MVFC LogoI knew this was going to be a week of close matchups, but holy cow…I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many close games by one conference in one weekend. Let’s start it off with the scores…

#30 South Dakota – 33
#35 Indiana State – 30
In 2 overtimes

#14 Western Illinois – 38
#36 Missouri State – 35

#11 South Dakota State – 19
#1 North Dakota State – 17

#23 Northern Iowa – 10
#12 Youngstown State – 14

Southern Illinois – 28
#33 Illinois State – 31

Look at those margins…5 games, average of 3 point margin per game, one in double-overtime, pretty much all of them still “in doubt” with less than 30 seconds left in the game, and most of them decided on the last play of the game. Essentially, there was only one instance of a team having the ball and the lead and being able to just kneel a few times to run out the clock, and that was only following an interception of the team that was down with about 30 seconds left (WIU at MSU). You could maybe put the SIU at ISUr game in that category as well, since ISU was kinda doing that, but ran out of time…sorta…and…well, I’ll explain it in the game recap below.

Thanks to ESPN and their various device apps, I was able to watch essentially the last minute or two of all of the MVFC games (in addition to watching all of the WIU at MSU game).

On to the recaps…

#30 South Dakota at #35 Indiana State

In last week’s preview of the game, I said that USD has a better running game, ISU has a better passing game, but USD has a better kicking game and that they’d win by a FG. Well, here’s how that went down…

Indiana State got the scoring started with a FG, but then a USD 69-yard touchdown pass, ISU fumble, and another USD touchdown had the Coyotes up early, 14-3. South Dakota had a 49 yard FG and then ISU was able to find the end zone with a 46 yard TD pass, making the score 17-10 after the first quarter. Fumbles on both sides and a missed ISU FG in the 2nd…otherwise, fairly uneventful and 17-10 was the score going into halftime. In the 3rd, USD actually missed a FG for the first time this season, ISU had a 48-yard TD pass, then USD with a 38 yard FG. An interception gave USD the ball on the ISU 13, which they took into the end zone 3 plays later, making the score 27-17 USD after 3. Trading drives ending in punts ate up much of the 4th quarter, but then with 2 minutes left, ISU scored on a 23-yard TD pass. The Sycamores defense held the Coyotes to a 3-and-out and was able to get within FG range and hit a 42 yard FG with 12 second remaining to tie it up at 27 going to OT. In the first OT, nobody got much of anywhere trying to move the ball, so an ISU 46-yard FG, then USD 41-yard FG kept it tied going to the second OT. USD started with the ball, and again had to settle for a 41-yard FG, but then, three plays into the ISU possession, the Sycamores threw an interception to end the game.

I’m not quite sure what happened to USD QB Chris Streveler, since he played the first half, but QB Ryan Saeger played in the second half. As near as I can tell, he got hit late in the first half and was taken out, possibly “concussion protocol”. Streveler is a big part of the USD run game, so it’ll be interesting to see how they do if he’s out for the next game or so. Streveler threw for 122 yards and 1 TD in the first half and Saeger threw for 54 yards and 1 TD in the second half. USD RBs Michael Frederick and Trevor Bouma each had 70+ yards and Bouma had a rushing TD. WR Alonge Brooks had 93 yards receiving and a TD, but also gave up a fumble. LB Jet Moreland finished with 9 tackles, 1.5 for loss, and DB Jacob Warner had 8 tackles and an interception. DB Graham Tyson had a sack and a fumble recover (along with 7 tackles) and DB Alex Gray finished with a fumble recovery and an interception (along with his 7 tackles). Kicker Miles Bergner had a great game despite missing his first FG of the season (a 40 yard attempt), nailing FGs from 49 and 38 yards out, and then two 41-yarders during OT, and as a result, was awarded the MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week honor. Bergner also had 9 punts with an average of 42.8 yards per punt.

Indiana State QB Isaac Harker threw for 325 yards and 3 TDs, but also had 1 interception (the other interception was thrown by WR Kelvin Cook in the second OT to end the game). WR Miles Thompson caught 152 yards of passes and had 2 TDs and WR Robert Tonyan Jr. had 59 yards and a TD. RB Roland Genesy ran for 109 yards. DL Conlan Cassidy led the team with 11 tackles including 3 for loss and 1 sack. LB Jameer Thurman had 8 tackles. ISU PK Jerry Nunez also had a pretty decent game, going 3 for 4, all from 40+ yards…hitting from 42, missing from 46, hitting another 42 and then making up for the earlier miss by hitting from 46 in OT. Punter Thomas Bouldin had 6 punts averaging 43.7 yards per punt with 3 inside the 20.

So, previewing the game, I said that USD had a better running game (they did, by 24 yards, but probably would have been by more if Streveler had been in the entire game), ISU had a better passing game (they did, by 149 yards, although they did throw 2 interceptions…one thrown by the QB), USD had a better kicking game (4 for 5 with a long of 49 vs ISU’s 3 for 4 with a long of 46…both were good, but USD’s was better), and that USD would win by a FG (they did…by exactly that…maybe I need to start buying lottery tickets). South Dakota is now 3-3 overall, 2-1 in the conference and will start a 2-game homestand against the other ISU…Redbirds this time…next weekend. Indiana State falls to 3-4 overall, 1-3 in the conference, and heads down to Southern Illinois next weekend.

#14 Western Illinois at #36 Missouri State

Missouri State is much improved over last year’s dismal season, plus they were playing at home against a Leathernecks team that, while winning most of their games, have been very up and down during the games themselves. The “Nerve Wracking ‘Necks”…”Nail-biting ‘Necks” (still workshopping that bit) have now had three of their last four games where they got up early and had to hold off a second half comeback to win by, at most, 5 points.

The first quarter was all Leathernecks, with MSU being held to 1 first down in their first 3 drives. Meanwhile, Western was able to find the end zone for a TD and hit a 33 yard FG to go up 10-0 after 1 quarter. Second quarter started with MSU throwing an interception, but then things started to turn back the Bears’ way. WIU missed a 40-yard FG attempt, and on the next drive, MSU used a 63-yard run on a direct snap to the RB to get them down to the 6 yard line which they took in for a 6 yard TD pass on the next play. A few drives later, Western was able to get another TD with 6 seconds left in the first half, putting the halftime score at 17-7.

WIU started with the ball in the second half, but was stalled after 5 plays. The next drive, MSU moved down the field, finishing with a 32-yard TD pass. Western answered their own TD drive, keeping the Leathernecks ahead by 10. WIU got another TD a few drives later on a 3-yard run that followed a 34-yard pass; Western was up by 17 at the start of the 4th quarter and the Bear’s fans started heading for the exits.

But wait…this is the Leathernecks we’re talking about…wouldn’t be complete without having to make it a close game….so….early in the 4th quarter, MSU nails a 49-yard TD pass. The next play from scrimmage, Western fumbles the ball and Missouri State takes over at the 21…4 plays later, another Bears TD and it’s suddenly a 3 point game…a 14 point swing in about 1 ¼ minutes. Western is held to a punt, but then MSU throws an interception a few plays later. Not to be outdone, the Leathernecks throw their own interception 4 plays later. Another MSU drive highlighted by a 37-yard pass ends in a 11-yard TD pass and the Bears are up 35-31 with under 5 minutes left in the game. Western drives down the field, eating up time, needing a TD to win (remember…they were up by 17 at the start of the quarter), and with 43 seconds left, going for it on 4th and Goal from the MSU 1 yard line, the first run at the pile stalls, but the runner steps back and goes around the side, taking it in for a TD to put the Leathernecks up 38-35. Two plays from scrimmage later and MSU throws another interception, after which Western was able to kneel a few times and end the game.

WIU QB Sean McGuire finished with 323 passing yards, 1 TD, and 1 interception. RB Steve McShane ran for 66 yards and 1 TD and RB Jamie Gilmore had 43 yards and 2 TDs. RB Devon Moore only ran for 1 yard on 1 attempt, but that one attempt was the 1-yard game-winning TD. WR Lance Lenoir had another 100+ yard receiving game, putting up 142 yards. LB Quentin Moon finished with a career-high 14 tackles and 1 interception and LB Brett Taylor had 11 tackles. DBs Xavier Rowe and David Griffith each had an interception as well. Kicker Nathan Knuffman averaged 48.4 yards on 5 punts with 2 over 50 yards and 2 downed on the 1 yard line.

MSU QB Brodie Lambert had 290 yards and 5 TDs through the air but 5 interceptions. His primary target was WR LeMarcus Stewart who finished with 95 yards and 1 TD. WR Deion Holliman had 59 yards and 2 TDs and RB Jason Randall finished with 91 yards rushing. Defensive standout, LB Dylan Cole had 16 total tackles w/ 1 for loss. LB McNeece Egbim finished with 14 tackles, and LB Kurran Blamey had 10 and a sack.

Western Illinois moves to 2-1 in the conference and 5-1 overall and will head home to take on a very angry NDSU Bison team next weekend. Missouri State falls to 1-2 in the conference and 3-3 overall. They’ll head up to Cedar Falls to take on the UNI Panthers next weekend.

#11 South Dakota State at #1 North Dakota State

While not the official “AGS Game of the Week”, this looked to be one of the most exciting and important (to the conference race and playoff seeding) games on the schedule this weekend. SDSU would get a chance to test their big-time offense against the punishing NDSU defense. It was the 105th meeting of the two teams in the Dakota Marker Game, a series going back to 1903.

SDSU started with the ball and moved 85 yards down the field, only to have the drive stall and have a turnover on downs (you’ll see that phrase a few times in this game recap) on the NDSU 1 yard line. NDSU responded with a long, grinding, stereotypical Bison drive 99 yards in 18 plays and taking just over 9 minutes, finishing with a 1-yard QB TD run….early in the 2nd quarter…seriously…not even two full drives in the entire quarter. SDSU again had a long sustained drive (78 yards) that ended in….turnover on downs at the NDSU 3. This time, the SDSU defense held NDSU to a 3-and-out and was able to get a 38-yard FG on their next drive to get some points on the board. NDSU responded with a 49-yard FG of their own, which made the score 10-3 going into halftime.

First drive of the second half and the Bison again work their way down the field, finishing with a 26-yard QB TD run, at which point NDSU was up 17-3 and considering how they were playing, that looked to be a near insurmountable lead. Another SDSU turnover on downs (at the NDSU 46 this time) gave the Bison the ball with a good lead and good field position….but then, two plays later an NDSU fumble would give the Jackrabbits the ball, which, 5 plays later, would turn into a 12-yard TD pass. NDSU was held to a punt and the 3rd quarter came to an end during SDSU’s next drive, with the score sitting at 17-10. Two plays into the 4th and NDSU would come up with an interception, but wasn’t able to make anything of it, going 3-and-out. SDSU was able to hit a 42-yard FG on the next drive to pull them within 4. NDSU was held again, and SDSU was able to head back, eventually getting to the NDSU 31 before another turnover on downs. The Jackrabbit defense really stepped up though and held the Bison to another 3-and-out. Again, SDSU would get down to nearly on top of the NDSU goal line, going for it on 4th and 1 on the NDS 2 with only seconds left on the clock….this time, however, they’d hit a 2-yard TD pass to give them the two point lead and the victory with a final score of 19-17 and their first Dakota Marker win since 2009 (when they were both just finishing up the transition to Division I).

SDSU QB Taryn Christion threw for 303 yards with 2 TDs and an interception, as well as running for 141 yards, which combined earned him the MVFC Offensive Player of the Week award. Tight End/M3A3 Dallas Goedert caught 150 yards and a TD and WR Jake Wieneke caught 108 yards and the game winning TD. LB Christian Rozeboom (a redshirt freshman, which means we have to deal with him for 3 more years) had 12 tackles and a sack as well as the MVFCU Newcomer of the Week award. DB Nick Farina had the fumble recovery that really kickstarted the Jackrabbits. SDSU kicker Chase Vinatieri went 2 for 2 on FGs from 38 and 42 yards out.

NDSU QB Easton Stick passed for 143 yards and ran for 86 and 2 TDs. RB King Frazier ran for 45 yards and WR Darrius Shepherd caught 74 yards on 6 receptions. SS Robbie Grimsley had 14 tackles and LB Matt Plank had 12. LB Pierre Gee-Tucker had 9 tackles and 1 sack, and FS Tre Dempsey had 7 and an interception. Kicker Cam Pedersen hit on the one FG he was called for, from 49 yards out.

SDSU is now 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference and will now head home to take on the other conference front-runner, Youngstown State, next weekend. NDSU falls to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference and will look to take out their anger on Western Illinois in Macomb next Saturday.

#23 Northern Iowa at #12 Youngstown State

A team that everyone thought would be mid-pack turns out to be in the running for the conference championship, and a team that everyone thought would be in the running for the conference championship appears to be “bottoming out”. Two very defensively-strong teams fighting it out in Youngstown, OH, the hometown of literally every college football coach…right?…isn’t that what ESPN said or something? Anyway…on to the game…Panthers at Penguins.

First quarter can pretty much be summed up like this (for those of you who know BASIC):

10 Drive go nowhere
20 Punt
30 GOTO 10

Yup…6 ½ drives, 6 punts (the rest of the ½ drive went into the 2nd quarter and also ended in a punt)….80 total yards of offense combined for both teams, and we’re scoreless going to the 2nd quarter. Finally, YSU coughs up a fumble which UNI is able to work down the field over 7 plays before getting points on the board with a 27-yd FG. Three plays later and YSU throws a 34-yard pick-6 giving UNI a 10-0 lead. YSU would throw another interception on their next drive, but UNI would give it back on a fumble 6 plays later. A turnover on downs by YSU 4 plays later as time expired took the teams into the locker rooms with a halftime score of 10-0, advantage Panthers.

Second half was much of the same to start off with…YSU 3-and-out and punt, UNI 3-and-out and punt, YSU 3-and-…well…missed FG, UNI 3-and-out and punt (wonder if the fans thought they were watching the movie Groundhog’s Day). Finally, YSU starts to put together a long drive that starts with 8 ½ minutes left in the 3rd and doesn’t end until about 3 ¼ minutes into the 4th with a 1 yard TD run…the first offensive TD of the game. That drive took 22 plays, went 86 yards and ate up 11:40 from the clock….very Bison-esque. UNI goes with another 3-and-out and YSU starts moving the ball again…9 plays, 32 yards, and an…..interception. That’s ok, because UNI just goes and 3-and-outs again. This time, YSU holds onto the ball, moves down the field and is able to find the end zone with a 1 yard TD run, giving them a 14-10 lead with about 30 seconds left to go. UNI starts getting the ball moving finally, but runs out of time….maybe. Apparently there was some question about if there was one second that should be left on the clock when the last pass was ruled incomplete, but the refs called it “game over”, and the Penguins came away with the win with a final score of 14-10.

I almost feel like I could say that offensive stats were “nothing”…like “nothing happened”…obviously that’s not literally true, so here’s what did happen.
UNI QB Aaron Bailey threw for 44 yards and was sacked 4 times. Not sure if he left due to injury or just for not playing well. Backup QB Eli Dunne had pretty much the same result…37 yards, 1 sack. RB Tyvis Smith ran for 71 yards, and UNI had two receivers catch for ~30 yards, WRs Logan Cunningham and Jalen Rima. DBs Elijah Campbell and A.J. Allen each had 9 tackles and Campbell had a fumble recovery. LB Duncan Ferch had 7 tackles and the pick-6 and DBs Malcolm Washington and Jamison Whiting each had an interception. Behind the QB, Center, and one RB, I think that Punter Sam Kuhter actually touched the ball more than anyone else on the team with 8 punts going for 43.6 yards per punt and 2 inside the 20.

YSU churned through QBs this game starting with Ricky Davis passing for 3 yards, an interception and a fumble…he would leave the game in the 2nd quarter (I’ve seen ankle injury from one source but also rib injury from another, so unsure at this point but likely won’t be playing next weekend). Next up was QB Trent Hosick who threw an interception and got crushed…like, broken collarbone, surgery, out for the season (possibly end of football career) kinda crushed….not good. The third YSU QB would be Nathan Mays, who would actually have the most success, throwing for 25 yards and an interception. RB Martin Ruiz led both teams in offensive yardage with 100 and a TD and RB Tevin McCaster ran for 29 yards and a TD. WR Darien Townsend led the team with 14 receiving yards. Punter Mark Schuler had 4 punts averaging 46.5 yards per punt. SS Jameel Smith led the team with 8 tackles and had a fumble recovery. LB Armand Dellovade had 8 tackles, 1 for loss. DT Savon Smith had two sacks, D-linemen Avery Moss, Derek Rivers, and Donald Mesier as well as FS Jalyn Powell had one sack each.

So…apparently if you don’t protect your QB, the UNI defense will eat you alive. This is not a big realization, but just a point worth mentioning. UNI didn’t really do any better though…I don’t know if any of their QBs got hurt, but quite a few sacks, very little yardage…no offensive TDs. Youngstown State moves up 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference, currently tied for the lead with SDSU, and next weekend will head to….SDSU….to decide for sure who is in the #1 spot in the conference at this point in the season. Northern Iowa falls to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the MVFC and will head home to take on Missouri State next weekend.

Southern Illinois at #33 Illinois State

In the 79th meeting of these two teams, it was a battle to see who would be able to “right the ship” after a string of losses. SIU had lost the last two and ISU the last four, and while it appears that neither will be likely playoff teams (barring some craziness involving winning out and other teams having drop-offs), they were both looking to attempt to salvage some amount of respectability in their season.

The first quarter started fairly similarly to the UNI @ YSU game…5 drives, 5 punts, 1 total first down, but then with just under 6 minutes left in the 1st, SIU broke through with a 29-yard TD run. ISU would continue the 3-and-out punting fun, which SIU would follow up with a 51-yard FG. On the next drive, ISU would finally get on the board with a 14-yard TD run that was set up by a 55-yard TD run, which made the score at the end of 1 quarter 10-7. The second quarter, Illinois State threw an interception on their next drive, but SIU wasn’t able to get any points out of it, missing on a blocked 47-yard FG attempt which was returned for 14 yards and gave the Redbirds the ball nearly to midfield. A few short plays, a 42-yard pass, and an 18-yard TD pass later, and the Redbirds would go ahead 14-10. SIU would fumble on the next drive, allowing ISU to run out the clock on the half.

Second half, SIU started by picking up a 39-yard FG, but ISU responded the next drive with a 51-yard TD pass to stay ahead, 21-13. A couple of 3-and-out drives later and SIU would pick up a TD on a 5 yard pass. A successful 2-point conversion later, and the game was all tied up at 21 with just under 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The SIU defense would hold on the next drive, but then their offense would give it right back three plays later with an interception. In one play, ISU would take that interception and turn it into a 38-yard TD pass. Two drives later, ISU would come away with a 50-yard FG just a couple of minutes into the 4th quarter putting them up by 10…and then we were back to more 3-and-outs…on 6 consecutive drives. SIU was able to complete a 35-yard TD pass with about 1 ¼ minutes left in the game to pull within 3 points, after which ISU was able to run a few plays and run out the clock…or not…because SIU still had a couple of timeouts and they were able to force ISU to have to punt the ball back, giving SIU one last chance with just a few seconds left to try and do something. But…when ISU went to punt the ball, defensive penalty, offsides on SIU…5 yard penalty + 10-second clock runoff = time’s up…game over…ISU wins by a FG, 31-28.

SIU QB Josh Straughan threw for 244 yards, 2 TDs, 1 interception, and was sacked 3 times. WR Darrell James caught 84 of those yards and both of the TDs. RB Cameron Walter ran for 72 yards and a TD. Safety Jeremy Chinn led the team with 7 tackles and had an interception. Punter Lane Reazin had 8 punts that averaged 44 yards per punt, a long of 57, and 3 over 50 yards.

ISU QB Jake Kolbe had 200 yards passing with 3 TDs, 1 interception, and was sacked once. WR Anthony Warrum caught 98 yards and 2 passing TDs, and WR Christian Gibbs had 79 yards and 1 TD. RB James Robinson ran for 122 yards and a TD. S Mitchell Brees had 11 tackles including 2 for loss and LB Brent Spack had 10 tackles including 1 for loss. DL Dalton Keene had 9 tackles, including 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and the blocked FG, which earned him the MVFC Defensive Player of the Week award.

Illinois State is now 3-4 on the season and 1-3 in the MVFC and will look to continue a new streak by heading up to South Dakota to take on the Coyotes next weekend. Southern Illinois drops to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the conference and will head home to take on Indiana State for Homecoming next weekend.

How’d I Do

Last week, in my preview article, here’s what I predicted as compared with what really happened:

South Dakota over Indiana State by 3 – as mentioned earlier, I picked USD over ISU by a FG, so I pretty much nailed this one…that’s a win.

Western Illinois over Missouri State by 7 – WIU up by 17 at one point, but wanted to both give me a heart attack and a result much closer to my picks…so they gave up a bunch of points and finished 3 points up. Western still won, pretty close on the margin, but it was a little tougher than I thought it’d be. Still, I’d call that a win for me.

North Dakota State over South Dakota State by 6 – I did say that SDSU looked like the most likely team to upset the Bison this season, but I didn’t end up predicting that they would. SDSU won by 2 points, so that’s a loss for me.

Youngstown State over Northern Iowa by 3 and a total score for both teams combined of maybe 40 at the most – YSU beat UNI by 4 and the total score for both teams was 24. I honestly thought about putting down 30 points as the total score, but thought that would be a bit too “bold”…guess I need to go with my gut a bit more. Still, I got the winner, within 1 point of the margin, and that it’d be a defensive battle, so that’s a win for me.

Illinois State over Southern Illinois by 6 – ISU held off SIU to win by 3, so that’s a win also.

I was pretty good overall this week, going 4-1 on my picks…and in a week where the teams were all pretty evenly matched, that’s not too shabby, I’d say. Combined with 9-5 from the previous couple of weeks, and I’m 13-6 in picking MVFC games.

Later this week, my Week 8 preview article will cover Missouri State at Northern Iowa, Illinois State at South Dakota, Indiana State at Southern Illinois, the battle for the top spot in the conference when Youngstown State heads up to South Dakota State, and what happens when an angry herd of Bison travel to Macomb to take out their aggression on a decent squad of Leathernecks with North Dakota State at Western Illinois.

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.