Redbirds Host Sycamores On Senior Day at Hancock Stadium

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: November 20, 2021
Time: Noon CT
Site: Normal, Illinois 
Stadium: Hancock Stadium
Capacity: 13,391
Series: ILS leads 38-31-2
Last: ILS won 24-7 (October 26, 2019)
Watch: Marquee Sports Network
Stream: ESPN+
Listen: WJBC 1230 AM / 102.1 FM / 93.7 FM / The Varsity Network

THE GAME
Illinois State will look to send their seniors out on a high note against Indiana State, as the Redbirds (4-6, 2-5 MVFC) return home for their final game of the regular season to host the Sycamores (4-6, 2-5 MVFC) on Senior Day at Hancock Stadium.

THE SERIES
The Redbirds and the Sycamores will meet for the 72nd time, with Illinois State holding a 38-31-
2 advantage over Indiana State in the all-time series which dates back to 1936. The Redbirds have won seven out of the last nine contests overall against the Sycamores, however Indiana State has won two of the last four 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 8-3 against the Trees under the leadership of Brock Spack.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his 13th season as the head coach at Illinois State (89-59). Spack guided the Redbirds to back-to-back shares of the MVFC title in 2014-15 and an appearance in the 2014 FCS Championship. He has led the ISU to eight playoff appearances overall and recently became the program's all-time wins leader.

Indiana State: Curt Mallory (Michigan, 1992) is in his fifth season as the head coach at Indiana State (16-28). Mallory and his staff mounted the biggest turnaround in collegiate football in
2018, after leading the Sycamores to a 7-4 finish, a third-place finish in the Missouri Valley
Football Conference and a No. 22 national ranking after going 0-11 the year prior.

THE REDBIRD FOOTBALL PROGRAM

• 8 FCS playoff appearances (1998, 1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019)
• 6-time FCS quarterfinalists (1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019)
• 2-time FCS semifinalists (1999, 2014)
• The team is 55-17 at home under Spack's guidance
• ISU is 38-11 at Hancock Stadium since 2013
• The team set a program-record cumulative GPA of 3.40 in the Spring 2020 semester

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• Indiana State University is located in Terre Haute, Indiana, and has an enrollment of 9,459 students. The Sycamores are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
• The Sycamores have posted a 4-6 overall record this season and a 2-5 mark in MVFC play. Indiana State has wins in the non-conference against both Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky, and wins in MVFC play over Western Illinois and Youngstown State.
• Indiana State was unable to slow down a high-powered Southern Illinois last Saturday, as the Sycamores fell to the No. 15 ranked Salukis at Memorial Stadium, 47-21.
• The Sycamores got another standout performance from Dante Hendrix in the loss. Hendrix paced the Indiana State offensive efforts with his second double-digit catch performance of the season. The redshirt junior wide receiver hauled in 10 catches for 83 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Indiana State's final home game of the 2021 season. He now leads the team with 37 receptions for 392 yards with three touchdowns.
• Running back Peterson Kerlegrand has also been solid for the Sycamores on the year, averaging 4.6 yards per carry while amassing 769 yards and five touchdowns.
• Inoke Moala has been a force for the Indiana State defense, leading the group with eight sacks, 13 TFLs, and 36 total tackles on the season.

LAST TIME VS. THE SYCAMORES (10/26/19)
It certainly wasn't ideal conditions for the 2019 Homecoming game at Hancock Stadium, as No. 7 Illinois State and Indiana State had to battle cold temps and driving rain throughout the entire contest. The inclement conditions limited both squads to a heavy dose of the ground game, which proved to be beneficial for the Redbirds as they totaled 287 yards rushing on way to a 24-7 win over the Sycamores. ISU All-American tailback James Robinson finished the game with 180 yards and two touchdowns in the victory.

APPROACHING A MILESTONE
Illinois State freshman running back Cole Mueller heads into the final game of the 2021 season with 878 yards and is just 122 yards rushing away from the 1,000 mark. If he were to eclipse that plateau, Mueller would become just the 16th player in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season and would crack the Top 20 single season rushing marks in program history. With a big game, he could also eclipse the freshman single-season rushing record set by Cameron Smith in 1993 of  1,016 yards. 

YOUTH MOVEMENT
In a year that has seen several young Redbird players get their first game experience, those young players have often stepped up in big ways for the Redbirds and make big contributions in year one. That held true at North Dakota, as freshmen Joshua Wright and J'Kalon Carter started for the first time in their young careers on offense and each played well. Freshman tight end Brett Spaulding also showed up in a big way, as he broke free for a 28-yard touchdown catch from fellow freshman Jackson Waring to tie the game in the fourth quarter. It was Spaulding's first career touchdown, as ISU has now had five newcomers score touchdowns this season.

BOHLKEN EARNS NATIONAL HONORS
Senior punter JT Bohlken was honored as a Stats Perform FCS National Player of the Week for Week 10 games by the organization, in addition to him earning MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week plaudits. Bohlken was honored as the Stats Perform FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week and was honored alongside UIW's Cameron Ward (Offense), Arkansas-Pine Bluff's Andre Fuller (Defense) and Yale's David Pantelis (Freshman). In addition, UT Martin earned FCS National Team of the Week honors. The senior from Jefferson City, Missouri, punted 12 times for a career-high 516 yards (43 yards per punt), placed four punts inside the UNI 20-yard line and uncorked two over 50 yards on the day. The 516 yards set a new Hancock Stadium record for a Redbird player and were the most in an MVFC contest as well. Bohlken also picked up a crucial first down for the Redbirds on a fake punt, running 21 yards to move the chains.

PICK SIX TRIFECTA
For the third time this season, a Redbird defender took one to the house for a score as Clayton Isbell recorded a 40-yard pick six in the 17-10 overtime win over No. 13 UNI. Jarrell Jackson took one 95 yards to the house in the season opener against Butler, Kenton Wilhoit scored from 20 yards out on an interception at No. 15 South Dakota and Isbell's from 40 yards out completed the pick six trifecta for the Redbirds so far this season. The interception was the third of the season for Isbell, who is now tied with Jackson for the most on the squad.

ZEKE THE FREAK
Linebacker Zeke Vandenburgh played the best game of his career when the Redbirds needed it the most to pick up their second-straight win over a ranked opponent. The junior from Freeport, Illinois, recorded a career-high 14 tackles, added two sacks and tallied a career-best 3.0 tackles-for-loss for the Redbirds in the  17-10 overtime win over No. 12 UNI. For his efforts, he was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week. He took down UNI quarterback Theo Day twice in the contest and also added a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry in the contest, as the Redbirds recorded a season-high six sacks as a team.

COMING UP BIG IN OVERTIME
Freshman quarterback Jackson Waring struggled to get much going throughout the game against No. 13 UNI, but came up big in overtime when it counted the most. On the second play from scrimmage on the first possession of OT, Waring connected on a perfect 27-yard corner fade to the end zone with Austin Nagel to put the Redbirds up 17-10. That play would ultimately be the game winner for the Redbirds and marked the fourth touchdown pass of the season for the young signal caller. It was also the Redbirds' first OT winner since 2015.

SACK PARADE
The Illinois State defense headed into Saturday's game against No. 13 UNI with just 10 sacks on the season, but the Redbirds nearly eclipsed that mark against the Panthers with a season high six in their 17-10 overtime victory. Linebackers Zeke Vandenburgh and Jeremiah Jordan each tallied two for ISU, and cornerback Braden Price added another on a blitz early in the contest. Shannon Reid and Jacob Powell combined on the other sack of UNI quarterback Theo Day, who was hurried three more times in the contest.

BOHLKEN WITH THE BOOT
Senior punter JT Bohlken has been a consistent weapon in the field position battle this season for the Redbirds and is looking to close out his final season in a Redbird uniform in a big way. He currently ranks No. 11 in the FCS in punting at 44.5 yards per attempt. Bohlken has posted four games with an average of over 45 yards per punt this season, including a season-best 49.7 yards per punt mark at Western Michigan. He has also recorded 18 punts of over 50 yards with a long of 64 and has had 13 punts fall inside the opponent 20 yard line. His 44.3 yards per punt average is just short of his career-best of 44.6, with one more games left to overtake that mark.

HE DID IT AGAIN
Freshman running back Cole Mueller did it again for the Redbirds, as he had another big day carrying the football against Western Illinois. The Wentzville, Missouri, native followed his career-best 178 yard performance a week earlier at South Dakota with 159 yards on 27 carries (5.9 yards per carry) and scored a career-high three touchdowns against the Leathernecks. It was his second-straight 150-plus yard rushing effort and his fourth with over 100 yards this season. His first touchdown of the game on a 45-yard dash just a minute into the contest and he added his second of the day on a 14-yard run early in the second quarter. Just a minute later, he tallied his third touchdown of the contest on a one-yard plunge to put the Redbirds up early.  He now leads the team with 878 yards on the season and team-high six touchdowns.