#13 Illinois St vs #11 Central Arkansas

[Mike296]

Starting the playoff thread, would do a poll if I knew how lol.

[Bison56]

Learn how

[BEAR]

Will be interesting to see which UCA team will show up.

[Redbird 4th & short]

Will be interesting to see which ISUr team will show up.

FIFY ... let's sandbag each other all week !!!

[Redbird 4th & short]

you guys love to pass and suck at running.

we love to run and suck at passing.

we love to play defense and really get after the QB.

If the latter happens, I like our chances. If not, might be a rough day for us.

[Outsider1]

I like UCA's chances if they can keep the pass game consistent, even if they have their slow start. This should be a really good game. I expect the score to be fairly close.

[BEAR]

FIFY ... let's sandbag each other all week !!!

No sandbagging. Maybe you need to look at UCAs schedule this year. Beat Western Kentucky and Austin Peay but get blown out by Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls. Plus add the close comeback wins over the rest of the conference and you will see I meant it depends on which team will show up.

[ming01]

UCA too complete IMO for ISU

[Redbird 4th & short]

No sandbagging. Maybe you need to look at UCAs schedule this year. Beat Western Kentucky and Austin Peay but get blown out by Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls. Plus add the close comeback wins over the rest of the conference and you will see I meant it depends on which team will show up.
I won't even be trying to sandbag .. we went 8-4, but didn't play like an 8-4 team. Hell, we should have gone 9-3, but when I compare this 2019 team to our 3 prior 6-5 teams .. I don't see much difference. This year, we were lucky the lower half of MVFC fell off and we avoided laying any eggs until game 12. Allowed us to play a lot of lackluster games and still win comfortably most of the time. We had one real nice win, couple of ok wins, and couple of bad losses to very good teams. Our pass game has let us down almost all year. But our defense and run game ensured we went 8-4. Things were just getting very tense on offense competing for the 8th seed that you guys wound up getting.

Now the pressure is off us, and we played much looser today. Our big advantage was in the trenches ... and that will probably decide our next game in terms of which offense imposes their will .. or not. But it will be UCA pass game against ISUr run game from offensive standpoint. That and we have a pretty potent defense at times .. stout against run, and dominant pass rush at times. Our cover guys are good size and do a respectable job .. so it will be interesting to see how they hold up against your pass game.

Southland passes a lot as a conference .. so the big question for our defense will be how it hold up against team that passes 65% of the time. And just the opposite for UCA .. how will they hold up against a team that runs 90% of the time, since our starting QB went down early game 11.

Should be quite a contrast on display next saturday .. all for an all expenses paid trip to Fargo in December !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Redbird 4th & short]

UCA too complete IMO for ISU

well they rank 111th in rushing offense, which was 10th of 11 Southland teams; and 39th in run defense, good for 5th in conf.

total offense they rank 52nd in total offense, and 7th in conf; total defense they rank 84th in FCS, good for 7th in conf.

passing offense QBR, they rank 25th, good for 3rd in conf; passing defense QBR, they rank 69th in FCS, good for 5th in conf.

So while UCA has been winning most of their games, it's not like theyve been dominating, other than a strong pass game in a conference whre most teams like to pass.

[caribbeanhen]

this is a playoff re-match

Central Arky won the last time, not so sure they will this time

[BEAR]

Our team is playing many freshman and sophomores mainly due to injuries. Especially on defense. You can see our starters pretty easily by looking at our athletic website.

But here's what is tough. Even if we happen to win Saturday we have to go play either NDSU or Nicholls. A multi-national champion or the team that smoked us in the regular season. So much to look forward to.....xlolx

[Redbird 4th & short]

Our team is playing many freshman and sophomores mainly due to injuries. Especially on defense. You can see our starters pretty easily by looking at our athletic website.

But here's what is tough. Even if we happen to win Saturday we have to go play either NDSU or Nicholls. A multi-national champion or the team that smoked us in the regular season. So much to look forward to.....xlolx

I don't think either of us have to worry about Nicholls. xnodx

[BEAR]

Looked at ticket sales. All but about 50 or so of the reserved seats are sold. Hard to see what general admission seats are sold because they aren't reserved in any way. If half of those are sold then we are about 5-6000 sold already. Game day walk-ups might get another 2000 so I imagine by Gameday the home side should just about be sold out and the visitor side should be half full. Around 8500 or so. Would be nice for a local business to buy up a bunch and give them away.

[hebmskebm]

Is ISUr flying to Arkansas or busing?

[Daytripper]

I like UCA with a week of rest.

[Professor Chaos]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49152007123_7186560058_o.jpg

I mentioned in in the upsets thread but Illinois St (along with Kennesaw St) will be trying to snap a 15 game losing streak for teams trying to win back-to-back road games in the FCS playoffs.

I do think the Redbirds have a good shot in this one. They finally got something out of their QB with Jefferson yesterday and James Robinson is a beat who I'm sure they'll ride once again. The Redbird defense is very good also and UCA has a one-dimensional offense to begin with. The Bears' pass defense has had their share of problems this year as well so it shouldn't be too tough for Jefferson to contribute a little bit and take some of the weight off of Robinson's back.

These teams did just play each other in the playoffs 3 years ago as well so some players and coaches should already have a bit of familiarity with each other.

[Bear84]

I think this game mostly boils down to one thing, protecting the qb. If UCA does not do a good job, this could get ugly. If UCA protects the qb and sustains drives, while keeping their defense off the field, then I like their chances. I think UCA is physical enough to slow the running game, but I doubt they can maintain it if they're on the field all day, getting pounded by Robinson.

[Professor Chaos]

I think this game mostly boils down to one thing, protecting the qb. If UCA does not do a good job, this could get ugly. If UCA protects the qb and sustains drives, while keeping their defense off the field, then I like their chances. I think UCA is physical enough to slow the running game, but I doubt they can maintain it if they're on the field all day, getting pounded by Robinson.
Illinois St is 3rd in the nation at 3.54 sacks per game. DE Romeo McKnight (#8) is their best pass rusher with 9 sacks on the year. I'm guessing he'll be first or second team All-MVFC when it's announced on Monday.

[TheKingpin28]

Is ISUr flying to Arkansas or busing?

Flying. Over 400 miles

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Ill State has a significantly better defense. We'll see if the Redbirds can continue the running game.

Two weeks ago I would have said Ill State doesn't have a chance but I'm picking them in this one because of their defense and ability to run the ball.

[Redbird 4th & short]

As long as our QB doesn't crap the bed, I like our chances. UCA is not used to ground and pound offense, nor an all around defense like ours .. and all 4 MVFC playoff teams this year.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

As long as our QB doesn't crap the bed, I like our chances. UCA is not used to ground and pound offense, nor an all around defense like ours .. and all 4 MVFC playoff teams this year.


I would let Robinson rest all week with maybe some stationary bike work then unleash him on Saturday. If he can carry the ball 25+ times effectively, the Redbirds get a rematch with the Bison.

[Redbird 4th & short]

I would let Robinson rest all week with maybe some stationary bike work then unleash him on Saturday. If he can carry the ball 25+ times effectively, the Redbirds get a rematch with the Bison.

41 carries is a lot in today's game. Dont mean any disrespect, but he didn't get hit hard much at all against SEMO. Nothing like he did against YSU when our offense was in one if our patented funks and he took hard hits on most of those runs with zero room compared to yesterday. Night and day difference just 1 game later.

[ysubigred]

41 carries is a lot in today's game. Dont mean any disrespect, but he didn't get hit hard much at all against SEMO. Nothing like he did against YSU when our offense was in one if our patented funks and he took hard hits on most of those runs with zero room compared to yesterday. Night and day difference just 1 game later.YSU played 2 good games all year. The 1st and last. Sorry Red Birds you had to get one of the two [emoji3060]

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Derby City Duke]

Starting the playoff thread, would do a poll if I knew how lol.

I'll take you at your word -- when you create the thread scroll down to the bottom and you can check the button to create a poll and how many choices. It automatically takes you to the poll page to give it a title and name your choices. At the bottom of this page you can choose to make the votes public.

I'm an old man and finally managed to figure it out so I'm guessing you can too.

[BEAR]

The Southland is a pass happy conference. I'm looking up how we did against any run heavy teams.

Edit: It looks like teams are averaging 3.8 yards per carry against us but that includes 2 FBS schools. Our conference teams that carried the ball over 40 times got about 250 yards a game. Sounds good but we won those and racked up over 400 yards passing when that happened. Also if I recall big chunks of that 250 came on big plays of like 70 yards etc. Very frustrating for fans but if a team runs it that many times they are bound to get at least one big run. Also accomplishing that gets our offense on the field.

UCA can lose this game as the Redbirds are a very good team from a really good conference. I get it. So if we do lose it won't be a big surprise. I'm just looking for our team to get better every year to one day compete for that natty.

Keep in mind UCA has only been eligible for the playoffs since 2010 and have been 5 times. While I know NDSU has done exceedingly better than any team, UCA's winning percentage is like nearly 60%+ so we are proud of that.

[BEAR]

Any Illinois State fans coming to Conway? I think there were a couple hundred last time if I recall right.

Edit: I found pics from our last game with Illinois State. There were MAYBE 100 fans there.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/galleries/22241/album/

Of course our student section was empty too so no complaints from me! xlolx

[BEAR]

Massey ratings has the Redbirds by 3 in this one.

I can see it. Hopefully not. xlolx

[Redbird 4th & short]

The Southland is a pass happy conference. I'm looking up how we did against any run heavy teams.

Edit: It looks like teams are averaging 3.8 yards per carry against us but that includes 2 FBS schools. Our conference teams that carried the ball over 40 times got about 250 yards a game. Sounds good but we won those and racked up over 400 yards passing when that happened. Also if I recall big chunks of that 250 came on big plays of like 70 yards etc. Very frustrating for fans but if a team runs it that many times they are bound to get at least one big run. Also accomplishing that gets our offense on the field.

UCA can lose this game as the Redbirds are a very good team from a really good conference. I get it. So if we do lose it won't be a big surprise. I'm just looking for our team to get better every year to one day compete for that natty.

Keep in mind UCA has only been eligible for the playoffs since 2010 and have been 5 times. While I know NDSU has done exceedingly better than any team, UCA's winning percentage is like nearly 60%+ so we are proud of that.
Bear .. I was isolating it to Nicholls St .. they are the best run team in Southland.

But it is chicken or egg debate with Southlands run vs pass orientation. Do they pass more and better because most run defenses are better than pass defenses ?? With the old Big Sky it was more the point that they just like to pass more than run .. more exciting maybe ?? But not because run defenses in the old Big Sky were good.

I am pretty sure the interior line play in MVFC ... upper half for sure .. is just much better and that is why our OL just over-power SEMO front 7. FYI, SEMO run defense ranked 33rd in rush yards per game, right behind NDSU and SDSU at 28th and 29th. Our RB had 41 carries for 297 yards. The difference being, SEMO did that playing in OVC. By the way, SEMO pass defense QBR ranked 15th in FCS. So statistically, they were supposed to be a very good defense.

Don't get me wrong, Southland is stronger than OVC and certainly much deeper. But just making the point about the level of line play in MVFC upper half. Between this and our QB challenges, our offense struggled most of the year. SEMO game was like getting out of jail for our offense. Plus I think they underestimated us because of our problems.

But I don't imagine Robinson will get those kind of yards .. that was the game of a lifetime, even for him. UCA defense looks to be bigger, and we'll see how it holds up in a ground and pound game. My guess is offensively, we will start a little slow. Then we'll have to hope to wear you down over 4 qtrs.

I expect a good close game .. but my Redbirds owe you a 4th qtr ... we intend to pay you back !! xdrunkyx

[BEAR]

Bear .. I was isolating it to Nicholls St .. they are the best run team in Southland.

But it is chicken or egg debate with Southlands run vs pass orientation. Do they pass more and better because most run defenses are better than pass defenses ?? With the old Big Sky it was more the point that they just like to pass more than run .. more exciting maybe ?? But not because run defenses in the old Big Sky were good.

I am pretty sure the interior line play in MVFC ... upper half for sure .. is just much better and that is why our OL just over-power SEMO front 7. FYI, SEMO run defense ranked 33rd in rush yards per game, right behind NDSU and SDSU at 28th and 29th. Our RB had 41 carries for 297 yards. The difference being, SEMO did that playing in OVC. By the way, SEMO pass defense QBR ranked 15th in FCS. So statistically, they were supposed to be a very good defense.

Don't get me wrong, Southland is stronger than OVC and certainly much deeper. But just making the point about the level of line play in MVFC upper half. Between this and our QB challenges, our offense struggled most of the year. SEMO game was like getting out of jail for our offense. Plus I think they underestimated us because of our problems.

But I don't imagine Robinson will get those kind of yards .. that was the game of a lifetime, even for him. UCA defense looks to be bigger, and we'll see how it holds up in a ground and pound game. My guess is offensively, we will start a little slow. Then we'll have to hope to wear you down over 4 qtrs.

I expect a good close game .. but my Redbirds owe you a 4th qtr ... we intend to pay you back !! xdrunkyx

xlolx The one thing I've noticed about our defense is that it gets stronger as the game goes on. But I will warn you that there has been a sickness that has gone around Conway lately. My wife had the flu all last week (missed going to relatives for Turkey day) and we have countless friends who have it also. I imagine college kids living in close quarters likely got it too so don't be surprised if the players get it. If you start slow that may be good for us. We have started out slow for a few years now. Don't know what it is. But I also noticed every defense but a couple have worn out by the third quarter against our receivers. We sub so many that it hurts our offensive production early. But when those starters come in on a regular basis in the second half, look out. Kids light it up. Our Oline is young. Very young. Injuries took out our two best receivers. We're basically a SOPHOMORE level team. This may be the year you take it from us. But it won't be without a fight. These kids have shown in at least 6 games with big comebacks this year they don't quit. It's that "IT" thing coach Brown talked about.

Lemme know if you or any AGS fan is coming down!

[SUPharmacist]

I think if the redbirds defense shows up, their offense can do just enough to pull the upset.

[Professor Chaos]

Illinois St opens as 2 point road favorites on 5dimes.... interesting.

[Outsider1]

Just looking forward to the game.

[Redbird 4th & short]

Any Illinois State fans coming to Conway? I think there were a couple hundred last time if I recall right.

Edit: I found pics from our last game with Illinois State. There were MAYBE 100 fans there.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/galleries/22241/album/

Of course our student section was empty too so no complaints from me! xlolx
Not myself .. we usually get a couple 100 or so to far road games. In 2014, we got about 150 to EWU in quarters, then maybe 250 to UNH in semis, then over 3,600 to Frisco for Natty ... hell, we only had about 5k to our home playoff opener against UNI that year, but got nearly 4k to Frisco ... we're a very fair weather bunch of fans.

[bwbear]

Looked at ticket sales. All but about 50 or so of the reserved seats are sold. Hard to see what general admission seats are sold because they aren't reserved in any way. If half of those are sold then we are about 5-6000 sold already. Game day walk-ups might get another 2000 so I imagine by Gameday the home side should just about be sold out and the visitor side should be half full. Around 8500 or so. Would be nice for a local business to buy up a bunch and give them away.

Hey BEAR, if you hear of any local businesses doing this, let me know. I know two years ago Eat My Catfish gave away tickets to the game if you came in and bought a family meal.

Although I may be going solo to this game. Wife is on the upswing from a nasty asthma condition and the cool air does not help. May have a friend or m father-in-law at most with me for the game.

[Bear84]

Mike!, Mike!, Mike!, guess what day it is? It's poll adding day!

Seriously, since Mike is not responding, could a mod go ahead and add a poll to this thread? Thnx.

[Mike296]

Mike!, Mike!, Mike!, guess what day it is? It's poll adding day!

Seriously, since Mike is not responding, could a mod go ahead and add a poll to this thread? Thnx.

My apologies, I’ve been without internet for the last few days because I was out of town for hunting season. I’ll get on those polls ASAP.

[Bear84]

Glad to see you back. I was hoping you were busy or something. Need more APSU fans on here, since I think Peay will be making some noise for a while.

[BEAR]

Ugh. I get why we are doing this...but ugh...It's the last week before finals...how are we going to get students there?!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EK3nvnbWoAI3TR2?format=jpg&name=small

[BEAR]

Coach talks to fans about Ill. State Monday:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kGlEdMRmiE

[bwbear]

Ugh. I get why we are doing this...but ugh...It's the last week before finals...how are we going to get students there?!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EK3nvnbWoAI3TR2?format=jpg&name=small

You would think that the students would come out in droves.

But we're not the team from the hill....

[BEAR]

You would think that the students would come out in droves.

But we're not the team from the hill....

The Hill people didn't get that big of attendance this year either.

But I get what the A.D. is doing here. When you watch an FCS game on TV typically it shows the visiting side. UCA typically has a good crowd on the home side and the visiting side is pretty sparse. Visiting team fans and students just don't show up usually. We're kind of the odd ball geographically in our conference. If we put people on the visiting side then the cameras will have something to look at and since they hardly ever show the home side then at least it will give more of an accurate picture of attendance at the games. Plus recruits will see fan interest that actually exists and maybe that will influence them to come to UCA...or any school. It's the reason kids go to FBS schools. Fun and packed atmosphere.

[Redbird 4th & short]

YSU played 2 good games all year. The 1st and last. Sorry Red Birds you had to get one of the two [emoji3060]

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
your guys definitely came out and competed. to be honest, we were in our typical offensive funk and really struggled more than usual. Partly due to YSU, partly due to ourselves. But YSU played very tough all game .. was not our day to say the least.

[Redbird 4th & short]

Coach talks to fans about Ill. State Monday:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kGlEdMRmiE
your coach seems like a good guy. was he around for our 2016 game ??

[Bear84]

your coach seems like a good guy. was he around for our 2016 game ??

Brown was the OC/QC in 2016.

[BEAR]

your coach seems like a good guy. was he around for our 2016 game ??

Yeah as Bear84 said he was there. I like the fact he changed up the weekly practice schedule and is approaching you guys differently this time. I read on our board your starting QB is out? How does the backup QB play? Do you have confidence in his abilities or is it a concern? I know you will have a strong run game so we have to prepare for it. Looking forward to the game!

[caribbeanhen]

Brown was the OC/QC in 2016.

Is your coach available? I would take him at Delaware in a Arkansas minute

[ysubigred]

your guys definitely came out and competed. to be honest, we were in our typical offensive funk and really struggled more than usual. Partly due to YSU, partly due to ourselves. But YSU played very tough all game .. was not our day to say the least.I had you guy beating YSU pretty easily. Shocking how well and how bad this team played this season. If YSU played the other MVFC games like we played the Red Birds. Could have been an enjoyable year in Penguin land [emoji31]

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Redbird 4th & short]

Yeah as Bear84 said he was there. I like the fact he changed up the weekly practice schedule and is approaching you guys differently this time. I read on our board your starting QB is out? How does the backup QB play? Do you have confidence in his abilities or is it a concern? I know you will have a strong run game so we have to prepare for it. Looking forward to the game!

Our starter QB Davis wasn't very good, but he was clearly the starter .. our offensive was very average overall to that point (good run, sporadic pass). But he left beginning of Q2 in game 11. Our backups were a RS FR Jefferson (dual threat) with no career throws and true FR Baltz (pocket QB) with 1 career throw. Jefferson started the season as the #2 with Baltz as #3 and we intended to try to preserve Baltz's redshirt. But then Spack decides to promote Baltz to #2 in week 9 or so .. probably just to get him some potential reps, but still trying to preserve his redshirt. That was the plan anyway.

But then early in game 11, QB Davis pulls himself suddenly from the game because his knee kept buckling ... he is now out for season and getting surgery. That's when the fun begins.

So we send new #2 Baltz into game in a hurry ... except he was signaling in plays and can't find his helmet. So recently demoted #3 QB Jefferson has to suddenly go in ... except a pass play is already called before all this happened. We don't change play, we don't call timeout ... we go thru with pass play called for #1 QB Davis .... so #3 QB runs onto field with no warmup or plan to play ... and throws a pic 6 sideline pass on his 1st play. Like we couldnt change play or call timeout I guess. I hear the sideline was was a sh-t show during those 2 plays.

But we go with new #2 Baltz the rest of game 11 ... but he doesn't look close to ready. He throws just 2 balls in 3 qtrs to finish MoST game, 1 is picked ... tipped ball by our TE but still a pick .. confidence on offense flat lines completely. QB stat line for last 3 qtrs of Game 11 ... 0-3, 2 picks. We also lost our clear #2 at RB Proctor that game .. our #3 is not ready to #2 level reps. Anyway, we hang on to barely beat a weak MoST with offense now completely in a funk and no QBs who are comfortable throwing.

Baltz starts against YSU in game 12, goes 1-7, with 1 pick, might have brought Jefferson back in late. Stat line for backups for season is something like 1-11, 2 picks, both had negative QBRs after regular season .... negative !!!! Both !!!

Suddenly were out of top 8 seed contention and were supposedly one of last 4 in. We go from running 65% of time to running 90% of time. But then we go back to RS FR QB Jefferson for playoffs, get him full week of #1 reps to face SEMO. He throws just 7 passes, but he makes no mistakes and suddenly looks completely under control in a very limited passing roll.

So the injuries to starter QB Davis, and #2 RB Proctor, and the initial 2 game debacle to find a replacement QB who wouldn't crap his pants during the game. Plus we had lost both starting receivers in game 4, one for season, the other until last week, and most of our receiver group is FR and SO. So we finally got our stud top WR Edgar back last week.

But this is entirely why Robinson had to run 41 times against SEMO. Down a starting QB and back up RB since game 11, and both WRs since game 4. Plus couple other injuries on offense like everyone else.

We'll see about this week .. except QB Jefferson has had another week of prep and is getting probably more comfortable .. guessing he will throw more than the 7 times he threw against SEMO. And WR Edgar is back, so both should help take some pressure off Robinson.

More than you probably wanted to hear ... but 2019 had been quite the adventure for our offense .. QB play and injuries. Last week was like getting out of jail for our guys.

[Chalupa Batman]

This is a tossup to me but I'm picking UCA. Either way I'll be happy as an ISUr win is good for the Valley but I always like seeing NDSU play new teams in the playoffs so a Bears win is good too.

[NDB]

Either way we're having chicken for tailgating.

[BEAR]

31258


31257

[Professor Chaos]

31258


31257
Nice gesture by UCA (or a UCA donor) since they still have to count every student ticket sold/used as $5 more to their gate receipts that are part of what determines how much money they send the NCAA.

[bwbear]

Nice gesture by UCA (or a UCA donor) since they still have to count every student ticket sold/used as $5 more to their gate receipts that are part of what determines how much money they send the NCAA.

It is a small price to pay to generate support for the team.

But hopefully it cost a lot.

[Outsider1]

31258


31257

Can the hunters bring their deer with them?

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

If the Redbirds can consistently run the ball, they win this game IMO.

Ill State has a significantly better defense and in playoff football, defense is magnified.

Total defense:

UCA: #84
Ill State: #12


Scoring defense:

UCA: #55
Ill State: #5


Quarterfinal: Rematch with the Bison

[cx500d]

Can the hunters bring their deer with them?

Sure, $5 ea

[Redbird 4th & short]

If the Redbirds can consistently run the ball, they win this game IMO.

Ill State has a significantly better defense and in playoff football, defense is magnified.

Total defense:

UCA: #84
Ill State: #12


Scoring defense:

UCA: #55
Ill State: #5


Quarterfinal: Rematch with the Bison

wait .. WTF, that's our reward for winning this week ????

[cx500d]

wait .. WTF, that's our reward for winning this week ????

@#Priceless

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

wait .. WTF, that's our reward for winning this week ????


Well, it could be Nicholls I guess. Wonder where that game would be played? Which team (Ill State or Nicholls) would have the higher bid?

[Redbird 4th & short]

Well, it could be Nicholls I guess. Wonder where that game would be played? Which team (Ill State or Nicholls) would have the higher bid?
sure get my hopes up .. ok, so if Nicholls wins .. cough cough .. I think we host because we played on road in round 1 and Nicholls St played at home .... I think thats how it works in round of 8 when a seed falls out.

[Bison Fan in NW MN]

Ill State keeps the rushing game humming along. Redbird defense steps up and proves their defensive ranking is legit.

Redbirds win this.

[caribbeanhen]

I have Central Arky in a close game, Illinois State just a bit to inconsistent for me

[Redbird 4th & short]

Ill State keeps the rushing game humming along. Redbird defense steps up and proves their defensive ranking is legit.

Redbirds win this.
if we win this one, it's because we are a bad match up for them ... so we have to make sure we contain their pass game .. not stop it, but contain it. We do that, I think we pull this one out.

They seem to struggle in the trenches with run offense and run defense ... we have to take advantage there and just contain their pass game. We usually do well in nickle package .. so either 3-4-4 or 3-3-5 most of the game. We run deep in LB (we play 7) and DB (we play 6 or 7) positiongroups ... so passing defenses works ok for us. Going to have to spy their RB Blackmon .. they like him to run and catch passes out of backfield (46 catches for 3rd on team). He's also thrown 2 TD passes. But they are a good passing team and their QB has a real nice touch and likes to move around in pocket to buy time. Hope we can dial up our pass rush today and make him throw under lot of duress.

Only thing that hurst us on pass defense is we usually take our big NG Ridgeway (6'5" 325 lbs) out of game on obvious pass downs. or if they go no huddle and we can't get who we want on field.

[BEAR]

What in the world did the Redbird player do that a whole side of Bear fans stood up in unison and coach Brown went ballistic?

[BEAR]

Birds 7
Bears 0

12:03 left in 2nd

Bears are stacking the penalties

[BEAR]

14-0 now

[BEAR]

14-7

6 minutes left before half

[BEAR]

21-7 now

1 minute left in half

[BEAR]

I would like to introduce our coach to the forward pass. xlolx

[Redbird 4th & short]

What in the world did the Redbird player do that a whole side of Bear fans stood up in unison and coach Brown went ballistic?

refs missed a clear unsportsmanlike penalty .. stupid play by our guy and over what exactly ???? We caught a break there.

[Redbird 4th & short]

slow and sloppy start for my Redbirds, but we go it going eventually. Our goal is to wear them down like this ... and not give it all back in Q4 this time. Pleasantly surprised with our pass defense so far.

Sucked to see WR Edgar go down again. Started year injured and made it back game 3, had huge game 4 (12 catched 225 yards) but got injured near end of that game along with our other starting WR. He finally makes it back last week, but then goes down early in today's game. Hope he makes it back into game today. Very good player and very good guy.

[BEAR]

Don’t worry Redbirds, our D2 coaches will let us down.

- - - Updated - - -

He caught that one handed

[Redbird 4th & short]

nice pick by Redbirds Taylor .. we got 2 today.

[Redbird 4th & short]

UCA just had their 4th offsides/neutral zone

[BEAR]

Wow. We have no offense. It’s either a 5 yard pass or a 50. Pathetic

[BEAR]

Congratulations Redbirds. Our coaches again failed to prepare. Another score and I’m done.

[Redbird 4th & short]

Congratulations Redbirds. Our coaches again failed to prepare. Another score and I’m done.
you obviously don't remember 2016 game ??

[BEAR]

Poor coaching on that 4th down. Coach had players looking back at the sideline with 4 seconds left. Stupid.

[BEAR]

Personal foul against UCA. Leaping. xlolx

[Redbird 4th & short]

Personal foul against UCA. Leaping. xlolx

Lords a leaping ?? Is that a thing .. a penalty to jump over/on our player to block a punt ?? I guess that would make sense because then everyone would jump onto blockers to get higher and to block punts. I know you can't jump over/on the OL to block a FG.

[Redbird 4th & short]

Robinson up to 36 carries for 209 yards.

[Redbird 4th & short]

FG puts us up 24-7 with 4 mins left ... 3 possession game, so looking promising for my Redbirds.

[dewey]

Robinson up to 36 carries for 209 yards.

WOW! Another monster game for Robinson.

Dewey

[Redbird 4th & short]

24-14 now .. here comes an onside kick .. 1:32 left

[Redbird 4th & short]

and UCA recovers at the 50 ... but we get a sack

[Redbird 4th & short]

we had another pick on their last drive but our guy had a late hit on QB, so they got 1st down instead and wound up scoring.

[ysubigred]

24-14 now .. here comes an onside kick .. 1:32 left[emoji106]

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Redbird 4th & short]

and we get the pick again .. FR Isbell .. shouldbe game over.

[dewey]

Congratulations to the Rebirds on beating UCA.

Dewey

[Bisonator]

Congrats Redbirts, see ya next weekend!

[Chalupa Batman]

78 carries in 2 weeks. Will Robinson have anything left in the for next week?

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

[Redbird 4th & short]

thanks, congrats on outting them away 2nd half .. and you know what, I'm in such a good mood. I'm going to offer to host this thing next week ... let us take care of all the arrangements and cooking, etc. Just get there about noon ... you guys are always being put out and hosting. Just a bring a couple side dishes, we'll do the rest !!!!

See you in Normal !!!

xdrunkyx

[Redbird 4th & short]

78 carries in 2 weeks. Will Robinson have anything left in the for next week?

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk
uh .... yeah ???

He did not take much of beating last week. This week was much tougher day for him .. so this one will probably have him in training room for couple days recovering. Last week .. he was all rearing to go. It was not a tough 41 carries.

Our QB started out really bad ... 3 fumbles, though 1 didn't count because they were offsides on 1st play of game, and we recovered the other 2. But he settled down eventually. Defense wound up with 4 sacks and 3 picks .. we had a 4th pick taken back because we had late hit on QB .. they score their 2nd TD as a result. They also got an onside kick on us late, but we held.

Robinson was a beast. UCA defense toughened up 2nd half. But our defense was very stout and opportunistic all game. Our cover guys did a nice job in their pass attack. We pressured their QB a fair amount.

But UCA was definitely a tougher game than SEMO. And they had a real nice season .. I think we were just a bad match up for them.

[BEAR]

Heck of a game Redbirds. You deserved the win. We've got coaches that deserve to be fired. xlolx

[skinny_uncle]

WOW! Another monster game for Robinson.

Dewey
He is a beast.

[Redbird 4th & short]

Heck of a game Redbirds. You deserved the win. We've got coaches that deserve to be fired. xlolx
UCA had a nice season and Southland is looking stronger. I think it comes down to line play. We struggled in MVFC because the top half has very strong defenses and overall line play .. it's just a lot tougher in trenches. But your defense was much tougher than SEMO .. no disrespect intended towards SEMO, but Robinson had it real easy last week. This week was much tougher grinding out yards, especially 2nd half.

I think this is your HC's 2nd season .. you guys did well this year so he's doing something right. Good luck next season .. I'm keeping an eye on Southland .. all ships seem to be rising again.

[BEAR]

Learned today that our QB Smith suffered a concussion early in the game. Not that it would have made a huge diffference as the RedBirds were playing so well, but it does explain his behavior on the field. After one hit he got up and staggered. His mother says sure enough he suffered a concussion. Fans in the stands had no idea.

I was also surprised to learn these facts:

Redbirds: 4 sacks, 7 TFL, 3 INTs.
Bears: 3 sacks, 10.5 TFL

Watching the game I thought it would be the other way around with the sacks and TFLs. Redbirds just got theirs at critical times!

Anyway, found it interesting about the concussion news.

[Loyl2u]

Hard to believe that with the concussion protocols in place today, that a young man would be left in the game and if he didn’t tell anybody, surprising his teammates didn’t pick up on it. We’ve come a long way from the. “get back in there” and “ point him in the right direction” mentality. We know a lot more about the long term effects and in the “short term” players can go months and months with symptoms of vertigo. Hope he recovers quickly and is all right.

[BEAR]

Hard to believe that with the concussion protocols in place today, that a young man would be left in the game and if he didn’t tell anybody, surprising his teammates didn’t pick up on it. We’ve come a long way from the. “get back in there” and “ point him in the right direction” mentality. We know a lot more about the long term effects and in the “short term” players can go months and months with symptoms of vertigo. Hope he recovers quickly and is all right.

That's what I thought too. I've got to go look at the video to see when it happened and see if any actions were taken to check on him. Hate it for him. Last year his leg got broken in only the 4th game of the season. Now he gets to play in a playoff game and suffers this early. Man. I hope we are recruiting an OLINE. xlolx At least for his health's sake.