Saturday Thoughts

The Missouri Valley Football Conference picked up some more wins over the weekend in non-conference play--the only teams that lost were Northern Iowa and Missouri State. The wins this week were closer than last week; both Youngstown State and Indiana State struggled putting away weaker FCS opponents. The most surprising game, in my opinion, was Southern Illinois. Although, that must have not been too surprising to some considering the Salukis were receiving votes in the AnyGivenSaturday.com top 25 poll, even before the weekend, when they were sitting at 0-2.

Illinois State QB, Matt Brown (Photo: Steve Smedley)

Illinois State 54, Eastern Illinois 51

Instant classic in Normal over the weekend. Eastern Illinois is a pretty solid team from the Ohio Valley Conference and played Illinois State through two overtimes. The Redbirds final scoring strike was a 25 yard touchdown pass from Matt Brown to Tyrone Walker to end the game. Matt Brown passed for 473 yards--a career best--in a thriller. Illinois State is well on its way to playoff eligibility and should pick up another win next week against Western Illinois.

Indiana State 27, Drake 10

This game was tied 10-10 at halftime, however, the Sycs dominanted the second half and pulled away. Shakir Bell ran for 349 yards and 2 touchdowns. I was high on Mike Perish last week, but this week he was less than spectacular throwing for only 94 yards with 1 TD and an interception. Drake's quarterback Michael Piatkowski out-performed Perish throwing for 329 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. In the end, Indiana State controlled the second half and did what they needed to do to pull of a nice win against a pretty good Drake football team.

South Dakota State RB, Zach Zenner
(Photo: The Collegian/Aaron Stoneberger)

South Dakota State 12, UC Davis 8

Ugly game up in Brookings over the weekend, however, South Dakota State's defense is once again proving that it belongs as they shut-out the UC Davis offense. The Aggies only points came from a pick-six (something that apparently is still plaguing the Jackrabbits) and was capped off with a two-point conversion. On a good note, running back Zach Zenner hasn't missed a beat. He ran for 193 yards and two touchdowns yesterday. The Jackrabbits will need to start strong and finish drives if they are going to knock off the Sycamores in Terre Haute next weekend.

Iowa 27, Northern Iowa 16

Northern Iowa played great against Big Ten competition again. However, they now sit at 1-2 and can't risk losing many more games if they want to be playoff eligible. Sawyer Kollmorgen played okay, but not as well as in the past. Northern Iowa just couldn't punch the ball into the endzone to finish off drives. They also couldn't stop the run--Iowa running back Mark Weisman ran for 111 yards and three touchdowns--and the Panthers couldn't run. Northern Iowa was held to 94 total rushing yards. Next week Northern Iowa returns to some normal, yet hard, competition as they face conference foe Youngstown State in a huge early season conference game.

Youngstown State 31, Albany 24

This game was much closer than I anticipated. I knew that Albany would score some points, but I figured Youngstown State would pull away after the half much like Indiana State did this weekend. The Penguins were off their game and won, to me, is an indication of a very good team. I don't want to take anything away from the way Albany played though, they are a good team from the NEC--and ranked in my ballot the past two weeks. We'll be seeing more from this Albany team come playoff time.

Southern Illinois WR, LaSteven McKinney
(Photo: Adam Vogler)

Southern Illinois 35, SE Missouri State 14

As I stated before, this was a much needed win for Southern Illinois. Kory Faulkner performed much better in this game than in the previous two. He will need to continue that success into the conference schedule in order for the Salukis to completely turn things around. I still am surprised that the Salukis don't run the ball more, they have two very talented backs. the Southern Illinois defense also played very well after two dismal performances. After three weeks, this Saluki team has played better each week. If they continue that trend, the Salukis could emerge as a darkhorse this season.

Iowa State 37, Western Illinois 3

I attended this game last night and was surprised that Iowa State didn't score more points. Western had trouble moving the ball all night and had trouble containing the Cyclones shifty tailbacks. Iowa State racked up over 500 yards of offense compared to 178 for Western Illinois. An a good note, Nikko Watson looked good, he had a couple of big runs but most of his yards were in a 'cloud-of-dust'. Western will face a tough Illinois State team next week.

Murray State 28, Missouri State 23

Missouri State still can not pull off a win. From looking at the stats, it looks like they shot themselves in the foot all game. Ashton Glaser threw two interceptions and they couldn't get the run game into high gear. At 0-3, Missouri State has a long way to go in oder to turn the season around. Southern Illinois will come into Springfield next week, in a must-win situation for both teams.