Gauntlet Continues For No. 22 Illinois State at No. 5 North Dakota State

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: March 13, 2021
Time: 2:30 p.m. CT
Site: Fargo, North Dakota 
Stadium: Fargodome
Capacity: 18,700
Series: NDSU leads 11-2
Last: L, 9-3 at NDSU (Dec. 14, 2019)
Stream: ESPN+ 
Listen: WJBC AM 1230 / 93.7 FM / TuneIn

THE GAME
The start to the 2021 spring season for No. 22 Illinois State does not get any easier this week, as the Redbirds travel to Fargo, North Dakota, to take on the defending national champion and No. 5 ranked North Dakota State Bison at the Fargodome. The road trip is the second leg of a March swing that sees ISU play on the road against three team currently ranked in the FCS Top 10.

THE SERIES
The Redbirds and the Bison will square off for the 14th time in the series that dates back to the 2007 season. NDSU leads the all-time series 11-2, with ISU's lone wins in the series coming in head coach Brock Spack's first two seasons at the helm of the program in 2009-10. The Bison have won the last nine meetings overall, including last year's 9-3 slugfest in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his 12th season as the head coach at Illinois State (84-52). 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 is three wins away from becoming the program's all-time wins leader.

North Dakota State: Matt Entz (Wartburg College, 1995) is in his 2nd season as head coach at North Dakota State (19-1). Entz became the first Division I head football coach to go 16-0 in his first full season at the helm, and the 2019 Bison became the first modern-era college football team in any division to finish a season 16-0, joining the 1894 Yale Bulldogs as the only 16-0 teams in college football history.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• North Dakota State University is located in Fargo, North Dakota, and has an enrollment of  12,499 students. The Bison are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
• North Dakota State won its ninth-straight Missouri Valley Football Conference championship in 2019 and fifth outright crown including 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2018. With another MVFC title in tow, the Bison won their 16th football national championship and third straight thanks to an undefeated 16-0 mark.
• NDSU was picked to win its 10th straight Missouri Valley Football Conference title in the annual preseason poll of the league's head coaches. The Bison had a league-best eight first-team picks on the preseason All-Missouri Valley Football Conference team including fullback Hunter Luepke, wide receiver Christian Watson, offensive lineman Cordell Volson, long snapper Ross Kennelly, defensive lineman Spencer Waege, linebacker Jackson Hankey, cornerback Josh Hayes and safety Michael Tutsie.
• The Bison played one game in the fall, a 39-28 win over No. 11 Central Arkansas, and are 2-1 this spring. NDSU's 39-game winning streak came to an end on Feb. 27 when Southern Illinois defeated the Bison 38-14. That streak was the third longest in Division I history and the longest in FCS history surpassing the record 33-game Bison winning streak from 2012-14. 
• Senior punter Garret Wegner was named the Stats Perform FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week and the MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week after averaging 52.2 yards on five punts with a career-long 67-yarder and two inside the 20 in NDSU's at Missouri State last weekend. Wegner also had punts of 54 and 59 yards and helped limit the Bears to just 10 return yards. He also ran a fake punt 23 yards for a first down to set up NDSU's first score of the game. Wegner ranks second in FCS, averaging 45.7 yards per punt.

LAST TIME VS. BISON (12/14/2019)
It was a tale of two defenses Saturday afternoon, as No. 13 Illinois State held No. 1 North Dakota State without a touchdown at home for the first time since 2002, but the defending national champion Bison were able to hold the Redbirds to just a field goal in a 9-3 victory in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs at the Fargodome. The Redbird defense finished the day with a sack and 7 TFLs and held the vaunted NDSU offense to just 263 yards of total offense in the contest.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
The Redbirds have become accustomed to finding the end zone on the defensive side of the football in recent years, and they kept that streak alive at UNI over thanks to an impressive pick six by Kenton Wilhoit. The 29-yard interception return for a touchdown was the first of the season for the Redbirds and the first for Wilhoit in his career at Illinois State. ISU has now scored a defensive touchdown in each of the last 12 seasons under the leadership of head coach Brock Spack.

PLENTY OF PASS CATCHERS
The Illinois State wide receiver room was ravaged by injuries in 2019, forcing many young players into roles they were not expecting. Fast forward to the spring of 2021 and the wideout position is possibly the deepest on the squad. Taylor Grimes, who played in just four games in 2019 due to injury, returned in a big way to catch a 59-yard touchdown pass. Kacper Rutkiewicz, a true freshman last season who had to step in earlier than expected, began his sophomore season where he left off and caught two passes for 45 yards. One of the most veteran players in the group, Austin Nagel, led the receivers with a career-high 132 yards on five receptions in the contest with two receptions over 50 yards.

RUMBLE BIG MAN RUMBLE
It's not often you see a 6-6, 330 pound defensive tackle rumble down the field after pulling down an interception, but that's exactly what happened late in Illinois State's season opener against South Dakota. Late in the fourth quarter, Redbird nose tackle John Ridgeway batted a pass at the line of scrimmage into the air and it fell into his arms for his first career interception. He then proceeded to rumble for a few yards before being brought down by a group of tacklers. Ridgeway tied for the team lead in tackles with seven and added a TFL and two quarterback hurries in the season debut.

FEAST OR FAMINE
It was one of those days for sophomore quarterback Bryce Jefferson in his home starting debut against South Dakota. Jefferson set career highs for completions (15), passing yards (280), rushing yards (65) and touchdown passes (1) against the Coyotes, and had three completions of over 50 yards in the contest. However, he also accounted for four interceptions and two fumbles in the contest, which featured big moments in the first half and tough outcomes in the second half.

MID-SEASON GAUNTLET AWAITS
When the 2021 spring campaign schedule was re-done after Indiana State announced it would not be competing, it surely did no favors to the Redbirds during the middle of the slate. After opening with games at Missouri State and hosting South Dakota, the Redbirds will play three of their next four games on the road all against opponents currently ranked in the Top 5 in the country. Road tilts at No. 3 Northern Iowa, No. 1 North Dakota State and No. 5 South Dakota State in the month of March will surely show what the Redbirds are made of. It doesn't get much easier when the calendar flips to April, as ISU hosts No. 24 ranked Southern Illinois at Hancock Stadium.

REDBIRDS FLYING HIGH IN POLLS
Coming off a 10-5 season an appearance in the FCS quarterfinals in 2019 and despite several key losses to graduation and transfer, FCS pundits still believe in the Redbirds and their chance at success in the spring 2021 campaign. Illinois State was selected No. 9 in the STATS FCS Preseason Top 25. The Redbirds were also selected No. 9 in the Athlon Sports and HERO Sports FCS preseason Top 25 polls. After the third week of competition this spring, the Redbirds sit at No. 22 nationally and are one of a record seven MVFC ranked in this week's poll.

A WINNING TRADITION
The Redbirds' 10-5 overall record in 2019 was the 10th season at .500 or better in the last 11 seasons under the leadership of head coach Brock Spack, who began his tenure at ISU with 6-5 records in both 2009-10. That consistency of winning has not been seen at Illinois State since the 1940's, when the Redbirds posted seven winning seasons in eight years from 1943-50 under the guidance of coaches Howard Hancock and Edwin Struck. Overall, the Redbirds have amassed a 84-51 (.622) record under the leadership of Spack, who is just two wins away from tying Howard Hancock for the program's all-time wins record (86).

O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN
Voted on by the team at the conclusion of spring camp, the Redbirds selected junior linebacker Zeke Vandenburgh, senior offensive tackle Drew Himmelman and senior punter JT Bohlken as their captains for the 2021 spring season. They will be joined each game by selected seniors voted on each week by the coaching staff as game captains.

REDBIRDS PICKED FOURTH IN MVFC PRESEASON POLL
The Illinois State football team was selected to finish fourth in the Missouri Valley Football Conference by the league's head coaches, when the annual preseason poll was announced following changes made from the fall season.