We would have spanked Villanova. That redbird #5 is a total beast, but i think the cats have the muscle to slow him down.

Ilinois St defense by game:

SELA: 321 yds, 3 points
NDST: 179 yds, 28 points (thought got a punt return TD, Int return TD and an Int return to the 4 that led to a TD)
UC Davis: 533 yds, 31 points
Nova: 300 yds, 14 points

So ISU allowed 1333 yds so far in the playoffs and we accounted for 40 percent of them. They allowed 76 points in the playoffs and we accounted for 40.8 percent of them. If you take out the two return TDs for NDSt, we scored half the points the ISU defense has allowed.

It's all hypothetical because Illinois State is good. Sure we would probably have defeated Villanova, but the results show that it wasn't just us playing poorly. Illinois State played well.

I'm happy to see Illinois State in the finals. They certainly deserve to be there. One of the things that was fortunate for them this season is just how healthy they have managed to stay and that's huge. I wouldn't be disappointed to see them win the title but I'll be pulling for MSU to make the Big Sky Conference proud.

No question the redbirds played great down the stretch, especially considering they were unranked and had to travel all over the country to get to the finals.
BTW, i don’t know what the attendance was for the semi final game, but the stands looked sparse. Maybe winter break hurt their attendance.

4000.