If not for a hangover loss at Missouri State a week after pounding FBS Colorado State, Illinois State would be one of the more talked about teams in the FCS this year. The Redbirds are 5-1 with that 35-19 win against CSU. They've entered the Top 10 in the national polls and face two Missouri Valley Football Conference teams in the Top 3 these next two weeks.
ISU has a chance to shake things up not only in the conference, but nationally. The opportunity starts this weekend at No. 1 and undefeated North Dakota State. Then next week the Redbirds host No. 2/3 South Dakota State.
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The Redbirds are hot right now, bouncing back from the MSU loss to beat Western Illinois 33-16 and Southern Illinois 51-3. Two big wins these next two weeks can completely change the landscape of the playoff picture, especially if the Redbirds continue to win and slide ahead of SDSU, and possibly, NDSU in the seeds.
Of course, the players and especially the coaches aren't anywhere close to looking that far ahead. But future implications are at play here.
One thing that's for certain, though, is this Redbirds team is back to looking like a program that played in the national championship game in 2014 and almost knocked off the Bison. After a couple so-so seasons, they've found their quarterback in Brady Davis, have a tremendous rushing attack and play solid defense.
It's the formula to knock off a team like NDSU.
"(NDSU) knows how to finish," ISU head coach Brock Spack told HERO Sports on the Coaches Corner Podcast, which can be found below. "They're the champions and they're a very physical team. First of all, you have to think of your conference first. We have to win our league first. In order to do that, you have to have a physicality. You have to be able to step into the middle of a ring with a team like North Dakota State to have a chance. You can't play finesse football and expect to win the game."
The Redbirds and the Bison have had competitive games in recent years. The 2014 title game was a 29-27 NDSU win with a guy named Carson Wentz engineering the game-winning drive in the final minutes. And last year's regular-season finale featured a physical game in the snow, ending with a 20-7 win for NDSU that sealed the No. 2 seed for the Bison and knocked ISU out of the playoff bracket.
It's always been a hard-nosed, black-and-blue game that'll make any football purist grin. And it's the type of style a team needs to beat the defending champs.
"If North Dakota State has to throw it every down, believe me, they can do that," Spack said. "Now they don't want to do that. But if they have to, they can because they have the skilled players, the quarterback, good protection. But they choose not to do that. Their style wins football games. Run and throw on their terms … Play great defense and have a great kicking game. That's the magic formula to winning football."
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Listen to the full podcast as coach Spack talks about his coaching background, the Missouri Valley Football Conference and stacking up with NDSU.
SUBSCRIBE: HERO Sports FCS Podcast
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