Tuning In
 Saturday's game between Southern Illinois at Western Illinois (6:07 p.m. CT) is part of the league's television package.  Scott Warmann (PBP), Danan Hughes (analyst) and Mick Shaffer (sideline) will call the action from Hanson Field in Macomb, Ill.

• Live:  FS Midwest - 6 pm CT
• Live:  Fox College Sports (FCS Central) - 6 pm CT

FCS Radio Game of the Week
 Two Valley Football games will be featured as part of the 4th annual FCS Game of the Week.  The Oct. 3 Southern Illinois-Western Illinois contest (at Macomb) and the Oct. 17 Southern Illinois-UNI game (at Cedar Falls) are part of the 11-game schedule.  The games will air at 10 pm CT and will be broadcast by WCKY, AM 1530, Cincinnati, over WCKY's 50,000 watt nighttime skywave signal, which, geographically, covers the eastern half of the United States and Canada at night.

For a full release, including team-by-team notes and schedules, please download the PDF, by clicking on the icon at the bottom of this page.

Saturday, Oct. 3
*Indiana State at #3 UNI (Family Day) * Cedar Falls, Iowa * 4:05 p.m. CT
  Series:  UNI leads, 21-4
  Last Year:  UNI, 28-0
  Note:  The Panthers have won the past six meetings in the series, while Indiana State has only 1 win in Cedar Falls (24-6 in 1988).

*Illinois State at North Dakota State * (Homecoming, NBC North Dakota) * Fargo, N.D. * 1 p.m. CT
  Series:  NDSU leads, 2-0
  Last Year:  NDSU, 25-7
  Note:  The Bison won the first-ever meeting, in Fargo, in 2007, 54-28.

*Missouri State at Youngstown State * Youngstown, Ohio * 6 p.m. ET
  Series:  YSU leads, 11-2
  Last Year:  MSU, 42-28
  Note:  The Bears have never won a game at Stambaugh Stadium, as YSU has gone 6-0 vs. MSU at home.

*#8 Southern Illinois at Western Illinois (FCS Radio, MVFC TV) * Macomb, Ill. * 6 p.m. CT
  Series:  WIU leads, 33-17-4
  Last Year:  SIU, 24-14
  Note:  SIU has won seven-straight games in the series after snapping a league-record 18-game series win streak by Western Illinois.

#15 South Dakota State at #17 Cal Poly * San Luis Obispo, Calif. * 8 p.m. CT
  Series:  Cal Poly leads, 3-2
  Last Year:  Cal Poly, 42-28
  Note:  The teams have played every year since 2004, with SDSU posting victories in 2006 and 2007.

*denotes conference game

Patterson Steps Aside
 On Friday, Sept. 24, Western Illinois coach Don Patterson announced he will step down from his head coaching role due to personal health concerns.  Assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Mark Hendrickson takes over as acting head coach. Hendrickson served as acting head coach for the first seven games of the 2008 season while Patterson was undergoing cancer treatments.

VALLEY FB COACHING RECORDS, League Games
Randy Ball, WIU (90-98); MSU (99-05), 16 yrs. 51
Terry Allen, UNI (89-96); MSU (06- ), 11+ yrs.  47
Mark Farley, UNI (2001- ), 8+ years 43
Don Patterson, WIU (1999-09), 10+ years 33
Jesse Branch, MSU (1986-94), 9 years 31
Jerry Kill, Southern Illinois (2001-07), 7 years 30

All games at league institutions (all-time list):
Randy Ball, WIU (90-98); MSU (99-05) 98-83-1
Terry Allen, UNI (89-96); MSU (06- ) 89-49
Mark Farley, UNI (2001- ) 78-29
Don Patterson, Western Illinois (1999-09) 63-47
Jerry Kill, Southern Illinois (2001-07) 55-32
Jesse Branch, Missouri State (1986-94) 55-44-1

Wrapping It Up, Almost
 South Dakota State plays at Cal Poly on Saturday, Oct. 3; and the league will have just two non-conference games after that.  The MVFC has combined for an 11-13 non-conference record, but that includes eight games at FBS sites.  The league is an impressive 10-4 against teams from the FCS.  In 2008, the MVFC was 11-8 at home against non-conference teams while posting a 3-12 road record.

Against the Top 25
 South Dakota State battles nationally ranked Cal Poly on Saturday, Oct. 3.  Since 1996, Valley Football has 66 non-conference top-25 wins, including 18 victories in the past four years.  

Open Season
 Western Illinois opens its conference slate this weekend against Southern Illinois.  Southern Illinois, which beat North Dakota State in its 2009 conference opener on Sept. 26, has won eight-straight Missouri Valley Football openers.  UNI (18) has won the most league-opening games.  Western Illinois lost its conference opener last year.

Defensive-Minded
 UNI saw its string of scoreless quarters reach nearly 11 as Missouri State scored with seven seconds left in UNI's 35-7 win at Springfield.  Meanwhile, South Dakota State's defense allowed its first TD of the season with just 10 seconds remaining against Illinois State.  South Dakota State and UNI are the top-ranked defenses in the FCS, through games of Saturday, Sept. 26:

Scoring Defense TDs FG Pts. PPG W-L
1 South Dakota St. 2 3 23 7.67 3-0
2 UNI 4 1 31 7.75 3-1
3 Eastern Illinois 6 0 40 10.00 4-0
4 Cornell 2 2 21 10.50 2-0
5 Florida A&M 6 2 44 11.00 4-0

Blank Stares
 Youngstown State shut out Indiana State last weekend (28-0).  And now Valley Football teams have recorded a minimum of three shutouts in nine of the past 10 years.  Since 1985, a total of 21 conference games have been shutouts, and Youngstown State has four of those (three of those four coming at the expense of Indiana State):

Team Last Shutout Recorded
ILS Sept. 24, 2005 (42-0 vs. Murray State)
INS Aug. 29, 1996 (48-0 vs. Mars Hill)
MSU Sept. 18, 2004 (45-0 vs. Union)
NDSU Sept. 17, 2005 (41-0 vs. Weber State)
UNI Sept. 19, 2009 (30-0 vs. Saint Francis)
SDSU Sept. 19, 2009 (41-0 vs. Indiana State)
SIU Oct. 18, 2008 (33-0 vs. Youngstown State)
WIU Oct. 18, 2008 (56-0 vs. Indiana State)
YSU Sept. 26, 2009 (28-0 vs. Indiana State)

YSU Continues Streak
 Following last week's 28-0 victory in Terre Haute, Ind., Youngstown State has won 13-straight in the series against Indiana State and has won 18 of the 19 all-time meetings between the programs.  The league record for consecutive wins between two league members is 18, set by Western Illinois -- vs. Southern Illinois -- from 1984 until 2002. 

What's the Rush?
 North Dakota State's Pat Paschall has four of the top five single-game rushing performances in the league this year and leads the FCS in rushing yards per game.

210 -- Deji Karim, SIU vs. Southwest Baptist, S19
176 -- Pat Paschall, NDSU vs. S. Houston State, S12
167 -- Pat Paschall, NDSU vs. Wagner, S19
150 -- Pat Paschall, NDSU vs. S. Illinois, S26
146 -- Pat Paschall, NDSU vs. Iowa State, S3
146 -- Kyle Minett, SDSU vs. Illinois State, S26

No. of 100-Yard Rushing Performances in the MVFC
Pat Paschall, North Dakota State - 4
Deji Karim, Southern Illinois - 2
Kyle Minett, South Dakota State - 2
Darrius Gates, Indiana State - 1
Dre Gibbs, Western Illinois - 1
Derrick Law, Northern Iowa - 1
Kevin Smith, Youngstown State - 1

National Rushing Leaders
 Western Illinois RB Herb Donaldson, the league's all-time leading rusher, led the nation in rushing and scoring as a senior in 2008.  This year, the league has three candidates who are currently challenging for the nation's rushing title.

Rushing Yards Per Game, National Leaders
1 Pat Paschall, North Dakota State, Sr. 159.75
2 Deji Karim, Southern Illinois, Sr. 134.67
3 David Sinisi, Monmouth, Sr. 131.00
4 Toddrick Pendland, McNeese State, Sr. 129.25
5 Ray Rangel, Columbia, Sr.  124.00
6 Kyle Minett, South Dakota State, Jr. 123.00
7 Ulysses Banks, Alabama A&M, Sr. 119.00
8 Tony Nelson, Massachusetts, Sr. 114.00

Doing It On Purpose
 Two of the nation's top all-purpose yardage performers will be facing one another in the Western Illinois-Southern Illinois contest on Saturday, Oct. 3.   WIU's Todd Speight ranks No. 3 nationally in all-purpose yards, while SIU's Deji Karim is No. 7.   Missouri Valley Football has three of the Top 7, including North Dakota State's Pat Paschall, at No. 5.

All-Purpose Yards Per Game, National Leaders
1 Ulysses Banks, Alabama A&M, Sr.  224.5 YPG
2 Terrence Holt, Austin Peay, Jr. 213.5 YPG
3 Todd Speight, Western Illinois, Jr. 194.7 YPG
4 Aaron Woods, Portland State, Sr. 192.8 YPG
5 Pat Paschall, North Dakota State, Sr. 189.8 YPG
6 LaMarcus Coker, Hampton, Sr. 186.3 YPG
7 Deji Karim, Southern Illinois, Sr. 182.3 YPG

Leading the Nation
 Several league players rank among the national leaders through three weeks in the season.  Notably, RB Pat Paschall of North Dakota State and DB Korey Lindsey of Southern Illinois are No. 1 in their respective statistical categories.  Here are league players and teams who rank in the Top 3 nationally:

#1 - Korey Lindsey, SIU (1.00 interceptions/game)
#1 - Pat Paschall, NDSU (159.75 rush yards/game)
#2 - Pat Grace, UNI (171.85 passer rating)
#2 - Scott Ravanesi, SIU (44.79 yards/punt)
#2 - Lilo Senatus, WIU (130.0 receiving yards/game)
#2 - Deji Karim, SIU (134.67 rush yards/game)
#3 - Todd Speight, WIU (194.67 all-purpose/game)
#3 - Todd Speight, WIU (23.2 yards/punt return)

#1 - South Dakota State (rushing defense)
#1 - South Dakota State (scoring defense)
#2 - UNI (scoring defense)
#2 - North Dakota State (rushing offense)
#2 - South Dakota State (total defense)
#3 - South Dakota State (pass efficiency defense)
#3 - UNI (pass efficiency offense)
#3 - South Dakota State (scoring offense)

Climbing the Tackle Charts
 Southern Illinois' Brandin Jordan is No. 3 among all FCS players with 307 career tackles (courtesy NCAA statistics database), while SDSU's Jimmy Rogers ranks ninth with 265 career stops.  Neither will catch the MVFC's all-time leader -- Illinois State's Boomer Grigsby finished his career in 2004 with 580 career tackles.

1 Jacque Roman, Appalachian State, Sr.  326
2 Luke Bonus, Hofstra, Sr.   308
3 Brandin Jordan, Southern Illinois, Sr.  307
4 Scott Lewis, St. Francis (PA), Jr.   302
5 D.J. Smith, Appalachian State, Jr.  282
6 Robert Takeno, Southern Utah, Sr.  280
7 Tamar Butler, Murray State, Sr.   279
8 Daniel Becker, Austin Peay, Sr.   268
9 Jimmy Rogers, South Dakota State, Sr.  265
10 Tommy Connors, Southeastern La., Sr.  256
10 Eric McBride, Richmond, Jr.   256