Illinois State head coach Brock Spack sounded like he was ready to put on the helmet and pads himself this week when talking about his team’s game with the Bison on Saturday. Now in his fourth year, he’s done quite the job in Normal — the four straight years of winning seasons are the first for the school since 1945-48. The last time the program saw the playoffs was in 1999 when it reached the semifinals losing to Georgia Southern.
Is ISU ready for the big game? It will have to play better at home and in that regard, the Redbirds are a lot like NDSU. The only two Bison losses the last two years have come in the dome. ISU’s two defeats this year have been at Hancock Stadium — 17-0 to Southern Illinois and 24-17 to Missouri State. It’s also a facility that is in the middle of a $25 million renovation, where only about half of the stadium is in use. Capacity for Saturday is 7,700 people.
This is a huge game for NDSU in this regard: a win and I think the Bison will reach Texas again. A victory assures of a top 2 seed. Home in the dome ills aside, I don’ t think FCS teams outside of the Missouri Valley can come into Fargo and win, not with the defensive statistics I’m seeing from other leagues.
Jeff, Is this a a must win to get a top 2 seed?
Jeff,
I agree, this is a must win for the HERD! Pound the ball, control the clock and the defense, well, will play as usual. The dome is huge for the Bison in the playoffs. Being here in VA, I am curious if we play ODU in a playoff game and how we would match up with ODU’s scoring offense. I believe they have not faced any team like us that runs the ball or has the defense we have. This potential playoff game could shut down a lot of talk in my office in the near future.
A Bison loss and Dom and I generally agree a 4 or 5 seed would be in order.
Why hasn’t the offensive lineman that dove at Leevon Perry’s knee been suspended? It is obvious that he intentionally went after the knee and it is obvious it was after the play and the block was unnecessary.
Cheap shots and dirty plays like that will not be a good thing for the Jacks football program.
Bison, I have to agree there is no question that he went for Perry’s knees. If a Bison player hurt a player from any other team in the league it would be a huge story on how the Bison are cheap. I thought the late hit by the kid who hit Jensen in the 4th quarter to keep the last drive alive was cheap as well. When Jensen let go of the ball the kids was at least 2 steps away. Then to make it worse he hit Brock high. I DVRed the game and watched both of these plays in slow motion. I thought both were really lousy and I don’t think of the Jacks as a cheap team but it sure looked bad last Saturday. Go Bison!
Because it wasnt a cheap shot. If you knew anything about how the game is played you would know that.
Bison offense should be as reliable as the Bison defense.Right now thats not the case.
The real Brock Jensen needs to show up on Saturday.
word gets around fast in this leauge
Yup, what goes around, comes around.
Sdsu sucks they are a hated rival and I can’t wait for NDSU players to pay them back. Maybe clothesline natalie wolters in bball ?
Speaking of bba when is the shac done? What does teammakers pres and exe dir do? Wherres the dam money
Hey Jeff, what are you hearing about Leevon? Has he had surgery? Was it a success? There was some talk about him not being able to play football again. Hope he can get healed-up.
i agree we win tomorrow , i will be looking for tickets for frisco
The Frisco talk is ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as everyone asking if the 2012 Bison were the best team ever. We know how that talk all went, down the tube with Jensen pick sixes. Lots of football to be played people. It may be a cliche, but there are a lot of “one game at a time” between today and the date in Frisco.