Illinois State running back Victor Dawson and the Redbirds have the best opportunity of the Land of Lincoln programs to be selected for the 24-team FCS playoff bracket. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Barry Bottino and Dan Verdun
With the regular season down to two Saturdays, Prairie State Pigskin examines where Illinois FCS programs stand in regard to the postseason.
The 24-team FCS playoff bracket will be released at 11 a.m. Nov. 22 on ESPNU.
Illinois State
Brock Spack’s Redbirds (7-3 overall, 3-3 Missouri Valley Football Conference) have the best odds to be selected as an at-large team. ISU is ranked No. 15 in this week’s media poll.
National analyst Craig Haley includes ISU in his most recent playoff projection bracket. Haley, Stats Perform/The Analyst FCS Senior Editor, predicts the Redbirds to play a first-round game at United Athletic Conference member Austin Peay, the No. 6-ranked team in this week’s media poll.
Haley projects five MVFC teams in his bracket.
While ISU possesses a win over FBS Northern Illinois (0-9), the Redbirds’ season-opening win against NAIA St. Francis (Ill.) is a non-Division I victory and will not count in the selection committee’s eyes.
“Even though one of our wins is an NAIA school, one of our other wins is against an FBS school. That counts as two,” Spack said, adding that an eighth win should get his team into the playoffs.
The Redbirds have two games remaining on their schedule to achieve that eighth victory.
“The big thing is, I say it every week, just take one play at a time,” senior linebacker and team captain Mason Kaplan said. “Every week, the (Missouri) Valley is going to be great competition and that’s what we want.”
Remaining ISU games:
Saturday at No. 3 Youngstown State
Nov. 21 hosts No. 10 South Dakota
Western Illinois
The Leathernecks (6-4 overall, 4-1 Ohio Valley Conference) are tied with Lindenwood and Southeast Missouri atop the OVC standings.
SEMO has defeated both WIU and Lindenwood and thus holds the tiebreaker. Haley projects the OVC as a one-bid league for the postseason. Thus, Western’s lone path to the postseason is to win the conference title.
“All we can control is we’ve got to win the next game. If you don’t win the next one, then things change drastically,” head coach Joe Davis said.
Safety Jouvenson Romulus said: “We want to go the playoffs. Everybody wants to go to the playoffs. We just worry about the next game.”
Remaining games:
Saturday
WIU hosts Gardner-Webb, 1 p.m.
SEMO at Charleston Southern, 1 p.m.
Lindenwood at UT Martin, 2 p.m.
Nov. 21
SEMO hosts UT Martin, 1 p.m.
WIU at Lindenwood, 2 p.m.
Southern Illinois
Nick Hill’s Salukis (5-5 overall, 3-3 MVFC) face the longest odds for a playoff berth. SIU must win its final two games – both against Top 10-ranked opponents – and have outside circumstances fall its way to even receive consideration.
“I’m fired up for this group. They’ve been through a lot this year. They’ve willed themselves back to win two in a row to get to 3-3 in the conference with two games to play,” Hill said. “There’s none bigger than next week at home.”
Receiver Kyle Thomas said: “My thought process is to win Sunday, then win Monday and just continue to stack days. Then when Saturday comes, the Dawgs are gonna win.”
Remaining games:
Saturday, hosts No. 4 South Dakota State, 1 p.m.
Nov. 21, at No. 10 North Dakota, 1 p.m.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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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