Illinois State Runs Western Illinois over in Opener
Forty-five carries for 242 yards. Illinois State did not need much more than that to open its season with a 41-10 win over Western Illinois, and the Redbirds were up 17-0 before the Leathernecks had put a point on the board.
The lead was never in question. Michael Cosentino kicked a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter, Alex Herrera caught a 23-yard touchdown from Beckham Pellant, and Seth Glatz punched in a 2-yard run with 13 seconds left in the quarter. Western Illinois got a 22-yard Ronan Culkin field goal in the second, then Gage Roy found Stevan Gavric from 36 yards out and Cosentino added another field goal before halftime. It was 27-3 at the break. Victor Dawson ran in touchdowns from 1 and 6 yards in the second half to make it 41-3.
Western Illinois threw for 263 yards, a hair more than Illinois State's 257, and still lost by 31. The difference was on the ground, where the Leathernecks managed 52 yards on 23 carries against 242 for the visitors. Both teams threw one interception. Western Illinois was sacked zero times and took three sacks' worth of credit on defense, which tells you the pass rush was fine and the offense was not. Cason Carswell ran in a 3-yard score with 7:06 left to avoid the shutout.
Illinois State is 1-0, Western Illinois 0-1. For fantasy purposes, this was a spread-the-wealth kind of afternoon, with two quarterbacks, two different touchdown catchers and a committee of runners. Dawson was the one who cashed in twice from short range.