After a tough first week on the field for the Lumberjacks where the Sun Devils bust open the scoring frenzy late, the team is in preparation to get into the true race as their regular season in the FCS begins against a top tier squad in Western Illinois.
Making Good On Expectations
After last week’s showing the Lumberjacks still remained in the talks for the FCS playoffs by coming in ranked as both the 17th and 19th best team in the FCS by the coaches and STATS National Polls respectively. While they only ranked barely in the top twenty of the national polls, the Jacks were picked as the top team in the preseason ranks for the Big Sky by both the coaches and STATS. This is the first time in the program’s history they have been ranked as the number one squad going into the season, and hanging with ASU until the later part of the game shows that they definitely have competitors on their squad. Not to mention Emmanuel Butler made a lot of people’s mention tabs throughout social media with a couple of outstanding catches against the Sun Devils. Now against more level competition, this is the time where the Jacks must show what they are made of.
Not So New Meat
Case Cookus came onto campus last year as a bright eyed freshman. Now as a sophomore he has the focus of a very talented and dangerous quarterback in those eyes. The Jerry Rice Award winner and STATS National Freshman Player of the Year, Cookus is looking to take the next big step in national appeal by improving on his placement at fifth in last year’s national player of the year where he was the only freshman in the final ballot when award season came around. The young man has shown to be one of the most efficient quarterbacks at the FCS level with only five interceptions all of last year on 323 attempts in the backfield. His 37 touchdowns and 3117 yards passing last year put NAU on the map as one of the top aerial assaults in the Big Sky. But now with all that game tape on the quarterback, people aren’t going to be so surprised by his performance. They’ll know his tendencies and where he likes to go in situational football. How he adjusts and changes his game on the fly will play a key role not just in this game, but in the season to come.
No True Familiarity, But WIU Still Has Luxury
The Lumberjacks and Leathernecks have only met once in the history of these two programs. That last run in was not recent either, as the last kickoff between these two occurred back in 1967. Going into this season Western Illinois was picked to finish at the sixth spot in their conference, just four spots above last place. One thing the Jacks will need to know about WIU is that they are not lacking talent even with that expectation going into the season. The team has three Preseason All-MVFC players on the roster, including wide receiver Lance Lenoir Jr. and lineman Jacob Judd. The team is returning 17 of their starters which led the team to the second round of the FCS playoffs just last year. Playing at home for WIU, these players will look to play off the crowd that gives them a strong advantage with the team going 4 and 1 last year. The Leathernecks have all the ingredients needed to be a team that rallies together and shocks a few teams along the way.
Prediction: NAU 31 – WIU 19
The game will be played at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. Kickoff will start at 1 PM Arizona time September 10th.