Junior Wenkers Wright (32) scores Illinois State’s lone touchdown Saturday at Hancock Stadium. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Dan Verdun
NORMAL – Missouri State gave itself a going-away present as a Missouri Valley Football Conference member in its final appearance at Hancock Stadium.
The Bears – a charter member of the 40-year-old MVFC — are leaving the league to join FBS Conference USA next season. They departed town with a decisive 41-7 victory Saturday.
Missouri State (4-2 overall, 2-0 MVFC) nearly matched its 31-points-per-game average in the game’s first half. The Bears rolled up 24 points and 240 total yards, 197 coming from quarterback Jacob Clark’s passing, by halftime.
Illinois State (4-3, 1-2) hurt itself with two lost fumbles, one of which was returned 42 yards for a touchdown by linebacker Michael Teason in the opening quarter.
Defensive end Darion Smith’s hit on ISU quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse popped the ball loose on the play, which came at the 7:59 mark.
Power outage
“We did not have a lot of energy today, for whatever reason,” ISU head coach Brock Spack said. “I don’t think we ever got control of the game.”
Missouri State scored on its opening drive as Clark found receiver D’Vontae Key behind the ISU defense for a 62-yard touchdown pass.
“They took a shot. Defensively, we had a blown coverage. We were supposed to have a deep cover guy. We didn’t and they capitalized on our mistake,” ISU linebacker Lavoise-Deontae McCoy said.
The Bears opened the second half much as they did the first. Clark capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to junior James Blackstrain. The extra point gave MSU a 31-0 lead.
Clark, a transfer from the University of Minnesota, finished with 343 yards and three touchdowns. He was 24-for-31 passing.
“I think this is the closest to a full game we’ve put together as a team so far,” Clark told SGFCitzen.org. “We pretty much moved the ball all game.”
Missouri State, which debuted this week in the American Football Coaches Association poll at No. 25, has won four straight games. The Bears scored a season-high in points Saturday and amassed 468 total yards.
Illinois State, ranked No. 16 in this week’s Stats Perform poll, has lost two of its last three games.
“It was a tough day for us. We didn’t play well,” Spack said. “We beat ourselves in many ways.”
Illinois State played both Rittenhouse and Jake Rubley at quarterback.
Rittenhouse, the starter, was 9-for-17 passing for 79 yards. Rubley was 7-for-11 for 94 yards. Both threw an interception.
“Both our quarterbacks weren’t great today,” Spack said. “None of us are blame-free.”
Injury updates
Senior safety Keondre Jackson did not play in the game for the Redbirds.
“He was sore from last week (at Southern Illinois). He has an upper-body injury,” Spack said. “He got cleared to play late in the week, but he didn’t practice much. We felt it wasn’t worth putting him out there and getting injured worse than he already is, so we chose to not play him today.”
Preseason All-American linebacker Amir Adbullah, who injured his knee in the season opener at Iowa, did not play for the sixth straight game.
Abdullah was in uniform and participated in pregame warmups with a brace on his right knee. However, Abdullah changed into street clothes after warmups and watched with his team from the sidelines.
Before the game, Abdullah was listed as the backup to strong-side linebacker Patrick Bauer on the depth chart.
Game changers
10:21, 1st quarter: Clark found Key, who broke away from coverage for a 62-yard touchdown to open the scoring. The TD came on the fourth play of a Missouri State drive.
1:59, 1st quarter: Missouri State’s Teason scooped up a fumble and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. Yousef Obeid’s extra point gave MSU a 14-0 lead.
9:45, 3rd quarter: Illinois State running back Wenkers Wright scored on a 9-yard touchdown run to snap the shutout.
Best ‘Birds
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the the top three Illinois State players in the game:
McCoy, LB: The Homewood-Flossmoor High School graduate led ISU with 10 tackles, two for loss. He also was credited with a sack.
Xavier Loyd, WR: The Kansas State transfer caught six passes for 99 yards.
Daniel Sobkowicz, WR: The Rolling Meadows High School graduate led the Redbirds with seven receptions for 76 yards. He accounted for 29 yards after catch.
What it means
The loss delivers a blow to Illinois State’s postseason hopes.
What’s next?
The Redbirds continue their Missouri Valley Football Conference schedule with an Oct. 19 game at Murray State.
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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