in all of FCS football.