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What do we know about the Redbirds?

They are in a really tough conference to say the least.
I imagine they are going to be extremely physical on both sides of the ball and
be relentless in their endeavor to win this game.

Can only hope the Bears bring their A-game on Saturday.

BPSG
___________
GO BEARS

Redbirds are 6-5 overall and 4-4 in MVC

W50-13 at home over Valparaiso
W9-7 at Northwestern (B10)
L21-244 at home to Eastern Illinois
L31-34 at Indiana State
L10-31 at North Dakota State (seeded playoff team)
L6-20 at home to Youngstown State (playoff team)
W31-28 at home over Southern Illinois
L24-27 at South Dakota
W38-21 at home over South Dakota State (impressive win) (seeded playoff team)
W31-26 at Western Illinois
W37-0 at home over Missouri State

Game vs SDSU may be best game to look at. Held Jackrabbits to 105 gross rushing and 83 net. ISU ran for 230 gross and 209 net.

SDSU passed for only 430 (33-63) with 3 INTs. ISU threw for 138 but no INTs.

Punted for 38 yd avg but two inside 20.

SDSU was 11/19 3rd downs, 2/4 4th and 2/5 redzone scores. Redbirds were 5/13, 0/0 and 4/4.


http://goredbirds.com/boxscore.aspx?path=football&id=8356

For the season, avg 26 points and gave up 21.

Rushed for 4.5 per carry and gave up only 3.4

Had 7 INTs and 8 lost fumbles while opponents were 12 and 2....ISU was only +1.

FGs were 15/19 (11 of last 13) and 33/35 PATs.......3 over 40 including one at 50.......80% redzone scores and 50% RZ TDs

Pretty balanced scoring per quarter with Q2 the most.

Top 4 RBs avg 4.9+ per carry. Top 3 receivers had 46+ catches each and 15 TDs between them and combined 175 yds per game.

Defense had 25 sacks BUT offense gave up 34......61 TFLs but gave up 79

Top 2 tacklers were 85+

http://goredbirds.com/documents/2016/11/12/ILS_Season_Stats.pdf

Trivia: Bears played ISU at Normal on 9/6/06 in the first game vs a D1 team while in transition........Redbirds won 18-3 (heard that game on radio) in routine control the ball game.......Bears had 9 FDs, 63 rush yards but decent 256 passing.......Ross brown led Bear RBs with 39 yards and Aaron Fairooz had 8/146......ISU pounded it out as their top RB carried 27/141.......

Wow, nice sum up. It looks much worse on paper when you break it down. I'm glad you didn't mention how bad we are on 3rd down as well

I'd also like to add to your post something a little more intangible. When we went on that month of straight losing, we had lost our 1st and 2nd string RBs, a couple of our DBs for 3-4 games, an offensive tackle, our TE was ailing, and our new QB was recovering from a shoulder injury. Fortunately for us, we've figured things out, and we will probably be the healthiest we've been since Northwestern, but still down a 1st string RB. You gave us fits when you came up to ISU back when you were transitioning, that game was scary, because it almost ruined our opener. You guys play good football, so I know the boys will be ready and not take you lightly one bit.

Redbirds are good-very good.

From what I've seen from seeing the MVC vs Southland Conference, Southland is very capable of holding its own.
UCA is a very good team, and as a SHSU fan I can say that UCA should be able to handle ISU and represent us proudly.

Hello Bears,
McNeese fan here. Good luck and have fun at the game.

I remember listening to that game on the radio...very frustrating for Bear fans.
Never seemed to get much going against the Redbirds that day.

Hope things will be a little different on the Stripes on Saturday...

BPSG
_________________
GO BEARS..........

Last 3 games:
Penalty yardage - 358
Fumbles lost - 7

Season:
Penalty yardage - 877
Fumbles lost - 13

Last 3 games:
41% of season total penalty yardage
54% of season total lost fumbles

Obviously, Bears need to reverse this trend on Saturday.

Just counted how many lower and upper reserve tickets have been sold..464.

Cant get a count on general admission but there is no limit on how many you can buy overall. Limit 50 per time though.

It's GAMEDAY!!!! GO BEARS!!!

I'm keeping the faith that there is a decent crowd today, but I won't be surprised
if very few show up.

If Bears keep up their turnover trend...this one will be over in a hurry.
I've got a feeling they stop the bleeding today...

BPSG
________________
GO BEARS

just a couple of observations..........right now there is an impressive 'Redbird City' mass tailgate located just southwest of the stadium. That's how to do it. secondly, without checking, I bet this is the only match up between two teams that have wins over FBS. Yes ISU did it against a big 10 team, Northwestern

Not good!

This offense is completely stagnant. Hildebrand has gotten worse

As soon as I say that...what a turnaround