By WJBC Staff
BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois State Redbirds delighted an over capacity crowd of 13,391 to a 67-14 victory over Morgan State in their home opener at Hancock Stadium Saturday night.
The Redbirds (1-1) had 513 yards of total offense as quarterback Tre Roberson passed for 259 yards and running back Marshaun Coprich rushed for 130 yards. Head coach Brock Spack is happy with how his team played, but said work still needs to be done
“We played pretty well at times,” Spack said. “I think there are some things we still have a lot of work to do on. We didn’t tackle all that great at times, we need to play better run defense if we want a chance to win our league. This is a tough league so we have to better tacklers than we were tonight.”
Next week, the Birds travel to Eastern Illinois to protect the Mid-America Classic Trophy. Spack said his team is ready for the challenge.
“We’re going to go down there and try to win a football game,” said Spack. “It’s been a tough place for us to play, so we want to go down and play good in Charleston. We haven’t done that in a while.”
The Redbirds were without senior defensive lineman Teddy Corwin. Senior line backer Alex Donnelly said everyone needs to be ready to play.
“Defensive philosophy is always next man up,” Corwin said. “It’s never a good thing to lose a great player like Teddy, but it gives some of our younger guys an opportunity to get some experience for the upcoming years.”
Junior wide receiver Anthony Warrum caught three of Tre Roberson’s four touchdown passes. Warrum said the game was a showcase of things to come.
“It was awesome to get it going and show people what we’ve been working on for so long,” Warrum said. “It felt really good to get out here and throw the football around like we’re capable of. I think tonight was a coming out party to show people what we’ve been working on.”
The seven men that died in an April plane crash were remembered before the game as ISU players were joined at midfield by family members of the victims.
Kickoff for the Mid-America Classic next Saturday is scheduled for 7 p.m.
