MVFC Week 6 Preview
Chad Lenz & JT Nutt, MVFC Contributors | October 08, 2015
JT Says-
# 9 Northern Iowa @ #1 North Dakota State
North Dakota State and UNI. They meet again. Dome sweet dome up in the Fargo Dome this time. UNI knocked off NDSU last year in the UNI Dome in arguably the best defensive performance by a UNI team in a decade, certainly the most aggressive. The defense has been the only consistent bright spot for UN and they will need every bit of swagger if they want to knock off the Bizon on the road. Carson Wentz will look to follow his fantastic offensive line to be the cats on the ground and through the air. If he has as easy of a time as he did against SDSU, then it will make for an easy win against UNI and an easy road to the top of the Missouri Valley Title. The Panther Pass defense will keep him in check but they can not allow the big plays in the rushing game. The only UNI scoring chances came from turnovers forced by their defense. The offense needs to get it going but NDSU is the last team you want to face when trying to accomplish much of anything. NDSU is too much for the Panthers this week, they win easy.
# 5 Illinois State @ #11 Youngstown State
Youngstown State looks to move towards the top of the Missouri Valley. Illinois State travels to Youngstown as the #5 team in the nation. Although they beat UNI last week, the looked beatable. Youngstown has had some inconsistencies this season but look better than ever after their relatively easy win over South Dakota. Illinois State will ride their horse Marshaun Coprich who scored 2 touchdowns on 33 carries for 169 yards. He out gained UNI himself by 65 yards. The Penguin defense has allowed 174 yards per game this season and if they don’t find a way to stop Coprich, then they will have a long day. Youngstown is improving but they are not to Illinois State’s level yet. The Redbirds run the ball, control the clock, and win it going away.
Missouri State @ Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois will be looking for revenge after a last second loss to Western Illinois. Missouri State…looks to show up for more than one quarter this week. A 56-23 bloodletting last week shows that the Bears still have some work to do. Southern Illinois should win this, and easy. They may not be the caliber of an NDSU or Illinois State but they can still make it to the second tier in the Valley. An upper echelon Valley team will have a good argument for the playoffs. Losing home games is a surefire way to take yourself out of the playoff picture. This game is not on TV, it will not be pretty, but SIU wins and might be finally figuring things out.
Chad says-
South Dakota @ Western Illinois
USD looked to be gaining momentum through the non-conference slate, and had people on AGS thinking this might be a year that USD could challenge to stay out of the bottom 2 in the conference. Turns out UC-Davis and Drake aren’t quite MVFC level, and YSU made them look like the same USD we’ve known since they joined the conference. Western Illinois, in terms of talent, is pretty close to the Penguins. South Dakota might be improved, but I don’t see how this game turns out a whole lot different than last week. Statistically the game might look close, but I think Trenton Norvell and Lance Lenoir Jr. hook up for a couple big plays to break the score open.
#16 Indiana State @ #8 South Dakota State
Had you asked me preseason if I thought this game would be as interesting as turned out to be and I would have said no. I might have said no just one week ago. I want to see how the Jackrabbits respond to their showing last week. It could be one of those things that NDSU just has SDSU’s number, physically and mentally. If that’s the case it will be interesting to see if there is a hangover from it. I think it has the opposite effect. SDSU is 5-2 their last 7 games following an NDSU game, including beating Indiana State last season one week after losing to NDSU. I think we see a concerted effort to get Wieneke and Lujan going early with a strong dose of Mengarelli and Wallace out of the backfield to chew clock. Indiana State has a chance if they get their ground game going again, though. SDSU is giving up over 5 yards per rush as a defense. The Sycamores best chance is to control the clock and keep Wieneke off the field.
| 1:00 | # 9 Northern Iowa @ #1 North Dakota State | NBC North Dakota/ESPN3 |
| 3:00 | South Dakota @ Western Illinois | ESPN3 |
| 6:00 | # 5 Illinois State @ #11 Youngstown State | ESPN3 |
| 6:00 | #16 Indiana State @ #8 South Dakota State | Midco Sports Net/ESPN3 |
| 6:00 | Missouri State @ Southern Illinois | No TV |