The Week Ahead
All five games this weekend will be available on ESPN3. The league’s ESPN3 production is the UNI-Missouri State contest at 2 pm CT. Brad Wells, Danan Hughes and Kelly Burke are on the call from Springfield.
Weekly Notebook (PDF)
Saturday, Nov. 11 (Times CT)
#17 Illinois State at #5 South Dakota State, 2 pm | Brookings, S.D. • MidcoSN / ESPN3
#11 Western Illinois at Indiana State, 12 pm | Terre Haute, Ind. • ESPN3
#25 UNI at Missouri State, 2 pm | Springfield, Mo. • ESPN3
#10 South Dakota at #5 North Dakota State, 2:30 pm | Fargo, N.D. • NBC ND / ESPN3
Youngstown State at Southern Illinois, 1 pm | Carbondale, Ill. • ESPN3
Fit to Be Tied
North Dakota State can clinch at least a share of the conference title against USD for the second straight year. The Bison won 28-21 in last year’s regular-season finale. In the event of a tie for first place, co-champions will be named, but the AQ for the NCAA Championship will be determined in the manner outlined below:
Two Teams Tied
(1) In the event of a two-team tie in the conference results and the two teams played each other, the winner of the game shall be declared the NCAA automatic qualifier.
(2) If the tied teams did not play each other, then each team’s record against all common conference opponents shall be used to determine the NCAA automatic qualifier.
(3) If the teams are still tied, then each team’s record against the next highest common opponent in the conference standings shall be used to determine the NCAA automatic qualifier.
(4) If the teams are still tied, the latest available computer ranking used by the NCAA selection committee shall be used.
Three or More Teams Tied
(1) If at any point a tie is broken using the multiple-tie tiebreaker procedures and only two teams remain tied, the remaining teams shall revert to the two-way tiebreaker (head-to-head).
(2) If the tied teams all played one another, the team with the best cumulative record involving games among the tied teams shall be declared the NCAA automatic qualifier.
(3) If the tied teams all played one another and have identical records against the other tied teams, then each team’s record against all common conference opponents shall be used to determine the NCAA automatic bid. If teams are still tied, then each team’s record against the next highest common opponent in the conference standings shall determine the automatic bid.
(4) If the tied teams did not play each other, then each team’s record against common conference opponents shall be used to determine the automatic bid. If the tied teams did not play each other, but one team played and defeated the other two teams, that team is champion.
(5) If the teams are still tied and they did not play each other, then each team’s record against the next highest common opponent in the conference standings shall determine the automatic bid.
(6) If the teams are still tied, the latest available computer ranking used by the NCAA selection committee shall be used.
Against the FCS
The MVFC is 18-5 against FCS schools this year, which includes two road losses to ranked FCS teams, one of which (Liberty) is transitioning to FBS. The MVFC is 2-2 against non-league FCS ranked teams.
Playoff Bids - MVFC History
The MVFC has had a league-record five teams selected to the playoffs twice (2014 and 2015). In the past three seasons, the MVFC has had a total of 14 bids. Only CAA Football has had as many as 5 bids (three times).
The Power 5
In the past seven playoffs (2010-16), five leagues (Big Sky, CAA Football, MVFC, Southern and Southland) have combined to win 126 of 149 total games. The MVFC has 44 of those wins (35 percent).
Dominance By Decade
The Missouri Valley Football Conference has recorded a 44-19 record since 2010 in the playoffs -- better than any other league. Over the last two-plus years the MVFC has a 25-12 record in the playoffs, which includes six intraconference games, meaning the league is 19-6 vs. the rest.
Road Warriors
North Dakota State saw its FCS-best road winning streak end at 12-straight with its loss at South Dakota State on Nov. 4. With its 31-14 victory at Illinois State, Western Illinois secured its fifth road win of the season, the most since also compiling five during 2003. Western Illinois will be vying for their sixth away win of the year at Indiana State, never before accomplished in its 113 seasons of football prior to 2017. Notably, only 21 teams in league history (including Western this year) have won five road games in a season and all of the previous teams participated in the FCS playoffs. The league record for road wins in a season, including the playoffs, is six -- accomplished by UNI (2007) and Illinois State (2012).
NCAA Leaders (FCS), Road Wins (2017)
6 - North Carolina A&T
5 - Western Illinois
4 - 10 teams tied
Davis Notches 6 TDs
QB Ricky Davis of Youngstown State accounted for six TDs in the Penguins’ 66-24 win at Indiana State (4 pass, 2 rush). It marks the third time its happened in the MVFC this season (Taryn Christion of South Dakota State, vs. Western Illinois & Chris Streveler of South Dakota, vs. Drake.) It’s tied for the second-most in the FCS this season in a single game (games against Division I opponents are only listed below.) Christion and Streveler are tied for the FCS lead with 29 total TDs (pass + rush) this season.
Acklin Climbing The Charts
Western Illinois WR Jaelon Acklin leads the MVFC and ranks No. 3 in the FCS in receiving yards with 1,096. He is just 89 yards away from setting the WIU single-season record. He’s the 33rd receiver in league history to reach 1,000 yards in a season.
The Big D
Dallas Goedert of South Dakota State set a league record for receiving yards by a tight end last year with 1,293 in 13 games. That was also the best in Division I. He leads all DI tight ends in receiving yards again this year with 816 in nine games. He has 2,693 receiving yards in his career, surpassing SIU’s MyCole Pruitt (2,601 from 2011-14) for the Conference record for career receiving yards by an MVFC tight end.
Tackle Machine
LB Brett Taylor had an FCS-best 28 tackles in Western Illinois’ game vs. South Dakota. That number ranks 5th all-time for a single game in league history. He currently leads the FCS in tackles per game (13.9). Including Taylor, only 15 players in MVFC history have reached 425 career tackles, while Taylor ranks 2nd among active FCS players with 432 career stops. He’s 12th in league history with those 432 career tackles.
Jake Continues To Climb Charts
WR Jake Wieneke of South Dakota State passed Jerry Rice for third place all time in career receiving yards. He ranks No. 3 all-time in the FCS in both career TD receptions (54) and yards (4,730). He holds league career receiving records for TDs (54), yards (4,730) and is second in receptions (262). Lance Lenoir of Western Illinois holds the latter record with 273 career catches.