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| SportsThursday, September 6, 2007 12:51 AM CDT |
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Gateway coaches: Appalachian St. win 'huge for all of us'
Three Gateway Conference teams are hoping a little Appalachian State magic rubs off this week. “I think it’s great,” Southern Illinois coach Jerry Kill said of Football Championship Subdivision brethren Appalachian State upsetting national power Michigan last Saturday. “It’s a huge win for all of us. It makes us all look better.” Southern meets Football Bowl Subdivision entry Northern Illinois in DeKalb on Saturday. In other FCS vs. FBS matchups, Northern Iowa travels to Iowa State and Western Illinois faces Illinois in Champaign. Kill’s Salukis gave the Big Ten Conference a jolt last season by knocking off Indiana, 35-28. Southern nearly bumped off Northern in 2004, but a failed Saluki two-point conversion allowed the Huskies to escape with a 23-22 triumph. “The kids naturally pick it up,” Kill said. “They like to be on the big stage.” Missouri State coach Terry Allen, the former head coach at Northern Iowa and Kansas, has seen both sides of the interdivisional matchups. “There are good teams in I-AA (FCS) that can play with I-A (FBS) teams,” Allen said. “I’m shocked Appalachian was able to go into Michigan and win, but it opened people’s eyes to the caliber of I-AA football or whatever we call it now.” Western Illinois coach Don Patterson said Appalachian State’s upset victory didn’t surprise him. “That’s how good they are. They could beat a lot of I-A teams,” Patterson said. “They made such a splash.” According to Northern Iowa coach Mark Farley, his team is excited about meeting Iowa State, not just because the Cyclones are FBS, but also because of the proximity of the schools. “There is the anticipation of playing in a large arena with a lot of media attention and other things you may not have in other games,” Farley said. “And there is an affiliation there because they are within the state borders. We’ve read about them, and they’ve read about us.” Allen dreaded playing solid FCS teams while coaching at Kansas. “When you’re a I-AA, it’s a great week of practice. Everybody is fired up. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain,” Allen said. “It’s a nightmare for a I-A coach. You’re scared they’re going to do onside kicks and reverse passes. It’s tough to get players motivated. You knew the I-AA team could beat you, but your fan base …” Gateway coaches realize Appalachian State’s win makes it less likely their FBS opponents will take them lightly. “I wish we had the speed and quickness of Appalachian State. Then I would feel a lot better about playing Illinois,” Patterson said. “But we play Arkansas next year. Even after Appalachian State, I don’t think Arkansas is concerned about playing Western Illinois.” Gateway teams dropped two games to FBS opponents last week as Youngstown State fell to Ohio State, 38-6, and Indiana State lost to Indiana, 55-7. “Obviously, it was a great experience for our young people. It was a pretty wild experience,” Youngstown coach Jon Heacock said. “We had a couple of chances to keep it a game, but we let that get away from us.” Heacock matched wits with his older brother, Ohio State defensive coordinator and former Illinois State head coach Jim Heacock. Jon Heacock was an assistant at Youngstown when Ohio State coach Jim Tressel held the same position for the Penguins. “I’ve coached against Jim a couple of times when he was at Illinois State. I think he beat us two out of three,” Jon Heacock said. “For us, we were glad for it to be over.” Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Eric wrote on Sep 6, 2007 10:17 PM:
umm.. wrote on Sep 6, 2007 3:12 PM:
It was one game wrote on Sep 6, 2007 9:07 AM:
ISU wrote on Sep 6, 2007 8:12 AM:
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