MVFC Week 6 Review
Chad Lenz & JT Nutt, MVFC Contributors | October 13, 2015
JT Says-
North Dakota State – 31, Northern Iowa – 28
The game we expected last week, happened this week. THIS may be the game of the year in the FCS. NDSU controlled the clock for nearly 40 minutes of the game and ran 80 plays in the 31-28 victory. UNI had 2 big touchdowns a 67 yard pass from Sawyer Kollmorgen to Daurice Fountain and then with 7:31 left in the game Aaron Bailey scored on an 83 yard run a mere 18 seconds after NDSU took the lead. But, the Panthers left too much time on the clock for the Missouri Valley Offensive Player of the week, Carson Wentz drove down the field converting on a 3rd and 20 as well as 2 fourth down conversions before finding Sheppard for a beautiful 18 yard reception. UNI’s last second hail mary never really had a chance and NDSU escaped with the victory. This is what makes FCS football superior to FBS football.
Illinois State – 31, Youngstown State – 29
Another exciting game. Youngstown scored a TD with 32 sec left to get within 2 after a 13 yard pass from Hunter Wells to Martin Ruiz. The 2 point conversion failed and Illinois State survived a close one. In fact 5 touchdowns were scored in the 4th quarter. Youngstown had 447 yards of offense with 207 on the ground and 240 from the air while converting on 7 of 14 on 3rd down and possessing the ball for almost 10 minutes more than Illinois State. But Tre Roberson’s rushing touchdown on 5 attempts and 90 yards to go with 130 yards passing and a touchdown was too much for the Penguins. Marshaun Coprich continues to put up numbers in the Illinois State backfield with 131 rushing yards and a touchdown. Had it not been for the NDSU v UNI game, this would have been the game of the week.
Southern Illinois – 73, Missouri State – 26
Missouri State is who we thought they were. SIU did not let them off the hook. A 73-26 beat down shows that SIU is a serious contender to make the playoffs while Missouri State continues to struggle. The Saluki’s scored multiple touchdowns in every quarter of the game. They finished with 673 yards of offense with 257 by air and a whopping 416 yards on the ground. Mark Iannotti threw fo 206 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for 106 yards and another score for SIU. Chris Perkins had 116 yards and 2 scores to lead all 9 rushers for the Saluki’s. Somehow Missouri State managed 301 yards on 81 plays but only got 18 first downs…compared to 30 by SIU. Southern Illinois is back and the Valley should be nervous.
Chad says-
Western Illinois – 40, South Dakota – 21
WIU took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards 12 plays for a score, capped by a 4 yard Norvell touchdown run. South Dakota was unphased early and answered with a 14 play 80 yard drive of their own. The Coyotes were feeling good after that drive and went for, and recovered an onside kick. The Leatherneck defense was able to step up and force a three and out, keeping momentum from taking a full swing towards USD. That stop swung the momentum, full force to WIU, as the ‘necks scored on their next 6 possessions and kept USD off the scoreboard on 7 of their next 8 possessions, to put USD away.
South Dakota State – 24,Indiana State – 7
In a move that wasn’t announced until about 30 minutes before kick off the Jackrabbits pulled a redshirt off of quarterback Taryn Christion as Lujan had suffered an ankle injury that kept him from playing. Christion gave a performance that the SDSU coaching staff could have only dreamed about when they decided to pull his redshirt halfway through the season. He accounted for 320 yards of offense. His first two drives resulted in only one touchdown, but were 15 and 14 play drives respectively and totaled 165 yards. Christion found any quarterback’s best friend, Jake Wieneke, 3 times on the next driver, the last of which was a 34 yard touchdown. Outside of a 43 yard touchdown pass from Matt Adam to Gary Owens there was no real offense to speak of from Indiana State. The game could have gotten much uglier had the Sycamore defense, which was down 5 major contributors including Connor Underwood, not stepped up and stopped the Jackrabbits 4 times in Sycamore territory.
| North Dakota State – 31 Northern Iowa – 28 |
| Western Illinois – 40 South Dakota – 21 |
| Illinois State – 31 Youngstown State – 29 |
| South Dakota State – 24 Indiana State – 7 |
| Southern Illinois – 73 Missouri State – 26 |