Redbirds Set To Open 2022 Season Under The Lights At Wisconsin

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: September 3, 2022
Time: 6 p.m. CT
Site: Madison, Wisconsin
Stadium: Camp Randall Stadium
Capacity: 80,321
Series: First Meeting
Last: N/A
Watch: FS1
Stream: Fox Sports App
Listen: WJBC 1230 AM / 102.1 FM / 93.7 FM / The Varsity Network

THE GAME
For the first time since 2016, Illinois State will square off with a Big Ten foe when the Redbirds open the 2022 season on the road against No. 18 Wisconsin under the lights at Camp Randall Stadium. 

THE SERIES
Illinois State and Wisconsin will meet for the first time on the gridiron on Saturday. The Redbirds have played Big Ten foes nine other times, including Minnesota, Illinois, Northwestern and Iowa with a combined record of 1-8 in those contests for the Redbirds. The lone win against the Big Ten came in 2016, when the Redbirds traveled north to take on in-state Northwestern and stunned the Wildcats by kicking a last second field goal to win the game.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his 14th season as the head coach at Illinois State (89-60). 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 five playoff appearances overall and became the program's all-time wins leader in 2021.

Wisconsin: Paul Chryst (Wisconsin, 1988) has guided the Badgers to a 65-23 (.739) record over his first seven seasons as head coach at his alma mater. A two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year selection, Chryst's 65 wins are tied for the third-most in school history while his .729 winning percentage in Big Ten games is best among active league coaches with a minimum of 50 games coached. Chryst also served as the offensive coordinator at ISU for the 1995 season.

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• The University of Wisconsin is located in Madison, Wisconsin, and has an enrollment of 47,932 students. The Badgers are members of the Big Ten Conference and play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium (80,321).
• Last season, the Badgers overcame a 1-3 start and went on to win 8 of their last 9 games to finish the season with a 9-4 overall record. They capped off the year with a victory in the Las Vegas Bowl over Arizona State.
• Wisconsin's defense was one of the best in the country in 2021, leading the NCAA in total defense and rushing yards allowed. The Badgers' defense allowed opposing offenses to score just 19 touchdowns and 169 points in 13 games last season (13.0 ppg).
• The Badgers boast one of the best backfield duos in the country in Chez Mellusi and Braelon Allen. The pair combined for 2,083 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns last season and are both on the preseason watch list for the prestigious Doak Walker Award.

BATTLING THE BIG TEN
Illinois State was 0-8 in school history against Big Ten Conference foes until the 2016 season, when the Redbirds shocked Northwestern to come away with a 9-7 win. The 2022 season opener against Wisconsin will give the Redbirds another chance to play against one of the best teams in the Big Ten. Illinois State has played four current members of the Big Ten Conference and has  with a pair of losses each to Illinois, Minnesota and Purdue and a lone loss each to the Wildcats and Iowa. Overall, ISU head coach Brock Spack is 1-3 in his time as head coach against Big Ten opponents and has posted three wins (Eastern Michigan, Northwestern and Colorado State) over FBS programs in his time at ISU.

FIVE REDBIRDS EARN PRESEASON HONORS
A quintet of Redbirds being selected to the MVFC Preseason Team, with senior linebacker Zeke Vandenburgh named a first-team selection, while running back Cole Mueller, offensive lineman Drew Bones, defensive lineman Braydon Deming and longsnapper Joey Malinowski earned second-team honors in the annual vote. Vandenburgh was selected as a 2021 All-MVFC Honorable Mention selection, after he ranked second on the team with 73 tackles, led the team with four sacks and tied for the team lead with 8.5 tackles-for-loss. Mueller was also named a 2021 All-MVFC Honorable Mention selection, following his breakout first season for the Redbirds. 
Bones started all 11 games at center for the Redbirds, the only Redbird lineman to start every game at the same position last season. Deming earned MVFC All-Newcomer Team honors in 2021 in his first season with the Redbirds. Malinowski rounds out the preseason honorees as one of the longer tenured longsnappers in the league.  He was not credited with a bad snap during the 2021 season and tallied seven tackles on special teams coverage during the year.

MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH
Illinois State freshman nearly set a school rushing record for a freshman during 2021 season and was on pace to become the 16th player in school history to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark. However, he came up just short, ranking third in the MVFC in rushing yards (977), fourth in rushing yards per game (88.8) and finished the season ranked in the Top 20 in the FCS in rush yards (No. 15) and yards per game (No. 20). That earned him a spot on the 2021 MVFC All-Newcomer Team and he finished second in the league in the Freshman of the Year voting.

TWIN TROUBLE
In their first season with the Redbirds in 2021, identical twins Bryson and Braydon Deming made an immediate impact and look to close out their collegiate careers in 2022 on a high note. After transferring from Montana, the brothers made huge contributions on each side of the football for ISU. Bryson was second on the team with 14 catches for 184 yards and also was second on the squad with two receiving touchdowns. Braydon wreaked havoc from his defensive line spot, tying for the team lead with 8.5 TFLs to go along with 2.5 sacks and 42 tackles on the year. That performance earned Deming a spot on the 2021 MVFC All-Newcomer Team.

CHRYST CONNECTIONS
Longtime Redbird fans may remember when Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst spent a season on the Redbird coaching staff in 1995 as offensive coordinator. Several other current connections to the football program will remember that year as well, including current offensive line coach Harold Etheridge who served in that same role in 1995 in his first stint with the Redbirds. ISU radio analyst Ted Schmitz was also on that coaching staff for the Redbirds and current defensive coordinator Travis Niekamp was a defensive lineman for the Redbirds in Chryst's only season in Normal.

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
Voted on by the team at the conclusion of fall camp, the Redbirds selected senior linebacker Zeke Vandenburgh, junior quarterback Zack Annexstad and senior longsnapper Joey Malinowski as their captains for the 2022 season. They will be joined each game by selected seniors voted on each week by the coaching staff as game captains.

A BIG ADDITION
The Redbird offense struggled mightily in the passing game in 2021 and the coaching staff is hoping their transfer from the Big Ten will be the quarterback to turn things around. Junior Zack Annexstad joined the Redbirds in the spring and instantly took over the huddle, playing well all spring and through the summer on way to being named the starting quarterback. Annexstad, a transfer from Minnesota, was named starting quarterback by coach P.J. Fleck as a freshman in 2018 and is thought to be just the second walk-on true freshman quarterback to start a season opener, joining Baker Mayfield who started his first game at Texas Tech in 2013 after walking. He would go on to complete 97 passes for 1,277 yards (third most all-time for a Minnesota freshman) and nine touchdowns (tied for third most all-time for a Minnesota freshman with Tanner Morgan) that season, before missing parts of the next three seasons due to injury.

FBS SECONDARY DEPTH ADDED 
A trio of experienced FBS secondary defenders join the Redbirds this fall to help bolster a young group for the Redbirds. Central Arkansas transfer Deandre Lamont, Indiana transfer Larry Tracy III and Bowling Green transfer Sy Dabney have all worked their way into playing positions during fall camp and hope to make big impacts this fall for the Redbird defense.

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 in 2021 when Jarrell Jackson recorded a 95-yard interception return for a touchdown against Eastern Illinois early in the season. ISU has now scored a defensive touchdown in each of the last 13 seasons under the leadership of Brock Spack.

LOTS OF FAMILIAR FACES
Fans who got to see the Redbirds in person last fall will notice a lot of familiar faces and names on the field Saturday night in the home opener at Wisconsin. ISU returns 56 letterwinners and 17 starters (8 offense, 9 defense) from last year's team. Many of those players saw significant action last season and with a full offseason in the weight room and work put in during spring and fall camp, this roster is expected to outperform the disappointing 4-7 record from last season.