First up, if you are just interested in the scores, here you go:

#19 Illinois State – 10
#1 North Dakota State – 31

Missouri State – 45
#21 Indiana State – 24

South Dakota – 20
#15 Youngstown State – 30

#34 Southern Illinois – 21
#13 Northern Iowa – 42

And….ugh….do I have to do the last one?…I do?…fiiiiine.
#17 South Dakota State beats #6 Western Illinois…there, happy?

Wait…you want the score too?…no…not going to say it. I refuse.
Huh?…I’ll be fired if I don’t?….ok, fine…52-14

What?…speak up you say?…ugh…if this job didn’t pay so well, I’d…
52-14….SDSU beat Western, 52-14
(there…you happy now?)

#19 Illinois State Redbirds at #1 North Dakota State Bison

This game felt a lot more like stereotypical “Bison Football” than the first 3 games of their season (although the Iowa game was fairly standard for them for a P5 FBS game). Things started off close, with the teams trading points in the first half with ISU up by 3 a couple of times. Then NDSU just blew it open in the second quarter with 21 unanswered points to make it 28-10 at halftime. In the second half, they really locked down the Redbird offense, allowing no points while putting up a FG. Fourth quarter, it really turned into a situation where the NDSU almost didn’t even care if they ended up scoring in a drive, as long as they took a large chunk of time off the clock. A bit of back and fourth, a 5+ minute Bison drive that ended in a missed FG and NDSU had put this game away, for a 31-10 victory, in a game that was pretty much never in doubt past halftime.

NDSU QB Easton Stick passes for 221 yards, 3 TDs and 0 interceptions with a QBR of 364.64….no wait…that was just the first half. He didn’t actually get that much more in the game, going 256 yards by the end, still just 3 TDs, since there was no scoring outside of the one Bison FG in the second half, but ended up with a 246.7 QB rating. Stick really spread the ball around, with 9 players getting at least 1 reception (but nobody getting more than 2). WR RJ Urzundowski snags 2 catches for 70 yards and a TD, TE Nate Jenson and RB Lance Dunn each get a TD reception as well. RB King Frazier runs for 76 yards, WR Darrius Shepherd has 1 run for 31 yards and a TD (that’s pretty efficient). As usual, the Bison control the clock, holding onto the ball for 36:28 of the game. Defensively, SS Robbie Grimsley, LB MJ Stumpf, and LB Pierre Gee-Tucker each get 7 total tackles. Tucker also ends up with 2 tackles for loss including 1 sack as well as a fumble recovery (forced by DT Aaron Steidl). DE Caleb Butler gets 2 sacks, and Steidl, DE Jarrod Tuszka, and DE Greg Menard each get 1 sack.

Illinois State’s QB Jake Kolbe finishes the game with 285 yards and 1 TD, with 0 interceptions. Primary passing target was WR Anthony Fowler, who picked up 119 yards and a TD, with his “usual” passing target WR Anthony Warrum ending up with 82 yards. RB George Moreira ends up with team-high 47 rushing yards. For the Redbirds defense, S Alec Kocour ends up with 14 total tackles…not a bad game for him, but I’m sure he would have preferred a win. LB Alejandro Rivera finishes with 11 tackles and DL Dalton Keene gets 10 tackles including 1 for loss. The Redbirds defensive squad ends the game with no sacks, no interceptions, and one forced fumble (looks like it was recovered by NDSU though).

North Dakota State moves on to 4-0 overall, 1-0 in the MVFC and will head down to Springfield, MO to take on Missouri State next weekend. Illinois State falls to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in the conference and will host Youngstown State in Normal, IL for ISU’s Homecoming game next weekend.

Missouri State at #21 Indiana State

This is definitely my “what in the wide wide world of sports is a’goin’ on here” game of the week. As expected, ISU got ahead with an early TD, which is then answered by a MSU TD…then a MSU FG, putting the Bears ahead 10-7. Another ISU TD and all feels right in the world with the Sycamores up by 4 after the first quarter.

This is when things get a bit crazy…MSU takes 3 plays in 20 seconds finishing with a 64 yard TD run. ISU gets the ball back, but has a turnover on downs. First play back, MSU’s QB Brodie Lambert nails WR Malik Earl for a 69 yard TD and the Bears are up by 10. A couple of possessions later and a MSU fumble leads to an ISU TD. Later a 39-yard FG brings it back to a 24-24 tie going into halftime.

The 3rd quarter was all Bears, with a nearly 6-minute drive resulting in a TD. Three plays from scrimmage later and MSU’s Dylan Cole grabs an interception at the start of the 4th quarter, leading to another Bears TD putting them up 38-24. Into the 4th quarter, and someone must have replaced the ISU hand stick’em supply with KY Jelly because their next 4 possessions ended with fumble, turnover on downs, fumble, fumble. In the meantime, Missouri State picked up another TD and was able to run out the clock leading to a 45-24 victory for the Bears…their first over a conference opponent in just a couple weeks less than 2 years and their first over a ranked FCS opponent in just under 3 years (14 point win over then #15 South Dakota State on 10/19/13…that’s honestly a lot more recently than I thought it’d be).

Missouri State QB Brodie Lambert threw for 279 yards and 3 TDs with 0 interceptions. His main passing target was WR Malik Earl who hauled in 11 catches for 161 yards and 2 TDs (all personal bests for him). On the ground, RB Colin Crowder ran for 131 yards and 3 TDs (a career high). On the MSU defense, LB Dylan Cole had 13 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 interception, and 1 forced fumble. For his efforts, Cole was awarded this week’s MVFC Defensive Player of the Week. DL Colby Isbell had 7 tackles, 2 for loss including 1 sack and a forced fumble. S Jared Beshore also had an interception.

Indiana State QB Isaac Harker threw for 344 yards a 1 TD, but had 2 interceptions. WR Miles Thompson had 83 yards and a TD receiving and RB Roland Genesy had 54 yards and 2 TDs on the ground. LB Jameer Thurman led the Sycamores with 14 tackles, 4 for loss (1 sack) and a forced fumble. DLs Norvel McGlaun and Conlan Cassidy each had a sack as well.

Congrats to the Bears in a game that almost nobody expected them to win. ISU coming off a win over ranked Illinois State, MSU coming off a half-game loss at Kansas State, playing with their backup quarterback, and not having a great deal of success the last couple of years. It’s an impressive win for a team that was winless against DI opponents last year. MSU looks like they are trending up, not to the point where they’re challenging the Bison yet, but they could end up not last in the conference this year, which is still a decent step up as compared to where they were expected to be this season (and how they were last season).

Missouri State moves to 3-1 on the season, 1-0 in the conference and will host the Bison next weekend in Springfield, MO.
Indiana State falls to 3-2 overall, 1-1 in the conference, and heads across the Land of Lincoln to take on Western Illinois in their homecoming game next weekend.

South Dakota at #15 Youngstown State

In Coach Nielson’s first MVFC game in charge of the Coyotes, South Dakota traveled to Ohio to take on the Youngstown State Fighting Pelinis Penguins. YSU got out to an early lead, turning a USD fumble into 7 points and putting up 10 each in the first and second quarters. Adding in USD’s FG midway through the first made it 20-3 at halftime. In that span, YSU gave away the ball on a turnover on downs and a fumble of their own later, but USD wasn’t able to capitalize on either.

In the 3rd quarter, YSU turned it over on downs again, only to have South Dakota go 3-and-out and punt. Then apparently a game of Hot Potato broke out and interrupted the game. The next play from scrimmage, YSU threw an interception, but then 8 plays later, USD threw it right back to the Penguins. After trading field goals to make it 23-6, YSU again gave the ball back to USD with another interception…this one allowing the Coyotes to work down the field in 11 plays for a TD to bring them within 10 points. The next possession, YSU had to punt, but this time it was USD’s turn to give it right back to Youngstown State on the next play from scrimmage, with a 21 yard pick 6 for YSU. USD was able to move the ball effectively over the next minute, with 5 plays (including a couple of ~20 yard gains) going 65 yards and resulting in a TD to make it 30-20 for the Penguins with about 1 ½ minutes left in the game. USD went for the onside kick, but it was recovered by YSU, and a few kneel downs later, that was the final score. Past the first quarter, the closest the Coyotes got was a 10 point deficit.

Youngstown State’s QB Ricky Davis threw for 281 yards and 2 interceptions (no TDs) and he was also the team’s rushing leader with 66 yards. Their receiving leader was WR Damoun Patterson with 2 plays for 86 yards. RB Martin Ruiz ran for 65 yards and 2 TDs. DE Avery Moss and LB Armand Dellovade each finished the game with 7 tackles, with Moss also having 1 sack and a forced fumble and recovery. SS Jameel Smith had 6 tackles and an interception, and FS Jalyn Powell had 3 tackles and the previously mentioned pick-6. DE Derek Rivers had a decent day pressuring the QB, with 5 tackles, but 2 sacks and 3 QB hurries.

For South Dakota, QB Chris Streveler threw for 141 yards, 2 TDs and 2 interceptions, and ran for 14 yards (on 14 attempts). RB Trevor Bouma ran for 75 yards, WR Alonge Brooks caught two passes for 56 yards and a TD and WR Riley Donovan also had a TD reception. On the defense, DB Andrew Gray had 9 tackles and an interception. True freshman DL Kameron Cline had 6 tackles including 2 for loss (1 sack). DB Jacob Warner had an interception, and D-linemen Colin Mertlik and Taylor Lambert each had a sack.

For the kickers on both sides it was actually a pretty good day, with USD’s Miles Bergner punting 6 times with a 44.5 average and going 2 for 2 on FGs including a 45-yarder. YSU’s punter Mark Schuler only punted once but it went for a 54 yard gain, and kicker Zak Kennedy went 3 for 3 on FGs (all within 30 yards). Kennedy earned the MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week award for his performance.

South Dakota falls to 1-3 overall, 0-1 in the conference and will head back home to take on the Northern Iowa Panthers next weekend.
Youngstown State improves to 3-1 on the season, 1-0 in the MVFC, and will head to Illinois State for the Redbirds’ Homecoming Game next weekend.

#34 Southern Illinois at #13 Northern Iowa

We have now reached the “insane catches” portion of our program for today (not that the other games didn’t have some, I’m sure, but there were a few that I’d like to specifically point out in the last two games.

Southern Illinois headed up to Cedar Falls to take on the UNI Panthers. Northern Iowa got the scoring started with a TD run and then following an SIU fumble, and a couple more plays, a QB TD run to go up 14-0 after 1 quarter. SIU gets on the board with a 33 yard TD pass early in the 2nd quarter, but UNI responds with a TD drive of their own, capped off with a 20 yard TD pass. Another drive for SIU, and another TD pass brings the Salukis within 7 points, 21-14. UNI drives back down the field, including a 37-yard pass on 3rd and 8 (see photo to the right). But, the drive stalls and the UNI kicker misses a 22-yard FG. SIU’s next drive went nowhere…well…technically not nowhere…it went 13 yards backwards, but then it took UNI all of 3 plays and 46 seconds to get another TD. SIU would get the ball back with 47 seconds left in the second quarter, and decided to go for it to try to get in another score before the half ended. Well…goal accomplished…they got another score in…unfortunately for the Salukis, it was 43 yard interception return for a TD for the Panthers. SIU finished off the half with a 48-yard missed FG and after a very productive final ¾ of a minute for UNI, found themselves down by 21 (35-14) at halftime.

The second half was a much more defensive battle, with 5 straight drives ending in punts before SIU broke through with a 50-yard pass for a TD to bring them within 14 points. A couple more drives ending in punts, and it was UNI’s turn, starting the 4th quarter with an 8-yard TD pass. UNI would miss another FG (46 yards) later in the 4th, and a few more stalled drives, then an interception by UNI sealed the victory for the Panthers, by a final score of 42-21.

UNI QB Aaron Bailey finished the game with 186 yards and 3 TDs passing (with 0 interceptions) and 98 yards and 1 TD on the ground. WR Daurice Fountain caught 5 for 89 yards and all 3 of those receiving TDs. RB Tyvis Smith ended up with 72 yards and a rushing TD. Defensively, LB Jared Farley had 9 tackles including 1 for loss and a fumble recovery. LB D’Shawn Dexter finished with 6 tackles, 2 for loss including 1 sack. D-Linemen Karter Schult and Hezekiah Applegate as well as LB Blake Thomas all had 1 sack each. LB Duncan Ferch had an interception, and DB Malcolm Washington had a 43-yard interception returned for a TD.

On the Saluki side of things, QB Josh Straughan finished with 307 yards passing and 3 TDs, but also had 2 interceptions and 4 sacks. The primary receiving target was WR Darrell James with 5 catches for 117 yards. WRs Connor Iwema, Billy Reed, and RB Daquan Isom had 1 receiving TD each, and Isom was also the team’s rushing leader with 46 yards on 11 attempts. The SIU defense had two players with 8 tackles in the game, LB Markese Jackson and DE Deondre Barnett. Barnett also had a sack and a forced fumble.

In the USD @ YSU game, I mentioned that the kickers had a great day. In the SIU @ UNI game, however, the kickers did not….very much did not. On FGs, the teams were a combined 0-3, missing from 48 (SIU), 22 (UNI) and 46 (UNI). Punting-wise, UNI Punter Sam Kuhter had the better day, with 6 punts averaging 36.2 yards and 3 inside the 20 yard line, which isn’t horrible, but that’s not a real high average (although some of that depends on starting field position…you don’t want it to go 60 yards when you’re kicking from the 50…you want it to go 48 yards…for example).

SIU falls to 2-2 overall, 0-1 in the MVFC and they will head home to take on South Dakota State next weekend.
UNI moves up to 2-2 and 1-0 in the conference and will head up to Vermillion, SD to take on the USD Coyotes next weekend.

#6 Western Illinois at #17 South Dakota State

I think this game was called after the first quarter…because…um…reasons. I’m kidding, of course, not that I didn’t wish it had.

The 3-0 Leathernecks headed up to Brookings, SD to take on the SDSU Jackrabbits to inaugurate their new stadium into MVFC play. The game started off somewhat back and forth, with the teams trading TDs, but in general, Western looking a little better to start off, finishing the first quarter up 14-7.

But everything changed when the Fire Nation Goedert attacked. Seriously, it was nearly all Dallas Goedert, all the time, from there on out. He’d already had the first SDSU TD of the game, but then had two more TD receptions in the 2nd quarter. Adding in a Connor Landberg ESPN Top 10 TD reception with 17 seconds left made the score 28-14 at halftime. Seriously…what is it with XDSU teams getting ESPN Top 10 catches in blowouts against us? I know our DB’s aren’t great, but a “regular” long pass for a TD doesn’t get you on ESPN…we just seem to get receivers on their “career” days it seems like. And because I’m sure you’ll want to see it, here you go:

Two plays into the second half, WIU has it’s first turnover of the season, throwing a Pick-6 to LB Christian Rozeboom. A SDSU FG and a 1-play 70-yard TD pass to…who else…Dallas Goedert…and the Jackrabbits are up 45-14. To add insult to injury, a pressured WIU QB Sean McGuire scrambles and throws a poorly executed attempt at a pass that is caught and taken for a TD….by SDSU DB Dallas Brown, for WIU’s second turnover of the game/season making the score 52-14. At that point, SDSU pretty much just played prevent defense, allowing short gains, but forcing Western to use up large chunks of the clock and not get any more points. No points scored in the 4th quarter meant that 52-14 was the final score.

SDSU QB Taryn Christion finished the game with 361 yards and 5 passing TDs, most of which went to TE Dallas Goedert who finished with 204 of those yards and 4 of the receiving TDs. Goedert would receive the MVFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. WR Connor Landberg had 21 yards and one spectacular TD catch. Star WR Jake Wieneke finished the game with “only” 102 yards. The ground game for SDSU was contained fairly well (not that the Jackrabbits needed to run that much), with the team leader being RB Brady Mengarelli with 41 yards. The previously mentioned LB Christian Rozeboom finished with 10 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 37-yard pick-6, as well as the MVFC Newcomer of the Week award. DB Dallas Brown also had a tackle for loss and a 19-yard pick-6.

For Western, QB Sean McGuire threw for 113 yards, 2 TDs and 2 interceptions. WR Lance Lenoir was held to 84 yards a 1 TD and WR Joey Borsellino had 39 yards and 1 TD receiving as well. WR Stacey Smith led the team in rushing, with 1 run for 71 yards, but the SDSU defense really keyed into standout RB Steve McShane, holding him to 56 yards on 14 attempts. LB Quentin Moon finished with 9 tackles in the game, while DB Justin Fitzpatrick and DB David Griffith each had 7 tackles. Griffith also had 2 tackles for loss. Defensive Linemen Khalen Saunders and Pete Swenson had 2 tackles for loss each.

An interesting point I’d also like to bring up. For those of you who read my preview last week, you might remember that I mentioned how Western was #1 in the FCS in Red Zone Defense, but 107th in the FCS in Total Defense (yards allowed), and what all that meant (it’s here, if you’d like to go read it). Specifically, that one of the keys to beating Western involved long passes for scores and not having to “slog” through the red zone….well….SDSU had 52 points and 478 total yards and entered the Red Zone exactly once the entire game (credit to user bigticket1 at SDSUFans.com message board for bringing that point up). So, that’s pretty much exactly what the Jackrabbits did. Offensively, they scored on passes from the following yardage away: 24, 25, 24, 17 (that was the “Top 10” catch in the back corner of the end zone), 38 (FG), and 70. They essentially didn’t get to the red zone, so most of that front-line advantage was negated. WIU’s D-Line wasn’t able to get much pressure on the QB (credit to SDSU’s O-Line blockers), which allowed him to make those incredible throws.

Like Western’s game last year at North Dakota State (a 59-7 loss, if you weren’t aware) the final score was not really indicative of the quality of Western’s team. I think at this point, that it was really just a combination of Western having something of a “letdown” from last week’s exciting FBS win, plus SDSU getting a bye week to plan, rest, and prepare, as well as essentially career days from a couple of SDSU players. Last year, WIU responded to the NDSU steamrolling by winning the next two games to finish the regular season and then won their first round game in the playoffs before losing in the second round to Illinois State. We’ll see if this year’s Leathernecks can do something similar, using this loss as a motivator to play better and not let something like it happen again.

South Dakota State moves to 2-2 for the season, 1-0 in the conference, and will head down to Southern Illinois next weekend.
Western Illinois suffers their first loss of the season, making them 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference and will head home to take on the Indiana State Sycamores for WIU’s Homecoming Game next weekend.

So, to follow up with my picks from my preview last week, here’s what I had, and how I fared:

North Dakota State (over Illinois State) by 14 – actual result, NDSU by 21. I thought ISU’s defense would hold NDSU to a few less points, but I’d say that one’s pretty close…WIN

Indiana State (over Missouri State) by 20 – actual result, MSU by 21. Holy cow did I miss on this one..but to be fair, I think just about everyone else did too. Still, a loss is a loss (in my predictions)…LOSS

Youngstown State (over South Dakota) by 12 – actual result, YSU by 10…pretty darn close, I’d say…WIN

Northern Iowa (over Southern Illinois) by 10 – actual result, UNI by 21. I did not expect UNI to double up SIU…didn’t think they’d throw down that many points. I actually thought it’d be more like 24-14ish, but still…I think that’s a win for me…WIN

Western Illinois (over South Dakota State) by 3 – actual result, SDSU by 38. Um….I really thought it’d be a close game. I was hoping we’d win by a few, although a lot of predictors though that we’d lose by a few…which I’d be ok with…but to lose by 38 points? I don’t think anyone saw that one coming. You know what…that one is so bad that I’m counting it as two losses for me. One for missing the winning team, and one for thinking that it’d be a close game no matter who wins…LOSS & LOSS

This week, in 5 games, I’m 3-3, which combined with my 2-1 from last weekend, puts me at 5-4 so far on the season.

Stay tuned for my Week 6 preview article later this week, where we’ve got Youngstown State at Illinois State, North Dakota State at Missouri State, Northern Iowa at South Dakota, Indiana State at Western Illinois, and South Dakota State at Southern Illinois (huh…outside of UNI going to USD…all MVFC teams will be in Illinois or Missouri this weekend).

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.