From left: SIU’s Nick Hill, ISU’s Brock Spak, EIU’s Chris Wilkerson all have their teams in the playoff picture this season. (Photos by SIUSalukis.com, GoRedbirds.com, EIUPanthers.com)
By Dan Verdun
What’s the best way for Eastern Illinois, Illinois State and Southern Illinois to make a case for the FCS playoffs?
Just win.
Knowing full well their teams must be victorious Saturday to be considered, the three head coaches made their postseason cases in the past 24 hours.
While national analysts mostly view Eastern, ISU and Southern as “bubble teams” at best, there is still some optimism in Charleston, Normal and Carbondale.
The NCAA announces the 24-team playoff field at 11:30 a.m. Sunday on ESPNU.
ISU Redbirds
“This is a playoff scenario that we’re in right now,” Illinois State head coach Brock Spack said. “It’s win or go home right now. That’s kind of where it’s at.”
Where Spack’s Redbirds are is a 6-4 overall record and 4-3 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. ISU has won two straight games heading into Saturday’s MVFC game at 13th-ranked North Dakota.
“We’ve got to take care of ourselves right now or there’s going to be no (playoff) conversation,” Spack said. “It’s great that you’re in this situation being the last (week) of the regular season. You’ve got to look at the positive of it. This is the fun part of it.
“You would have liked to or have hoped to have won a game or two (more). We lost a couple of really close games that would have made this different, but it is what it is. We can’t think of that. We’ve got to think about what we can do moving forward to win the game.”
As he has said in the past, Spack spoke of playing in the “toughest league in the country.”
The Redbirds have MVFC victories against Western Illinois (34-18), Indiana State (44-7), Missouri State (36-35) and Murray State (44-7).
ISU’s league losses were to No. 1 South Dakota State (40-21), No. 25 Youngstown State (41-38) and No. 23 Northern Iowa (24-21).
“I think anybody that has a winning record in the Missouri Valley should be in the tournament,” the 15th-year ISU coach said. “That’s me. I’m sure that won’t be realistic, but you’ve earned the right to play (in the postseason) because this is a tough league top to bottom. Clearly the best. Some people would argue that, but I argue otherwise.”
SIU Salukis
Southern Illinois head coach Nick Hill’s Salukis appear to have the best shot at making the postseason bracket.
The Salukis are 6-4 overall with a win over FBS Northern Illinois and FCS playoff hopeful Austin Peay, which plays Saturday for an outright United Athletic Conference championship and a spot in the postseason.
However, SIU is 3-4 in the MVFC. The Salukis host Indiana State — which won its first game of the season this past weekend — Saturday in Carbondale.
A win against the Sycamores would give SIU its seventh win, a mark that Hill feels would merit his team being selected for the postseason.
“I think that it would (be enough),” Hill said. “We’ve got one of the four or five (FCS versus) FBS wins. We’ve got a top 10 strength of schedule. Three of our losses have come to top 10 teams. All four of our losses have come to ranked teams.”
The Salukis’ league losses are to unranked Youngstown State (31-3), No. 1 South Dakota State (17-10), No. 9 South Dakota (14-7) and No. 12 North Dakota State (34-10). SIU’s conference wins came against Missouri State (33-20), Murray State (27-6) and Western Illinois (63-0).
“There are no moral victories, but we’ve played a challenging schedule,” Hill said. “I think we’ve recognized that the teams with seven wins that don’t play a challenging pre-conference schedule, it’s tough to get in because I don’t know if the committee looks at some of those wins the same way.
“We’ve got to take care of business (Saturday). That’s obviously (being selected for the playoffs) is out of our control. But I do feel confident in the seven wins, and what we’ve been able to accomplish this year.”
EIU Panthers
Eastern Illinois has been one of top turnaround teams in FCS. After winning only two games last fall, the Panthers are 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big South-OVC Association.
EIU, under second-year head coach Chris Wilkerson, has won three straight games heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale at Robert Morris.
“For us, it’s just about trying to focus on getting better and put the best version of EIU on the field on Saturday at 12:02 (p.m.),” Wilkerson said. “We can’t get caught up in what we can’t control. I can’t control what polls say and how many teams get in from each league and who beats who and all those other things. All we can control is our attitude, our approach and response, and that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on.”
That said, Wilkerson does see a path to the playoffs.
“I’ve said this before,” he said. “I’m very aware that since the playoff field expanded to 24 teams, I don’t know how many eight-win against Division I scholarship opponent teams have been left out of the field when it’s all said and done. But that’s for somebody else to decide.”
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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