Panthers push past ISU football in defense battle 20-10

Through only two weeks of the season, turnovers have made a difference for No. 15 Illinois State’s football program.

After losing Week 1 due to seven turnovers, the Redbirds cut down the number of turnovers against No. 3 Northern Iowa in game two. With only one turnover in game two it came at a key time for the Redbirds.

With seven minutes left in the game, ISU starting quarterback Bryce Jefferson fumbled the ball with the Redbirds down by just 10 points leading to a 20-10 UNI win.

ISU head coach Brock Spack saw pressure on Jefferson as the main factor for offensive struggles.

Early on Northern Iowa opened with a rushing touchdown and a field goal on the first two drives to put the Panthers up 10-0. The Panthers grabbed their touchdown from an 11-yard rush from Will McElvainE. Matthew Cook’s 43-yard field goal extended UNI’s lead.

 The Redbirds battled back, nabbing a 43-yard field goal of their own from Aidan Bresnahan.

Despite giving up two scores in the first quarter, ISU managed to lock down UNI defensively in the second quarter. ISU kept the Panthers out of the end zone for the rest of the first half. The Redbirds played especially well on defense as they lost Jason Lewan and Jude Okolo on the same play early into the second quarter.

The conditions on either player are not known yet.

Along with putting up a solid front stopping the ball, the Redbirds forced a UNI turnover. While trying to hit his running back, McElvain misfired to Kenton Wilhoit. Charging down the field, Wilhoit found the end zone for a 29-yard pick-six.

Wilhoit saw the touchdown as a momentum swinger at the time.

“It was really good to be able to swing that momentum to keep us in that game,” Wilhoit said. “I had a good group of guys around me, so it felt good.”

ISU barely missed another opportunity to pick up some points on defense. Midway through the third quarter defensive lineman Josh Dinga broke through UNI’s line to take down McElvain within UNI’s 1-yard line. The Redbirds missed a safety by less than a yard.

Spack was impressed with how his defense responded after UNI scoring quickly early on.

“I thought they responded very well,” Spack said. “The three touchdowns we gave up were on a short field. We should have kept them out of the end zone, and the game would have been tight, but we did not. All in all, I thought they played hard. We put pressure on the quarterback. We are thin on the defensive line.”

Both teams stayed quite offensively throughout the third quarter, with both teams putting up a shutout.

But the Panthers finally got some momentum as they chipped away field position as they looked for a field goal. ISU was able to cut down UNI’s march thanks to a pass broken up by Charles Woods. The Panthers had to settle for a 44-yard field goal for Cook.

Looking to get some momentum down just three points, ISU ran into some familiar trouble. After last week’s opening game saw the Redbirds turn over the ball seven times, ISU only turned the ball over one time.

But that turnover would kill the Redbirds’ chance of coming back. Dropping back looking for an open receiver, ISU starting quarterback Bryce Jefferson was hit by Spencer Cuvelier forcing a fumble. UNI’s Jared Brinkman grabbed the ball in ISU territory.

UNI only needed four plays before Tyler Hoosman rushed it in from the 13-yard line to cap off the game 20-10.

Jefferson cited the Panthers’ defensive line as the key part of this game.

Offensively the Redbirds looked different in Week 2. After letting Jefferson show off his arm last week, the Redbirds ran fewer long balls.

“When you take it deep 5-7 times on a team the next team will probably play deep,” Jefferson said. “They tried to not get beat over top and they did not.”

With the loss, ISU’s record falls to 0-2. ISU will be back in action at 3:30 p.m. next Saturday at North Dakota State. After losing their over 30-game winning streak in their third conference game, the Bison bounced back for a 25-0 win over Missouri State.