No. 21 Illinois State Looking For Bounce Back at Murray State

SETTING THE SCENE 
Date: October 19, 2024
Time: 2 p.m. CT
Site: Murray, Ky.
Stadium: Roy Stewart Stadium
Capacity: 16,800
Series: Illinois State leads 6-1
Last: ILS won 44-7 (Nov. 11, 2023)
Watch/Stream: ESPN+
Listen: WJBC 1230 AM / 102.1 FM / 93.7 FM / The Varsity Network

THE GAME
Coming off a tough loss at home last weekend to nationally-ranked Missouri State, No. 21 Illinois State will look to bounce back this weekend in Murray, Kentucky, when the Redbirds (4-3, 1-2 MVFC) take on the Racers (1-5, 0-3 MVFC) at Roy Stewart Stadium in their final game before their bye week.

THE SERIES
Illinois State and Murray State will meet for the eighth time on Saturday, with the Redbirds holding a 6-1 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 2001. ISU has won the last six contests in the series overall, with Murray State's lone win coming in 2001 at home in the first matchup between the two programs. The teams played in four-straight seasons from 2005-08 when ISU head coach Denver Johnson squared off with his alma mater, but the series was renewed in 2023 as the Racers joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his 16th season as the head coach at Illinois State (105-73). Spack guided the Redbirds to back-to-back shares of the MVFC title in 2014-15 and an appearance in the 2014 FCS Championship game. He has led the ISU to five playoff appearances overall and became the program's all-time wins leader in 2021.

Murray State: Jody Wright (Jacksonville State, 2005) is in his first season as the head coach at Murray State (1-5). A four-time FBS national champion assistant coach, Wright took over the Racers' program after spending the last two seasons as South Carolina's tight ends coach. He previously worked in the NFL as well with the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants.

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 65-24 at home under Spack's guidance
> ISU is 48-18 at Hancock Stadium since 2013 renovation

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT
> Murray State University is located in Murray, Ky., and has an enrollment of 9,421. The Racers are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference and play their home games at Roy Stewart Stadium (16,800).
> The Racers are off to a 1-5 start to the 2024 campaign under the leadership of first-year head coach Jodi Wright. This season marks the 100th for the Racers football program.
> Murray State is now 0-3 in the MVFC after a road loss at No. 8 North Dakota, 72-35, a home defeat to No. 4 South Dakota, 59-0, and last week on the road to Indiana State in a close contest 31-27.
> After trailing the Sycamores 21-10 at halftime, the Racers came back in the second half thanks to two touchdown passes from Jayden Johannsen caught by Kade Neely and Justice Hill. However, Indiana State took the final lead of the game with 11 seconds remaining to come away with the victory.
> Hill became the first Racer wideout with 100+ yards receiving since October 8, 2022 when Taylor Shields did so. The Little Rock, Arkansas native finished the game with 103 yards.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE RACERS (NOV. 11,  2023)
Thanks to a dominant effort on the ground and over 500 yards of total offense, the Redbirds slowed the down the Racers in a 44-7 victory on Senior Day in the home finale for ISU. The 345 yards rushing was a season-high for the Redbirds and their most since 2019, when they ran for 340 yards in a playoff win at Southeast Missouri State. The Redbirds also recorded three interceptions in the contest, their most since also recording three in the 2022 home opener against Valparaiso. Running back Mason King finished with 169 yards on the ground, one yard short of his season high, and tied his career-best with three touchdowns in the victory for the Redbirds. Senior defensive end Josh Dinga had a career day, recording a career-best two sacks just one play apart and finished with a career-high three TFLs to go along with seven tackles.

1-2 PUNCH
Last season, Daniel Sobkowicz was one of the best receivers in the Missouri Valley Football Conference last season but has been limited so far this season due to injury. However, the man who wears No. 2 on his jersey has returned from injury and bounced back in a big way, thanks to another dangerous option in the passing game who wears jersey No. 1 in Xavier Loyd. Sobkowicz's reputation precedes him, but defenses now need to pay attention to Loyd on the opposite side of the field which makes the Redbird offense much more dangerous. The dynamic duo are the top two leading receivers for the Redbirds, with Loyd leading the way with 31 grabs for 474 yards and three scores, while Sobkowicz is right behind with 32 grabs for 389 yards and four touchdowns. They are the only pair of receivers from the same school to be ranked in the top 7 in the MVFC in receptions, yards and touchdowns.

NIEKAMP NAMED FCS NATIONAL DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Illinois State sophomore linebacker Tye Niekamp had a stellar day for the No. 18 Redbirds in their 45-10 road win at No. 19 Southern Illinois, and for his efforts he was named the Stats Perform FCS National Defensive Player of the Week and the MVFC Defensive Player of the Week.
The Normal, Illinois, native was all over the field for ISU and recorded a season-best 11 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, and one pass break up against SIU. Following a pivotal interception from Niekamp, his second of the season, the 'Birds got the ball back in Saluki territory and pulled out the trick double pass play where Daniel Sobkowicz took a backwards pass and stopped in his tracks to throw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Loyd to make the score 31-10 with 12:42 left in the game. On the night, Niekamp and the Redbird defense recorded eight tackles for loss, four sacks, and forced two turnovers against the nationally ranked Salukis on their home field.

FCS STATE TITLE SECURED
One of Illinois State's preseason goals was to win the state title against the other three FCS schools from the Land of Lincoln on the schedule. After securing wins at home in back-to-back weeks against Western Illinois and Eastern Illinois in non-conference action, the Redbirds headed to Carbondale to take on No. 19 ranked Southern Illinois, who ISU had not defeated since 2019. Thanks to a dominant 45-10 win, ISU was able to go 3-0 against its in-state FCS foes for the first time since 2019, which also happened to be the last year the Redbirds made the FCS playoffs. There seems to be a bit of a correlation with the Redbirds going 3-0 against SIU, WIU and EIU and making the playoffs, as they also picked up the sweep in 2014 and 2015 on way to back-to-back MVFC titles and playoff appearances.

SPACK CLIMBING THE RANKS
Now in his 16th season at the helm of the Illinois State football program, Brock Spack has set nearly every coaching record in program history and hit another milestone against Missouri State in 2023. Already Illinois State's program wins record holder, Spack picked up the 100th win of his career in the Redbirds' thrilling 36-35 victory over the Bears to become just the fourth coach in MVFC history to reach 100 wins at a member school. Since that time, he's moved his career mark to 105-73 (.591), with his most recent victory coming against No. 19 Southern Illinois by a score of 45-10. That gave Spack his 65th win in MVFC play, which now ties him for third all-time with former UNI and Missouri State head coach Terry Allen. With a victory against Murray State, he would move into sole possession of third place behind UNI's Mark Farley and South Dakota State's John Stiegelmeier.

BIG PLAY OFFENSE
The Illinois State offense had another big day in its 45-10 win over No. 19 Southern Illinois, spreading the ball around while scoring touchdowns in impressive fashion. None of the Redbirds' six touchdowns came cheaply, with each being scored on plays of 20 yards or more. ISU scored on passes of 38, 28 and 20 yards from quarterbacks Tommy Rittenhouse and Jake Rubley and wideout Daniel Sobkowicz, and tallied touchdowns on runs of 36, 29 and 26 yards by Rittenhouse, freshman Matt Lawson and transfer Seth Glatz. In all, six different Redbirds scored touchdowns in the victory and Rittenhouse (1 pass, 1 rush) and Sobkowicz (1 receiving, 1 pass) each accounted for two.

FRESH FACES
A glaring number of first happened in Illinois State's road win at Southern Illinois on the offensive side of the ball, with several fresh faces scoring their first touchdowns in Redbird uniforms. Freshman running back Matt Lawson was the first to get his name in the books as he ripped of the longest touchdown run of his career at ISU with a 29-yard score in the third quarter. Later in the fourth quarter, transfer quarterback Jake Rubley toss the first touchdown of his Redbird career to Braden Contreras, who is not a new face but hauled in his first career TD as a Redbird. The final highlight of the night came when transfer running back Seth Glatz scored his first touchdown at ISU on a 26-yard run to cap the scoring in the 45-10 win for the Redbirds.

REACHING THE 500 YARD PLATEAU
Three times in 2023, the Redbirds offense eclipsed 500 yards or more of total offense in a resurgent year on that side of the football. It took four games in 2024, but the Redbirds recorded their first 500-plus yard offensive performance of the season with 518 in their 31-7 win over in-state rival Eastern Illinois. It was the first time reaching the 500 yards plateau since Nov. 11, when ISU racked up 510 yards of total offense in a home finale win over Murray State, and the most since Sept. 23 of last season, when the Redbirds had 521 yards in a victory over Lindenwood.