Illinois State lost its first three contests before defeating Western Illinois in what would be their last game of the spring. Illinois State after that win then shut down their season due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tag: Illinois State Redbirds Football
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 4/17/2021
Well, we have made it sort of to the final regular season weekend in the Missouri Valley Football Conference spring schedule.
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 4/10/2021
After a week of postponements and further schools opting out of this 2021 spring season, the Missouri Valley Football Conference is down to just two weeks left and there is a four-way tie for the top spot currently. Missouri State, North Dakota, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State all sit atop with identical 4-1 records in conference play right now.
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 4/3/2021
Last week was a lost week for over half the MVFC squads and this week looks to be same. Two games last week were postponed or cancelled due to COVID-19 reasons with the North Dakota at Youngstown State and North Dakota State at South Dakota games both called off last week. The UND-YSU game will […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 3/27/2021
This week with just four games, the biggest appears to be Southern Illinois at Missouri State with the winner staying in the MVFC title and FCS playoff race and the loser likely will be on the outside. Here are all the previews and my predictions for the MVFC games this week.
CSJ Roundtable, Week of 3/28/21: Halfway, Sort Of, Through the Spring Season
We’re about at about the midpoint of the spring season, and the writers at CSJ get together to take stock of the season so far.
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 3/21/2021
SIU now gets South Dakota State at home this week. The Jackrabbits had a nail bitter against winless Youngstown State at home last week. The Jacks led the Penguins 16-7 through three quarters of play but YSU came back with 10 straight points to take the lead. SDSU though managed to drive in the wanning seconds of the game to get into field goal position where K Cole Frahm kicked a 29-yard field goal with 31 seconds remaining to lift the Jacks to the victory.
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 3/14/2021
This week the most intriguing match-up appears to the Northern Iowa at Southern Illinois as we have all MVFC games this week played on Saturday, March 13. The two schools both have a loss and getting their second loss as we will enter the mid-point of the spring schedule will likely result in the loser having to win out the rest of the season to get a playoff berth.
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 3/4–3/6 2021
This week we get a Thursday game that matches two of the three undefeated teams left in league play when South Dakota visits North Dakota as one of the highlight games of the week in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. All other games this week in the MVFC will be on Saturday, March 6. Last […]
CSJ Roundtable, Week of 2/27/21: What The Hell Did We Just Witness?
Like many other football fans across the nation of FCS, we watched North Dakota State’s 39 game winning streak come to an end in Carbondale, Illinois, but it wasn’t the only event this weekend that had us shaking our heads.
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Football Preview Week of 2/27/21
After a short first week of the season with just three of the possible five games played, Week 2 of MVFC play hopes to play the full five games this week. The two games canceled last week (Illinois State at Missouri State and Western Illinois at South Dakota) were postponed to the final weekend of […]
2021 CSJ Missouri Valley Football Conference Spring Football Preview
With a canceled 2020 FCS football fall season due to COVID-19 reasons, the sub-division will be playing instead in an unprecedented spring schedule.
North Dakota State Picked To Repeat In Spring Season; NDSU Aims for 10th-Straight Missouri Valley Football Crown
North Dakota State has been tabbed as the Missouri Valley Football Conference 2021 Spring preseason favorite in a poll conducted by league coaches.
2020 College Sports Journal FCS Preseason Top 25 Announced
Of our preseason poll last year, only 6 of the top 10 teams made the playoffs. 13 of the full 25 played past Thanksgiving. Its 2020, the year of complete chaos.
FCS Quarterfinal Round Playoffs: Top Seeded North Dakota State Wins Defensive Struggle over MVFC Mate Illinois State, 9-3
FARGO, N.D.—North Dakota State did not score a touchdown, but three field goals proved to be enough to secure its ninth straight Division I FCS semi-final appearance in a 9-3 victory over fellow Missouri Valley Football Member Illinois State in front o 14,132 in attendance inside the Fargodome. This game was the first time North […]
2019 FCS Playoffs: CSJ Playoff Picks, National Quarterfinals
We’re down to the final eight teams in the FCS Playoffs, as an unprecedented six of those teams face off on Friday evening in an intriguing tripleheader that includes three Big Sky teams. All three games played after sundown could be deeply affected by the weather.
2019 FCS Playoffs Quarterfinal Matchup: Illinois State at North Dakota State, How To Watch and Fearless Predictions
FCS Second Round Playoff Matchup: Illinois State at North Dakota State Where: Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota When: Saturday, December 14th, 12:00PM EST TV/Streaming: ESPN/Watch ESPN Illinois State Redbirds (10-4), Head Coach: Brock Spack Missouri Valley Normal, Illinois The Redbirds have won two road games to set up this all MVFC quarterfinal. Illinois State has defeated Southeast […]
2019 FCS Playoffs, Round 2 Review: CSJ Staff Gives Their Opinions
With the second round of the FCS Playoffs now complete, we give you links to all our recaps and our writers’ impression of the games.
FCS Second Round Playoffs: The James Robinson Show Rumbles Through Central Arkansas In 24-14 Victory
Illinois State RB James Robinson followed up his 297 yard effort last week against Southeast Missouri State with a 210 yard rushing game against Central Arkansas, including two touchdowns as the Redbirds defeated Central Arkansas 24-14 in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
2019 FCS Second Round Playoff Matchup: Illinois State at Central Arkansas, How To Watch and Fearless Predictions
FCS Second Round Playoff Matchup: Illinois State at Central Arkansas Where: Estes Stadium, Conway, Arkansas When: Saturday, December 7th, 3:00 PM TV/Streaming: ESPN3 (subscription req’d) Illinois State Redbirds (9-4), Head Coach: Brock Spack Missouri Valley Normal, Illinois In order for Illinois State to come away with a victory in its first-round playoff game […]
2019 FCS Playoffs, Round 1 Review: CSJ Staff Gives Their Opinions
With the first round of the FCS Playoffs now complete, we give you links to all our recaps and our writers’ impression of the games. Monmouth 44, Holy Cross 27 FCS 1st Round Playoffs: Monmouth Overwhelms Holy Cross 44-27 For Hawks First-Ever Playoff Victory Chuck: Monmouth proved they have a balanced offense that can give […]
FCS 1st Round Playoffs: Illinois State Uses James Robinson’s Record Setting Day to Defeat Southeast Missouri State, 24-6
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo.– Illinis State RB James Robinson rushed for a career high 297 yards on 41 carries to help defeat Southeast Missouri State 24-6 on Saturday in a first-round FCS playoff game. The 297 yards set a school and Missouri Valley Football Conference record for a playoff performance. Robinson moved past the 4,000-yard mark […]
2019 NCAA FCS Playoffs First Round Matchup: Illinois State at Southeast Missouri State, How To Watch and Fearless Predictions
Who: Illinois State at SEMO When: Saturday, November 30th Time: 2 pm Location: Cape Girardeau, Missouri How to Watch: ESPN 3 Playoff time is the true holiday for FCS and football fans across the country. There are familiar matchups and first-time meetings to spice up the bracket with old and new opponents. These two teams […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 13 Review
The regular season is over but four Missouri Valley Football Conference teams will be playing in the FCS postseason tournament. Two MVFC teams were seeded with North Dakota State getting the #1 seed and South Dakota State getting the #7 seed. Northern Iowa and Illinois State also received bids. Those four teams were expected to […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 11/23/2019
It is hard to believe we are already in the last week of the regular season. The playoffs start next week and it looks right now that four MVFC teams are surely in the playoffs with North Dakota State winning its ninth straight tite. But South Dakota State, Illinois State, and Northern Iowa look secure […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 12 Review
North Dakota State clinched its ninth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference title with its win over South Dakota 49-14. The Bison clinched the title outright for the fifth time and third straight year with second-place Northern Iowa taking its second loss of the conference season 38-7 at South Dakota State. NDSU will take a 32-game winning […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 11/16/2019
North Dakota State closes out its home schedule this week while hosting South Dakota. The Bison are hoping to clinch at least a share of the MVFC title and the automatic playoff bid in the FCS Playoffs this weekend. NDSU also hopes to win its 25th straight home game and its 32nd straight win overall. […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 11 Review
The beat goes on for North Dakota State as it won its 31st straight contest in blowing out Western Illinois 57-21. The Bison rolled up 688 yards of total offense–the most in its Division I era and the fourth most in school single-game history. Six different players scored touchdowns including two from true freshman Jalen […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 11/9/2019
The beat goes on for NDSU (9-0) as is this week, the Bison host Western Illinios, host South Dakota next week and finish the regular season against Southern Illinois on the road. SIU is the lone team currently with a .500 record left and may need that win in the last weekend to get a […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 10 Review
Four of the five games this week had the road team win in Week 10 of MVFC play and previously winless Western Illinois was the lone home team to pick up a victory this week. North Dakota State remained undefeated in both conference play and overall with its blowout win at Youngstown State 56-17 in […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 11/2/2019
The halfway point of the MVFC has just one undefeated team in league play but has three with just one loss. North Dakota State is undefeated in league and is unblemished overall. Northern Iowa, Illinois State, and South Dakota State are the three teams with just one loss at the midpoint of the MVFC schedule. […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 9 Review
And then there was one-undefeated team in the Missouri Valley Football Conference that is. A record crowd of 19,371 was on hand at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium following ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast from the South Dakota State campus saw the Jackrabbit faithful disapointed as North Dakota State rallied from a tie game in the fourth […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 8 Review
As the Missouri Valley entered into its third week of conference play, three teams remained undefeated going into this week of action. But only two came out of their meetings unscathed. North Dakota State and South Dakota State remained perfect in league play after their wins over Missouri State and Indiana State respectively. The third […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 10/19/2019
The big question in the Missouri Valley Football Conference right now is there a team that can knock North Dakota State off its current winning streak. The Bison have the second best winning streak in FCS history at 27 (second only to themselves of 33 in 2012-14). NDSU also has a league game winning streak […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 7 Review
The second week of Missouri Valley Football Conference in-conference game resulted in three teams remaining undefeated in conference play. North Dakota State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State are the three schools that moved to 2-0 in league play. NDSU remained the only MVFC undefeated team in all action. This week, NDSU looked vulnerable in […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 10/12/2019
The MVFC has two Top 25 clashes again this week with the biggest being Northern Iowa visiting North Dakota State. The other is Youngstown State hosting South Dakota State. Counting two games last weekend here have been 175 games in which two MVFC teams ranked in the top 25 played one another. Of those 175 […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 6 Review
The Missouri Valley Football Conference got into conference play with all 10 teams playing their first game within the league. Two teams went into their conference openers and only one came out unscathed. North Dakota State went to beat Illinois State on the road easily, while Youngstown State traveled to Northern Iowa and left with […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 10/4/2019
The Missouri Valley Football Conference gets into conference action for the first time this week. And what a first week we have!! Two Top 25 match-ups highlight this week. The first is top ranked North Dakota State visiting Illinois State in a 2015 national championship rematch. The other three games in the league play are […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 4 Review
The Missouri Valley Football Conference did well in Week 4 in going 6-3 against its non-conference schedule in Week 4. That included going 5-0 against the Big Sky Conference in the MVFC-Big Sky challenge. The league guaranteed a winning mark against the other strong western US conference as it now sits at 6-3 with one […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 9/21/2019
Week 3 saw another good showing for the Missouri Valley Football Conference as a whole (See the recap here). The league went 6-3 as a whole in non-conference action. This week will be the last where the full conference has out-of-conference games with another nine games this week (Youngstown State is the lone conference team […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 3 Review
The Missouri Valley this week had another good week with its nine out-of-conference games. There were nine games with Northern Iowa being off this past week. Overall, the league went 6-3 against its competition. The top game this week as top ranked North Dakota State visiting the CAA’s Delaware, who were also ranked in the […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 9/14/2019
The Missouri Valley Football Conference did well in Week 2 as the league as a whole. The biggest win in the league was Southern Illinois’ 45-20 win at UMass. Te MVFC now has had at least one FBS win in each of the last 10 seasons. The MVFC recorded a 1-7 mark vs. the FBS […]
Missouri Valley Football Conference Week 2 Review
The Missouri Valley Football Conference as a whole had a much better week than in Week 1 during this past Week 2. The league as a whole went 6-3 with one of the highlight wins being Southern Illinois’ win at FBS Massachusetts. Two of the losses were to FBS teams with Western Illinois falling at […]
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 9/7/2019
On paper, the Missouri Valley Football Conference did not get off to a great start, with only one win in Week 1 (although another was in Week 0). But the conference’s teams’ play was very good, as I explained in the my MVFC recap for Week 1. In Week 2, nine of the ten squads see action with six of the nine games featuring out-of-conference FCS opponents and the other three against FBS foes with one being a Power Five match-up.
College Sports Journal Missouri Valley Football Conference Game Previews: Week of 8/31/2019
The MVFC Conference has been the top confernce in all of FCS for nearly the last decade. All 10 MVFC teams are in action this week in non-conference games. Four games are against FBS opponents highlight the slate this week, along with two MVFC-Big Sky Challenge match-ups. The other four games have the SIU-SE Missouri State annual rivalry
College Sports Journal Conference Previews: Missouri Valley Football Conference
The MVFC continues to be the premier conference in the FCS having now had at least one national title game representative for the past eight seasons (NDSU- 7 times, Youngstown State – 1 time, Illinois State – 1 time) and seven national titles over the span.
2019 NCAA Division I College Football Team Previews: Illinois State Redbirds
Illinois State Redbirds Location: Normal, IL Coach: Brock Spack (74-45 @ ISU & overall), 11th season at ISU Stadium: Hancock Stadium (Capacity: 13,391) CSJ Projections: 3rd: MVFC 2nd: Illinois 14th: FCS 99th: Division I 2018 In A Sentence: Illinois State began the season 5-1, including a 35-19 FBS win at Colorado State, but lost their […]
CSJ Week 11 Preview: Illinois State at Indiana State, How to Watch and Fearless Prediction
Illinois State at Indiana State When: Saturday, November 10th, 1:00 PM EST Where: Memorial Stadium, Terre Haute, Ind. TV/Streaming: ESPN3 / WatchESPN Illinois State Redbirds (5-4, 2-4 MVFC) Illinois State has gone from a potential seed in the upcoming FCS playoffs to potentially missing out on the postseason altogether in losing its last three contests. Two […]
CSJ Week 10 Preview: Illinois State at Northern Iowa, How to Watch and Fearless Prediction
Illinois State at Northern Iowa When: Saturday, November 3rd, 2:00PM EDT Where: UNI-Dome, Cedar Falls, IA TV/Streaming: Fox Sports Chicago, Panther Sports Network, ESPN+ (subscription req’d) Illinois State Redbirds As the calendar turns to November, Redbirds hit the road for the first of two contests away from Hancock Stadium when they travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, […]
That Was the Week That Was: Five Things About Week 9, 10/28/2018
Only an Act of God Stands In The the Way of Colgate’s Patriot League Title With Colgate’s 38-0 smothering of Georgetown, the undefeated Raiders have not only gone 4-0 in Patriot League play – they’ve gone five straight games without giving up a touchdown, and have only allowed 3 points during that time frame. The […]
