11/22 - vs Indiana State

[ST_Lawson]

Last game of the season and the Indiana State Sycamores are coming to town.
The trees are currently 7-4 overall (4-3 in the conference) and are considered a playoff bubble team. Win against us and they're probably in the playoffs...lose and they are not. We can't make the playoffs at this point, but we can still play "spoiler" to ISU.

Indiana State has had wins against Tennesee Tech (OVC), Ball State (MAC, FBS), Liberty (Big South), and in-conference wins against UNI, SIU, MSU, and an OT win at YSU last weekend. They lost their opener against Indiana University (Big 10, FBS) and in-conference against ISUr, NDSU, and SDSU. Their loss to ISUr was, like it was against us, courtesy of a last second field goal by the Redbirds. Their win against MSU also came on a last second field goal, but it was set up by a hidden ball trick play that received some press at the time:

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Indiana State is ranked 23rd in the Sportsnetwork poll, 13th in the Massey Ratings, and is currently projected to be a MVFC at-large team for the playoffs (provided they win against us). The Massey ratings says that ISUb has about a 56% chance of beating us, with the projected score of 27-24 in their favor.

Their primary QB is Mike Perish, who has played in 10 of the games (was injured for a couple of games). Perish has thrown for 2602 yards, 17 tds and 4 INTs (260.2 yards/game average) for a QB efficiency rating of 130.53.
To compare, our QB Trenton Norvell, has thrown for 2676 yards, 22 TDs and 11 INTs (243.27 yards/game average) for a QB efficiency rating of 137.18.

Their top receivers are Gary Owens with 746 yards (67.8/game) and 4 TDs, Robert Tonyan with 491 yards (49.1/game) and 3 TDs, A.J. Johnson with 468 yards (46.8/game) and 3 TDs, and Kyani Harris with 359 yards (32.6/game) and 3 TDs.
Our top receivers are Lance Lenoir with 960 yards (87.3/game) and 6 TDs, Hi-C Scott with 580 yards (52.7/game) and 6 TDs, Joey Borsellino with 484 yards (48.4/game) and 3 TDs, and Quadarias Mireles with 257 yards (36.71/game) and 2 TDs.

Their top RBs are Buck Logan with 724 net yards (72.4/game and 5.0/attempt) and 6 TDs and LeMonte Booker with 348 net yards (33.9/game and 6.1/attempt) and 3 TDs.
Our top RBs are J.C. Baker with 1102 net yards (100.18/game and 5.0/attempt) and 4 TDs and Devon Moore with 310 net yards (28.18/game and 4.5/attempt) and 5 TDs.

Other players of note:
LB Connor Underwood - 5th in the FCS in tackles for loss, 10th in the FCS in sacks, 9th in the FCS (and #1 in the MVFC) in forced fumbles. Younger brother of former ISUr standout and current Chargers practice squad member, Colton Underwood. Conner will likely be pressuring Norvell all day.
LB Kendall Walker - leads the team with 8.5 tackles per game which is second in the MVFC behind Kevin Kintzel. Also has 3 forced fumbles.
DB Mark Sewall - the beneficiary of some of those forced fumbles, Sewall has recovered 3 of them. He also has 3 interceptions and 11 pass breakups as well as 7.45 tackles per game.

So it sounds like, specialty-wise: Underwood pressures the QB, Walker strips the ball from the runners, Sewall blocks and snags passes out of the air.
They've got a pretty good pass defense (17th in the FCS, 2nd in the MVFC) but not as good of a run defense (52nd in the FCS, 7th in the MVFC).
They have the best passing offense in the conference (25th in the FCS) but the worse rushing offense in the conference (111 in the FCS out of 121).

We do, however, have the 8th best ranking in the FCS for tackles for loss allowed. This is likely a combination of a strong O-line and a QB who can usually make good decisions about scrambling and/or getting rid of the ball. We also have one of the best special teams in the FCS for blocking kicks: 6th best for blocked kicks, 4th best for blocked punts (#1 in the conference in both those categories). Through 11 games, we've had a total of 9 blocked kicks/punts.

Not really sure how this one's going to play out. We've played very tough against some good opponents and completely laid down against others. We have trouble defending a good passing game, which ISU has, but they have trouble defending a good running game...which we have. Not surprisingly, I think it'll come down to how well we can stop Perish's passing attack. If we let them get in a rhythm, they'll tear us apart.

A win by us leaves us at 5-7 overall for the season, somewhat disappointing but better than last season, and it knocks ISU out of a chance at the playoffs.
A win by ISU puts us at 4-8 for the season (2-6 in the conference), same as last year.

[Mizzou Rah]

Also a shout out to the seniors on the team who will be playing their last game at Western. These young men came in with Coach Hendrickson and his staff and are finishing with a new coach, staff and system. I think that they have not only been good players but also good young men for this program. Thank you to all the seniors both 4th and 5th year players for your dedication and pride you instill in the program. Look forward to honoring you on Friday

[wiu712]

The forecast for Saturday is calling for cloudy skies with an afternoon temp of 45. Rain is a possibility for Saturday night. Winds will be SSE at 13 mph.

ESPN has our game listed as being available via ESPN3. Game time is 1PM.
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index#type ... /football/

[meganeck]

Also a shout out to the seniors on the team who will be playing their last game at Western. These young men came in with Coach Hendrickson and his staff and are finishing with a new coach, staff and system. I think that they have not only been good players but also good young men for this program. Thank you to all the seniors both 4th and 5th year players for your dedication and pride you instill in the program. Look forward to honoring you on Friday

Agreed looking over the roster and seeing the seniors, that is a pretty good group of Seniors that will be playing their last game. Appreciate them sticking things out and when the football program gets things turned around, hopefully they can look back and take pride in knowing they were the start of the turn around.

[WIU0812]

My prediction is 35-28 WIU wins.

[sealhall74]

I also think we will win this one. There are two ways to prove you got some of Rock's "ginger". One, you win on the road under adverse conditions. Two, you win at home when the opponent has more to play for and you have nothing but pride at stake.

[wiu712]

Forecast is looking better for Saturday with a high of 51. WGEM says that rain is in the forecast for the weekend--starting Saturday evening.

Let's hope for a dry morning and afternoon.

[BobLovely]

Hopefully, there will be more than 500 people in attendance on Saturday. This team has fought hard this year and deserves respect and support. Let's not forget that Western could have scheduled lesser opponents instead of Wisconsin and Northwestern and would have very likely had two more victories. Go Leathernecks!

Bob

[wiu712]

Hopefully, there will be more than 500 people in attendance on Saturday.

I have not seen much promoting for this game.

Four year ago in 2010, there was a lot of marketing and promoting for that season's final game which also fell on the first Saturday of the University's Thanksgiving Break. This included making it in an "Amtrak Game" to encourage fans to take the train down for the 1PM game. That game also featured $1 General Admission tickets as well as reduced concessions. The plan worked as the attendance for that game was 8,217.

[ST_Lawson]

I haven't heard anything tied in with Amtrak for the game, but they are doing a bit of a promo with the tickets to Saturday's football and basketball games. Buy one, get in to the other for free.

http://goleathernecks.com/news/2014/11/ ... 45028.aspx