MVFC Week 3 Review
Chad Lenz & JT Nutt, MVFC Contributors | September 22, 2015
Chad says-
Indiana State – 29
Southeast Missouri State – 28
Coming into this game I thought the Sycamores would need to weather an early storm to walk off the field with a win. Instead SEMO decided to save almost all of it’s scoring for the 4th quarter. The Redhawks scored 21 of their 28 points in the final 9:29 of the game, and 14 in the 2:24. Indiana State gave up the lead with 2:24 left in the game after a 1 yard Redhawk touchdown run and two point conversion. Matt Adam and Gary Owens connected for a 33 yard score, and two point conversion, with just 41 seconds left in the game. The Redhawks weren’t done as Dante Vandeven led the Redhawks right down the field and scored a touchdown as time expired. Rather than kicking the PAT and going to OT the Redhawks pulled out the “when to go for 2” card and saw “Down by 1 with no time on the clock and on the road” and went for the win. Ultimately his 2 point conversion fade route sailed high and Indiana State pulled the victory out of the jaws of defeat. The Sycamore defense, which I thought would be a strength of the team this year, has struggled to keep teams from putting up large chunks of yards. The Redhawks managed over 460 yards of offense on the day. That’s a trend that ISU will need to break.
North Dakota State – 34
North Dakota – 9
This game went almost as I predicted last week. North Dakota came out of the gates strong, forcing a NDSU punt, which resulted in a 52 yard return, giving UND the ball on the 22 yard line. Their next three plays resulted in just three yards and were forced to kick a field goal. That’s about as good as it got for UND for the next 40 minutes. This game went almost as I predicted last week. North Dakota came out of the gates strong, forcing a NDSU punt, which resulted in a 52 yard return, giving UND the ball on the 22 yard line. Their next three plays resulted in just three yards and were forced to kick a field goal. That’s about as good as it got for UND for the next 40 minutes. Then the Bison turned on the jets and scored 34 straight, including 24 to end the first half in which NDSU out-gained UND 241 yards to 5 (377 to 61 for the game).
UND’s defense looked okay, but their offense was non-existent. Carson Wentz threw for 262 yards and four scores. UND sold out on the run and did hold a potent Bison ground game to just 2.5 yards per carry. That may be something for UND to build on, and something for NDSU to address. UND’s defense looked okay, but their offense was non-existent. Carson Wentz threw for 262 yards and four scores. UND sold out on the run and did hold a potent Bison ground game to just 2.5 yards per carry. That may be something for UND to build on, and something for NDSU to address.
Western Illinois – 27
Coastal Carolina – 34
The Leathernecks continue to be the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde team. One week they look like they can’t do anything right, the next they are pushing a top 5 team to the brink on the road. Looking at the stats Western should have won going away. They had over 200 more yards of offense, 27 more plays and 17 more minutes of possession. As good as the offense looked the first 3.5 quarters they couldn’t muster a score in the final 10 minutes of the game to tie, and/or take the lead. Trenton Norvell played to his potential as he went 31-48 for 370 yards and 2 touchdowns. His favorite target, Lance Lenoir Jr, grabbed 10 passes for 116 yards. The Leathernecks also found a run game last week in Nikko Watson as he ran for 156 yards, and 2 scores, on 29 carries. If WIU could manage to put together any kind of consistency they could be a dangerous team. Unfortunately for the Leathernecks, the only consistent thing for them the last three of four years is the extreme inconsistency.
Illinois State – 34 OT
Eastern Illinois – 31
As bad as EIU looked this first 2 games they looked that good pushing the Redbirds to the brink. I don’t know if I’m impressed with the Panthers performance or starting to get concerned with Redbirds. They haven’t been overly impressive on defense, especially with the loss of Teddy Corwin to injury, and last weekend is a perfect example of that as they gave up just under 400 yards to EIU, including over 200 on the ground. Jalen Whitlow tied the game with a 5 yard touchdown run for the Panthers with just 1:48 left in the game. Eastern Illinois got the ball to start overtime, and the Redbird defense did come up with a big play and force a fumble. Illinois State did just enough to get into position to set up the game winning 32 yard field goal by Sean Slattery.
JT Says-
Northern Iowa -34
Cal Poly – 20
Cal Poly got a few touchdowns late in the game against Northern Iowa to get it closer than it really was. UNI started the game off with a well orchestrated drive down the field for a touchdown. They ran away with the game in the first quarter and never looked back. Aaron Baily had his best game as a Panther scoring 3 TD’s one by air, 2 by land with 15-25 passing. Brett McMakin is the MVFC player of the week with 15 tackles. The defense stayed disciplined minus Makinton Dorleant getting tossed from the game in the middle of a fight. They will miss him, and big, for the first half of the Illinois State game in 2 weeks. UNI wins 34-20
South Dakota – 52
Drake – 0
South Dakota shuts out Drake 52-0 at home. Trevor Bouma is becoming a household name in the Valley, 16 rushes 117 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Drake was 6 of 19 on third downs, missed 2 field goals, lost a fumble, and threw 2 interceptions. The South Dakota defense kept Drake to 116 rushing yards and 166 yards passing. Total domination in Vermilion.
Youngstown State – 48
St. Francis – 3
Youngstown State rolls St Francis 48-3. They scored 48 unanswered points before St. Francis finally connected on a 42 yard field goal to avoid the shutout with 7:40 left in the game. Youngstown got 28 first downs including 9 of 14 on 3rd. St Francis had 7 first downs in the entire game, 2 of them were penalties by Youngstown. 1 for 12 on third down played a large part. They were also 1 of 12 in passing. St. Francis managed 87 yards…for the whole game. Youngstown runs away with it on 302 yards rushing.
Missouri State – 7
Arkansas State – 70
Arkansas State pounds Missouri State 70-7. Arkansas State scored 9 touchdowns before Ryan Heaston got a 35 yard TD run for Missouri State to avoid the shutout. Arkansas State running back Johnston White had 3 touchdowns on 11 carries and 87 yards Ark State nearly doubled Missouri State with 624 yards of offense to the Bears 341. In fact Arkansas State had more rushing yards at 344 than the bears had total yards. Hard to win when you give up 7.5 yards per rush.
