MVFC LogoCollege football is finally back. Here’s how the first full weekend of football played out across the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

8/31 – Western Illinois at Tennessee Tech

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
WIU 3 7 24 7 41
TTU 0 0 0 14 14

Quick Hits:

  • WIU – Defense holds TTU to 0 net rushing yards with 10 tackle performances from LBs Brett Taylor and Quentin Moon. Moon also had a career-high 3.5 tackles for loss, earning him the conference “Defensive Player of the Week” award.
  • WIU – After injury to preseason All-MVFC RB Steve McShane, Sophomore RB Max Norris steps up for 135 rushing yards.
  • WIU – WR Jaelon Acklin attempting to fill the shoes of (current Dallas Cowboys WR) Lance Lenoir, catches for 79 yards and 1 TD and rushes for 37 yards and 1 TD.
  • WIU – D-Lineman Khalen Saunders has 4 tackles (1 sack) and a lot of behind-the-line pressure…also gets put in as a fullback….really FULL-back (he’s 310 lbs) and gets a rushing TD….apparently we got ourselves a “Mini-Fridge”.
  • WIU – Cookeville, TN native Vic Johnson gets a rushing TD in front of his “home crowd” and in his first collegiate game, and Sophomore DB Mike Viti has a 45-yard “pick-6”.
  • TTU – QB Andre Sale throws for 223 yards and 2 TDs.
  • TTU – WRs Darri Stafford and Dontez Byrd have long TD receptions of 61 yards and 52 yards respectively.

WIU starts the season strong and is now 1-0. They’ll head 1,400 miles west and over a mile up (in altitude) to take on the strong passing attack of Northern Arizona next weekend.
TTU gets off to a 0-1 start and will head about 3 hours down the highway to play the Kennesaw State Owls next Saturday.

My Pick in Review:

I said: 10-point Leatherneck win
It was: 27-point Leatherneck win
I know that the margin was way more than I expected, but considering this is the first week and we didn’t really have any idea how the two teams would do or play (and since I’m the one doing the grading here)…I’ll count this as a win.

8/31 – Eastern Illinois at Indiana State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
EIU 13 3 0 6 22
INSU 7 0 3 10 20

Quick Hits:

  • INSU – SR RB LeMonte Booker provides over half of the Sycamores offensive yards with 154 rushing yards, 8 receiving yards, and 2 TDs (one each by land and by air).
  • INSU – JR LB Katrell Moss and SO LB Jonas Griffith each finish with 13 total tackles
  • INSU – Question marks at the QB position as JR Isaac Harker throws 38 yards, 1 TD & 1 INT before being replaced about halfway through the 2nd quarter by RS-FR Cade Sparks who gets 95 yards, but 0 TDs (and 0 INTs).
    INSU – Preseason All-MVFC SO PK Jerry Nunez hits FGs from 43 and 19, but misses from 48 with less than 2 minutes left in the game
  • EIU – Wins the game on a last-second (technically 3rd-to-last second) TD pass.
  • EIU – No huge offensive standouts, as the top rusher (JR RB Isaiah Johnson) only gets 65 yards and 1 TD, and the top receiver (JR WR Alexander Hollins) gets 46 yards.
  • EIU – SR S Tray Mitchell picks up 11 tackles (3 for loss including 1 sack), 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery

Nothing real spectacular on either side of the ball, but EIU does just enough to win the game, taking back the lead after INSU went ahead with less than 5 minutes to go (their first lead since the 1st quarter).

Indiana State falls to 0-1 and will face the daunting task of taking on SEC member Tennessee next weekend.

Eastern Illinois picks up their first win, are 1-0, and will have a slightly easier job next weekend, as they head up to DeKalb to take on Northern Illinois and see if they can recreate what Western Illinois did last season against the Huskies.

My Pick in Review:

I said: 3-point Sycamores win
It was: 2-point Panther win
Man…I knew it’d be a close game. Take away the last 3 seconds of it and I was only 1 point off on my pick…but, a football game is 60 minutes long, not 59:57. A narrow “whiff” on my part for this one.

8/31 – Duquesne at South Dakota State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
DUQ 0 7 6 0 13
SDSU 20 14 14 3 51

Quick Hits:

  • SDSU – Wieneke…..just….¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    The (thank god he’s finally a) Senior WR wasn’t even the top receiver for SDSU in yardage with 75 yards (Adam Anderson had 81 yards), but had 4 TD catches, tying the school record for TDs in a game.
  • SDSU – JR QB Taryn Christion was the top passer and top rusher in the game, throwing for 254 yards and 5 TDs (w/ 1 INT) and running for 96 yards (mostly on a 90-yard run in the first quarter to set up an Isaac Wallace TD run.
  • SDSU – 609 total offensive yards is the second-most put up by SDSU since the 2007 season (most was 630 yards against USD last season).
  • DUQ – SO RB A.J. Hines, last year’s Jerry Rice Award Winner, held to only 34 yards.
  • DUQ – JR WRs Kareem Coles and Nehari Crawford each had a receiving TD
  • DUQ – SO P Mitch Maczura doubled his previous number of punts from all of last season with 8 against the Jackrabbits.

Pretty much business as usual for the Jackrabbits, Wieneke setting records…him, Christion, and Goedert gradually working their way towards the top of many of the SDSU and MVFC record books. Duquesne was held scoreless until less than 2 minutes were left in the first half, and then didn’t get another score until late in the 3rd, when SDSU was already at 48 points. I only watched part of the game, but I’d bet that it was mostly second-string Jackrabbits in the second half.

South Dakota State starts the season 1-0 and will head west next weekend to take on Montana State in one of many MVFC vs Big Sky matchups we’ll see over the next few years. Duquesne stays on the road (like Western, they start the season with 3 road games and a bye week, not playing their first home game until the last weekend of September) but will have a much better chance of a win against Valparaiso next weekend.

My Pick in Review:

I said: 20 point win for South Dakota State
It was: 38 point win for South Dakota State
A bit larger margin than I thought, I knew SDSU would put up points, but I know that Duquesne is a halfway decent team…they’re from the NEC, but still, pretty good for that “level” and kinda expected a few more points out of them. Still, essentially the game I was expecting.

9/2 – Missouri State at Missouri

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
MSU 21 14 0 8 43
MIZ 20 28 10 14 72

Quick Hits:

  • MIZ – What is even defense? 83 total points for both teams in the first half alone led to a record-breaking day for the Missouri offense (and a personal thank you from this WIU fan for erasing our name from most of Mizzou’s record books in the best offensive game categories).
  • MSU – 43 points…against an SEC defense…you don’t see that often from an FCS team.
  • MSU – SR RB Calan Crowder runs for 124 yards and 2 TDs
  • MSU – SO Transfer (from Garden City CC) QB Peyton Huslig throws for 353 yards, 2 TDs (1 INT) and earns the conference “Newcomer of the Week” award.
  • MSU – SR WR Malik Earl snags 8 catches for 163 yards and 1 TD.
  • MIZ – JR QB Drew Lock sets school records by throwing for 521 yards and 7 TDs (1 INT).

If you had told me before the game that Missouri State would put 43 points up against an SEC defense…ANY SEC defense…I would have said that you were drunk or high (or probably both). Has MSU found their QB after a season of question marks and alleged canine abuse? It’s possible, although I’d like to see another game or two out of him before I’m sure it isn’t just “beginner’s luck”. Still, a great debut performance for the new Bears QB.

Mizzou is now, as expected, 1-0 on the season and they’ll welcome South Carolina to Columbia next weekend.
Missouri State heads northward to take on future MVFC member North Dakota in Grand Forks, South Manitoba.

My Pick in Review:

I said: Mizzou by 20
It was: Mizzou by 29
I know I said that if MSU kept it within 20 points, that would count as a “moral victory”, but I think they can count this one, at least on the offensive side of the ball. If this keeps up, I can’t wait to see the 78-73 offensive shootout between MSU and SIU later this season.

9/2 – Youngstown State at Pittsburgh

1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Final
YSU 0 0 7 14 0 21
PITT 14 7 0 0 7 28

Quick Hits:

  • YSU – SR QB Hunter Wells throws for 311 yards and 2 TDs (1 INT), mostly to non-WR’s
  • YSU – True-FR RB Christian Turner and SR TE Kevin Rader each catch over 100 yards, with Turner getting 2 TDs and rushing for 32 yards.
  • YSU – SR S Jalyn Powell finishes the game with 14 tackles (9 solo)
  • Pitt – SR QB Max Brown throws for only 140 yards and 1 TD
  • Pitt – JR RB Quadree Ollison leads the team in rushing yards with 91 and 2 TDs
  • YSU – Defense holds Pitt offense to under 350 total yards

Despite giving up TDs on the first three possessions, the YSU defense turned things around and shut down the Pitt offense, allowing only 99 yards and 0 points in the second half. They scored just enough to force OT at Heinz Field, but having a pass intercepted in the end zone ended the Penguins hopes for another upset over the Panthers.

Pittsburg next heads to the hills of Happy Valley to take on a highly-ranked Penn State team.

Youngstown State heads back to the Ice Castle and will take on Robert Morris for the third year in a row.

My Pick in Review:

I said: Pitt by 17
It was: Pitt by 7
A lot closer game than I thought it was going to be…I expected Pitt to pull away at the end of the game, as what usually happens in games between P5 FBS teams and FCS teams. What I didn’t expect was for that “pulling away” to not happen until overtime, after the FCS team climbed back into a game that looked nearly over at halftime. They’re not quite the team they were when they made it to the FCS championship game last year, but it appears that they are still going to be a very tough team to beat for anyone, at any level.

9/2 – Mississippi Valley State at North Dakota State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
MVSU 0 7 0 0 7
NDSU 30 14 21 7 72

Quick Hits:

  • NDSU – Put up FCS-leading 498 total rushing yards, with JR RB Lance Dunn and SO RB Ty Brooks both getting over 125 yards and 2 TDs.
  • NDSU – Defensively, the Bison held MVSU to -31 yards rushing and 89 yards receiving (58 net yards), and picked up a safety.
  • NDSU – Kicking game was an issue, with JR K Cam Pederson missing on his two FGs (42 and 43 yards)

I don’t really think there’s much to say here. One of the best FCS teams over the previous few years vs one of the worst in one of the toughest places for a visiting team to play. It wasn’t going to be close. NDSU needs to find a kicker who can make 40-yard FGs in a dome though.

Life doesn’t get much easier for the Delta Devils next week, as they head to Southern Illinois to take on a pretty solid Saluki offense (they might get a few more points though).
The Bison will have a much tougher game next weekend as they head out to Eastern Washington for a game at The Inferno of Roos Field.

My Pick in Review:

I said: NDSU by whatever they want (I guessed around 45)
It was: NDSU by 65
I think everyone knew it was going to be a lopsided game. The one surprise for me was that I expected the scoring to slow down at least a little once NDSU put in their backups. I mean, I guess it did (they had 30 in the first quarter, 14 in the second), but still, another 28 points in the second half meant that MVSU just couldn’t keep up with NDSU’s players, even a ways further down the depth chart.

9/2 – South Dakota at Drake

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
USD 28 28 7 14 77
D+ 0 7 0 0 7

Quick Hits:

  • USD – SR QB Chris Streveler earned the conference’s “Offensive Player of the Week” award following a 248 passing yards + 5 TDs, and 53 rushing yards + 1 TD performance.
  • USD – Receiving targets were well spread out…no player had more than 50 yards receiving, but 7 receivers had 30 or more yards each.
  • DU – Had trouble holding onto the ball, 6 fumbles (1 lost), and 3 interceptions thrown for the Bulldogs.
  • USD – R-FR DB Phillip Powell caught two interceptions including one that was returned 9 yards for a TD.
  • USD – R-FR P Brady Schutt punted 4 times, dropping all inside the 20 and earning the conference “Special Teams Player of the Week” award.
  • USD – Drake was held to -1 net rushing yards in the game.

It was pretty obvious that Drake was overmatched fairly early on in the game. They’ve occasionally put together decent football teams, but this year doesn’t look like it’s one of them. South Dakota’s QB, Chris Streveler has the potential to be one of the best QBs in the conference this year, but like most week 1 games, I’d like to see how he does against a pretty good defense before we crown him. South Dakota will head east to take on MAC foe Bowling Green next week, and the next week, they’ll head home to take on North Dakota…a future MVFC member and a team that only VERY narrowly lost to Bowling Green last season.

Drake will bring in NAIA Southwestern College (Kansas) next weekend.

My Pick in Review:

I said: Coyotes by 20
It was: Coyotes by 70
I was apparently wrong about my assumption that “Drake isn’t a bad team for a non-scholarship team”. I didn’t realize quite how low they were ranked this year. I figured USD would win a blowout, but didn’t think it’d be a 70-point blowout (what is it with the winning teams finishing in the 70-point range this week?).

9/2 – Butler at Illinois State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
BUT 0 0 0 0 0
ILSU 0 17 21 7 45

Quick Hits:

  • ISU – Butler held to 41 total yards of offense (0 rushing yards)
  • ISU – No 1 specific standout, as the top Redbird rusher (SO RB Markel Smith) finishes with 88 yards, but 5 other players rush for over 35 yards
  • ISU – SR WR Christian Gibbs catches for 79 yards and 2 TDs
  • ISU – fumbled 4 times, losing 1 to Butler
  • ISU – JR S Mitchell Brees has 1 interception returned 29 yards for a TD
  • BUT – SR DB Isaak Newhouse picks up 14 tackles, 1 forced fumble, and 1 pass breakup in the game

Like the last few, pretty much as expected. Non-scholarship Pioneer League team (not even a good Pioneer League team) vs a “top half of the MVFC” full-scholarship team. It seems like ISU was slowed down a bit in the first part of the game, punting on their first two possessions and not picking up their first score until the second quarter, but picked things up from there, ramping up the scoring in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

Butler will head home to play Franklin College (DIII, Indiana) next weekend. Illinois State hits the road to play this year’s Mid-America Classic, the oldest rivalry in the state of Illinois, against Eastern Illinois. It will be the 106th meeting between the two teams, starting back in 1901.

My Pick in Review:
I said: 35-point Redbird win
It was: 45-point Redbird win
As I said, pretty much as expected when a decent MVFC team plays a mediocre non-scholarship team…35 points…45 points…about the same in the grand scheme of things.

9/2 – Northern Iowa at Iowa State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
UNI 7 3 7 7 24
ISU 14 7 14 7 42

Quick Hits:

  • UNI – JR QB Eli Dunne has 259 yards and 3 TDs passing, but also throws 3 interceptions.
  • ISU – JR QB Jacob Park does slightly better with 271 yards and 2 TDs passing, but only 1 interception.
  • UNI – SR LB Jared Farley picks up 14 tackles including 1 for loss
  • Both – UNI SR P Sam Kuhter and ISU SO P each punt 5 times for 225 and 227 yards respectively, both with 3 within the 20-yard line. Both players averaged 45+ yards per punt in the game.

This is the FBS game that UNI, during good years, is frequently able to pull out a win for. From what I’ve heard from some UNI fans though, this year is going to be more of a “mediocre” year for them most likely, and it looks like it played out in this game, as UNI got the scoring started, but then, for the most part, spent the game trading 1 Panther TD for 2 Cyclones TDs.

UNI will host Cal Poly at the UNIDome next weekend, and ISU will take on the in-state rival Hawkeyes for the annual Cy-Hawk rivalry trophy.

My Pick in Review:
I said: Iowa State by 7
It was: Iowa State by 18
I figured UNI would stay a little closer in this game, but essentially the same result. Just not quite enough offense for the Panthers to keep up this year.

Looks like I finished 8-1 in my picks for the week, missing on 1 due to an EIU TD in the final seconds of their game.

Thanks for reading, let me know if you like the new format (as opposed to the giant “wall-of-text” posts that I had a tendency to do last year. Check back later this week for my preview of this next weekend’s games (all games on Saturday, 9/9) including 5 MVFC/Big Sky matchups, 2 FCS/FBS games, and 2 more “standard” FCS/FCS battles.

Published by Scott Lawson

Father, runner, drum corps alumnus. Former member of the Western Illinois Marching Leathernecks. Following Leatherneck football and I-AA/FCS football since 1996.