Missouri Valley Football

[wiu712]

From today's Peoria Journal-Star:

FCS is looking up to Valley
By Dave Reynolds



As the 30th Missouri Valley Football Conference season swings into action Saturday night when Western Illinois travels to Southern Illinois, the league is feeling good about the nonconference statement it has made.

The Valley is 20-1 against fellow FCS competition so far. A record seven of its 10 teams are ranked among the subdivision’s top 25.

Among the latest entries, Illinois State (2-0) has again surged into the rankings (at No. 22 and No. 23 in the FCS Coaches and Sports Network polls, respectively) and Missouri State (3-1) is ranked for the first time since the 1997 preseason.

The other ranked Valley schools include No. 1 North Dakota State, No. 9 South Dakota State, No. 10 UNI, No. 16/17 Southern Illinois and No. 12/18 Youngstown State. The remaining three MVFC schools — Indiana State, South Dakota and Western Illinois — all received votes in the rankings.

In the Sagarin Ratings, the Valley is ranked first among FCS leagues and notably is listed ahead of three FBS leagues in conference strength — the Mid-American, Conference USA East and the Sun Belt.

It’s a good harbinger for the league improving its postseason participation. Last year, the Valley landed just two teams in the FCS playoffs. There are 121 schools that play FCS football.

“It’s a shot across the bow,” said South Dakota coach Joe Glenn during Tuesday’s league teleconference. “Ideally, we get three, maybe four teams in, but the stars have to align for that. But the rankings now are making the statement that we deserve a shot at the end.”

Missouri State coach Terry Allen takes some of the blame for the Valley getting shorted in past postseasons.

“In the past, we lost some nonconference games and then knocked off some teams in the conference that kept them out of postseason,” he said. “This year (after winning on the road at Northwestern State and Central Arkansas and faring well at FBS Oklahoma State), we feel better about holding up our end of the bargain.”

The 20-1 mark vs. peer schools is tops in league history so far with three such contests remaining. Next best was a 13-2 mark in 2003.

“I really believe you have all 10 teams that are worthy of top 25 consideration,” said SIU coach Dale Lennon. “The message has been sent. I don’t know how you could send a stronger one.”

Lennon’s Salukis (3-1) and Western Illinois are both coming off respectable losses on Big Ten fields — SIU falling 35-13 at Purdue and WIU falling 24-7 at Northwestern.

Western (2-2) also has a 37-3 defeat at Wisconsin on its resume this season.

“Watching them play as well as they did against Wisconsin and Northwestern was very impressive,” Lennon said. “They have playmakers on both sides of the ball. They’re playing some solid, sound defense and make you work for everything you get. It’s going to be a battle.”

Top-ranked North Dakota State has now won 28 consecutive games, an FCS record and tied for the fifth longest in Division I in the past 50 years. The Bison and Illinois State are two of 34 remaining unbeaten Division I teams.

The 2-0 Redbirds carry a 10-game home winning streak into Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. matchup against 0-3 Austin Peay. A key for ISU this season has been big plays by the defense. The Redbirds have six interceptions in their two games, tying their total for the entire 2013 season.

WIU wide receiver Lance Lenior set career highs with 11 receptions and 115 yards at Northwestern. Quarterback Trenton Norvell completed a career-high 29 passes for 292 yards at Evanston. “That may have been his best game,” said WIU coach Bob Nielson. “Unfortunately, we turned the ball over four times. You can’t do that against a Big Ten team on the road.”

[WIU0812]

Part of the issue with being in the MVFC is almost any other FCS conference we would be a #1 school.

[Western_101]

Every team in the MVFC would either be a #1 in any other league or at very least top 3.

[WIU0812]

Guess that means we just need to suck it up and show that we belong in the top of the MVFC. Time to stop making mistakes and start making big plays! Only way we come out ahead in any of these games is be the team with the fewest mistakes. We have the talent and coaching staff there to get us to a win just need to execute.

[ST_Lawson]

Just wanted to point out, for those who haven't noticed. 4 out of the 5 conference games today are being shown on ESPN3. I can't remember the conference ever having this level of exposure. Sure, it's not ABC, CBS or the main ESPN, but we're FCS...this is pretty huge for us. I've got a Roku, so I can watch it through the ESPN app on my TV. It's Missouri Valley Football day on my big screen.

[ST_Lawson]

Southern Illinois @ North Dakota State, Illinois State @ Indiana State, and Northern Iowa at South Dakota....all at the same time.

[imgur]https://i.imgur.com/MoJiDut.png[/imgur]

[sealhall74]

This SIU@NDSU game was over when Lennon went for FG. You don't beat NDSU by playing conservatively.

[ST_Lawson]

Bye week for us, so lets look at what the rest of the conference is doing this weekend.

Missouri State (4-4) is at Indiana State (5-3)
South Dakota (2-6) is at Youngstown State (6-2)
South Dakota State (5-3) is at North Dakota State (8-0)
Illinois State (7-0) is at UNI (4-4)

Couple of big games...
UNI and MSU need to win out to have any chance at the playoffs
SDSU and NDSU in a rivalry game (Dakota Marker)

Thoughts, predictions...don't care?

I'm thinking ISUb over MSU, YSU over USD, NDSU in a close one over SDSU, and UNI shuts down the ISUr offense and comes away with an "upset" victory (as much as any win in-conference can be an "upset").

[rocki]

Just for grins, I'll agree with your assessments except for the first one. I'll take MSU over InSt.

[ST_Lawson]

Don't look now, but 1 week after taking down one undefeated team (Illinois State), UNI is currently up on NDSU 16-3 with 9 1/2 minutes left in the 4th quarter.