Central Connecticut at #6 Youngstown State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
CCSU 0 0 6 3 9
YSU 14 17 21 7 59

Quick Hits:

  • YSU – 496 rushing yards is 3rd most in program history.
  • YSU – JR TB Tevin McCaster runs for 101 yards and 1 TD.
  • YSU – 5 other players rushed for TDs including 2 each for SO QB Nathan Mays and SR WR Ricky Davis.
  • YSU – SO S Kyle Hegedus picks up 3 solo tackles and an interception.
  • YSU – SO DE (and controversy lightning rod) Ma’lik Richmond played in the second half of the game and had 2 tackles, 1 for loss.
  • CCSU – JR RB Cameron Nash leads the team with 62 yards rushing and the only Blue Devil TD in the game.

Same as last week…pretty much as expected. The now 2-1 Penguins beat CCSU by more than Syracuse beat them by in Week 1, so…that’s a thing…I suppose.

Next week, Youngstown State (along with most of the conference) takes the weekend off before another home game, but a much tougher opponent…South Dakota State on 9/30.
Connecticut Central State University is 0-3 and will welcome DII Walsh University for what will likely be the Blue Devils first win of the season.

My Pick in Review:

I said – Penguins by 32
It was – Penguins by 50
Guess I overestimated CCSU’s ability to stop the run. I picked a blowout…and a blowout it was.

#10 North Dakota at #23 South Dakota

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
UND 0 0 7 0 7
USD 17 14 7 7 45

Quick Hits:

  • USD – Put up 575 yards of offense including 355 yards from SR QB Chris Streveler (290 passing, 65 running).
  • USD – Streveler also had 2 rushing TDs and 1 passing TD.
  • USD – FR RB Kai Henry had 80 yards and 2 TDs on the ground.
  • USD – JR LB Alex Coker had 5 tackles including a 7-yard sack.
  • UND – Preseason All-Big Sky JR RBs Brady Oliveira and John Santiago combined for 94 rushing yards.
  • UND – 3 players had 10+ tackles, SR LB Jake Disterhaupt (13), R-FR LB Jake Rastas (11 including 1 for loss), and Big Sky Preseason Defensive POY SR DB Cole Reyes (10).

Now, I don’t think I’ve ever heard what it sounds like when a coyote takes down a hawk, but I do live close enough to the country to know what it sounds like when a coyote takes down a rabbit…and I’d imagine the sounds emanating from the UND locker room at halftime were roughly similar. Up 31-0 at the break, the Coyotes never looked back, tacking on 14 more points in the second half and only allowing one TD to the previously 10th ranked Fighting Hawks.

South Dakota enjoys their 3-0 start by taking next weekend off before starting conference action with a trip to Macomb for Western Illinois’ Homecoming game (also, first home game of the season, and the first time Coach Nielson has returned to Hanson Field since he left to become USD’s head coach).

North Dakota heads back home sitting at 1-2 and will host Montana State next weekend for their Family Weekend game.

My Pick in Review:

I said – Coyotes by 1 (or if in OT, 3 points)
It was – Coyotes by 38
I’m going to call this a “fail” on my part. I don’t think too many people outside of Vermillion, SD saw this kind of blowout coming…I know I didn’t. I picked the right team, but was WAY off base with how the game would go down.

#18 Illinois State at Eastern Illinois

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
ILSU 10 17 10 7 44
EIU 0 6 7 0 13

Quick Hits:

  • ISU – Held EIU to 14 total rushing yards.
  • ISU – JR QB Jake Kolbe passed for 218 yards and 1 TD.
  • ISU – 3 ISU players had TDs, with SO RB James Robinson picking up 2 (along with 89 rushing yards).
  • ISU – JR LB Tyree Horton led the team with 11 tackles including 3.5 for loss (2 sacks) and 1 forced fumble.
  • EIU – R-FR DB Mark Williams had the most tackles for the Panthers with 7.
  • EIU – First came off a blocked punt by R-FR DB Julian Hess returned 15 yards by SR DE Mack Weaver for a TD.
  • EIU – R-FR QB Scotty Gilkey Jr. was the team’s leading rusher with 13 yards and a TD.

Redbirds won the 106th meeting of the Mid-America Classic on dominating fashion and are now 2-0. Next weekend they’ll head down to Springfield, MO to open up conference play against the Missouri State Bears.

Eastern Illinois is 1-2 overall and starts their conference portion of the season with a home game against Southeast Missouri State next weekend

My Pick in Review:

I said – Redbirds by 7
It was – Redbirds by 31
Bigger win than I was expecting…mostly due to the two teams usually “playing up” a lot in this rivalry. I knew ISU would prove to be the better team, but felt that EIU would stay in it longer than they did. Still…I’ll count it as a win.

Murray State at Missouri State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
MuSU 10 0 8 3 21
MoSU 0 7 14 7 28

Quick Hits:

  • MO State – SO QB Peyton Huslig passed for 196 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 INTs and ran for 25 yards and 1 TD
  • MO State – SR TB Calan Crowder topped 100 yards rushing with a 104 yard and 1 TD performance
  • MO State – SR WR Deion Holliman had 5 yards rushing, 17 yards receiving, and 127 K/P return yards, with 3 big returns in the 4th quarter to set up the Bears’ winning score and earned the MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week Award.
  • MO State – SO LB McNeece Egbim had 15 tackles including 2 for loss.
  • Mur State – SR WR Jordon Gandy caught 85 yards and 1 TD
  • Mur State – SR DB D’Montre Wade had 6 tackles, 1 for loss, and 2 interceptions returned for a total of 50 yards

A relatively back-and-forth game between the two MSU’s.

Missouri State is now 1-2 following their first win of the season and host the ISU Redbirds next weekend to kick off the Missouri Valley Meat Grinder.

Murray State is also 1-2 and heads back home for a game against Ohio Valley foe Austin Peay for their Family Weekend game.

My Pick in Review:

I said – Bears by 7
It was – Bears by 7
Pretty much as expected…I thought they both might make it into the 30-point range, but fairly close to what I thought

Indiana State at #19 Liberty

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
INSU 7 17 14 3 41
LIB 14 14 14 0 42

Quick Hits:

  • ISU – R-FR QB Cade Sparks threw for 405 yards, 2 TDs and had 1 INT and was named MVFC Newcomer of the Week. It was the second-best passing game in school history.
  • ISU – SR WR Bob Pugh had 260 yards and 2 TDs on 8 catches, earning him both the MVFC Offensive Player of the Week award and the STATS FCS National Offensive Player of the Week award.
  • ISU – SR TE Jacquet McClendon also had a very good receiving game with 115 yards and 1 TD.
  • ISU – SR S KeAardis Ardley led the team with 12 tackles.
  • LIB – SO QB Stephen Calvert threw for 379 yards and 2 TDs, with 1 INT
  • LIB – SR RB Carrington Mosley ran for 102 yards and 2 TDs
  • LIB – SO WR Antonio Gandy-Golden had 171 receiving yards with 1 TD
  • LIB – JR S Corbin Jackson had 7 tackles and blocked the last-second FG that would have won the game for the Sycamores.

In a game that wasn’t supposed to be very close, Indiana State stuck with the Flames, climbing back from an 11-point deficit in the 2nd quarter to take the lead early in the 3rd. Indiana State would pull within 1 point early in the 4th and held the Flames scoreless to set up a last-second 23-yard FG that would be blocked…sending the Sycamores home with the loss and prompting the Liberty fans to storm the field. I repeat…Liberty fans stormed the field…after barely winning…against Indiana State. UND at USD was said to be the “Game of the Week” for the weekend, but in hindsight, it looks like this would have been a much better candidate.

ISU is now 0-3 and has next weekend off before taking on Illinois State in Normal the following weekend.

Liberty climbs to 3-0 and will hit to road to take on Jacksonville State next weekend.

My Pick in Review:

I said – Liberty by 10
It was – Liberty by 1
ISU stayed in this game much better than I thought they would. I was actually hoping I’d be wrong with this pick…would have loved to see the Sycamores knock off the Flames, but it was not to be. Still, the loss for ISU is a win in my column this week.

Drake at #4 South Dakota State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
D+ 0 3 7 0 10
SDSU 12 29 7 3 51

Quick Hits:

  • SDSU – JR QB Taryn Christion had 171 yards and 2 TDs passing and 1 10-yard TD run.
  • SDSU – SRs WR Jake Wieneke and TE Dallas Goedert each had receiving TDs and surprisingly…neither led the team in receiving yards…that was JR WR Alex Wilde with 64 yards.
  • SDSU – SR C Jacob Ohnesorge received the MVFC O-Lineman of the Week award.
  • D+ – SR QB Grant Kraemer threw for 201 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT.
  • D+ – JR WR Steven Doran caught 5 passes for 91 yards and Drake’s only TD of the game.
  • D+ SR LB Connor Willis led the Bulldogs with 7 tackles.

So, a grand total of 68 yards receiving for the duo of Goedert and Wieneke sounds like a “down” game until you look at the box score and realize that the Jackrabbits went into halftime with a 38-point lead. Coach Stig is not the type of guy to completely blow out a team, so we saw a lot of new faces in the second half including SR QB Dalton Douglas, SO RB Mikey Daniel, and the previously mentioned JR WR Alex Wilde.

The Jackrabbits are now 3-0 on the season and have a weekend off before heading east to take on Youngstown State.

The Bulldogs fall to 1-2 and head back home to take on Valpo for Homecoming next weekend.

My Pick in Review:

I said – SDSU by 54
It was – SDSU by 41
Might have been a little off on the margin, but pretty close overall. I said they’d let off the gas once they had something close to a 40-point lead…so, when they were up by 38 at halftime…that’s what they did. SDSU’s second string didn’t quite score as much as I thought they might, but in general it went down how I thought it would.

Southern Illinois at Southeast Missouri State

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
SIU 7 21 7 0 35
SEMO 3 7 0 7 17

Quick Hits:

  • SIU – JR QB Sam Straub threw for 126 yards in just the 2nd quarter en route to a 206 yard and 4 TD performance.
  • SIU – JR WR Darrell James had 119 yards on 6 catches with 2 TDs.
  • SIU – SR S Ryan Neal had 8 tackles, an interception with a 52-yard return, and a fumble recovery to set up a TD. For his efforts he earned the MVFC Defensive Player of the Week award.
  • SIU – SO P Lane Reazin averaged 47.2 yards per on 5 punts with 2 within the 20-yard line.
  • SEMO – SR QB Jesse Hosket had a rough day, throwing for 166 yards and a TD, but also 2 INTs and getting sacked twice.
  • SEMO – JR RB Marquis Terry picked up 90 yards and a TD on the ground.

SIU had a big 2nd quarter courtesy of some strong special teams kick returns and solid punting (including one that was dropped by the returner to set up a Saluki TD four plays later). For the weekend, the MVFC went 3-0 against the Ohio Valley conference.

Southern Illinois is now 2-0 and next heads down the river to take on Memphis next weekend.

Southeast Missouri drops to 0-3 and heads over to Eastern Illinois next weekend.

My Pick in Review:

I said – SIU by 14
It was – SIU by 18
That’s pretty close, I’d say.

#21 Northern Iowa at Southern Utah

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
UNI 0 7 3 11 21
SUU 7 7 7 3 24

Quick Hits:

  • UNI – JR QB Eli Dunne had 284 yards, but only 1 TD, 2 INTs, and 4 sacks.
  • UNI – Struggled with their ground game, netting -14 yards, mostly courtesy of those QB sacks.
  • UNI – SR WR Daurice Fountain did have a decent receiving game with 138 yards.
  • UNI – SR LB Jared Farley led the team with 12 tackles, 1 for loss, and 1 interception returned for 38 yards.
  • SUU – SR QB Patrick Tyler had 200 yards passing and 1 TD, but 3 INTs and a sack. He also had 45 yards rushing.
  • SUU – SO RB James Felila had 92 rushing yards and 2 TDs, as well as 10 receiving yards on 2 catches.
  • SUU JR LB Chinedu Ahanonu led the Thunderbirds with 12 tackles including 2.5 for loss (1 sack) and had a forced fumble that was recovered by SR LB Mike Needham.

Lots of interceptions, sacks, a blocked field goal…overall a pretty ugly game by both teams and in this case, Southern Utah was just a bit less ugly.

UNI drops to 1-2 and has a weekend off to recover before taking on MVC rival Southern Illinois next weekend.

Southern Utah is off to a pretty decent start at 2-1 (only loss to Oregon) and will play at Sacramento State next weekend.

My Pick in Review:

I said – UNI by 3
It was – SUU by 3
Well…I got the margin right…but yea, the pick was wrong.

The MVFC went 6-2 this weekend including 3-0 over the Ohio Valley and going 1-1 against the Big Sky.

I also went 6-2 this weekend with my picks. After last week I was 16-2 on the season, so now I’m 22-4.

Next week will be a much lighter week for the MVFC schedule, with only 4 games going on. One is a MVFC vs MVFC matchup, one should be an utter blowout and two are FCS vs FBS matchups…with one of those being a very good chance at a FCS over FBS win.

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.