Illinois State junior receiver Dylan Lord caught 12 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown in Saturday’s loss at Northern Iowa. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Dan Verdun
After reviewing film of Illinois State’s 28-21 loss at unranked Northern Iowa, Brock Spack didn’t like what he saw any better than he did from the sidelines Saturday.
“We didn’t play very well. It was our worst tackling outing of the season. We were really poor,” the veteran ISU head coach told Prairie State Pigskin Monday.
The loss snapped the Redbirds’ 11-game road winning streak, which dated back to last season’s run to the FCS national championship game.
Things don’t get any easier for ISU (4-1, 0-1). The Redbirds host No. 2 South Dakota State (4-1, 1-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday in a key Missouri Valley Football Conference game. The Jackrabbits’ only loss occurred Sept. 5 at FBS Northwestern.
As a result of Saturday’s loss, Illinois State plummeted seven spots in both national FCS polls, falling to No. 10 in the Stats Perform media rankings and No. 11 in the American Football Coaches Association poll.
Spack, a former Big Ten Conference defensive coordinator, was particularly bothered by his team’s performance against the Northern Iowa offense.
“They hurt us on the perimeter. That’s not great for us. We’re usually pretty good at that,” he said.
Illinois State starting cornerback Jack Oliver sustained a season-ending knee injury in Saturday’s loss, Spack said.
Oliver, a sophomore from Cincinnati, returned an interception 46 yards for a touchdown in the Redbirds’ 28-24 win at FBS Northern Illinois two weeks ago.
“I feel bad for Jack, but it is what it is,” Spack said.
ISU never really got its running game in gear at UNI. The Redbirds were held to 119 rushing yards, their lowest output against non-FBS competition this season.
Sixth-year running back Victor Dawson – last year’s leading rusher – has been limited by a nagging lower body injury. After sitting out the Sept. 19 win against Eastern Illinois, Dawson only played the second half at Northern Iowa. He rushed for 13 yards on four carries, including a 9-yard touchdown run.
Sophomore Tyler Lofton started in Dawson’s place and led the Redbirds with 72 yards on 14 attempts. The Redbirds also have been without Seth Glatz, Dawson’s backup, the past two games with an undisclosed injury.
Spack said the deficit ISU faced was one of the reasons his team didn’t run the ball as effectively. Northern Iowa twice built 14-point leads, one in each half.
“We were down two scores and trying to catch up. That’s why we kind of abandoned the running game,” he said.
Spack was not pleased with ISU committing eight penalties for 73 yards.
“It wasn’t just the penalties, it’s when we had them,” he said. “We shot ourselves in the foot several times.”
After entering Saturday’s game sporting a 92% red zone conversion rate, Illinois State went 2-for-5 at Northern Iowa.
“That didn’t bode well,” Spack said. “It was a lot of things, a comedy of errors that cost us. We can’t make those kinds of mistakes and expect to win.
“And we didn’t.”
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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