Slow and steady wins the race.
    That mantra was made famous by the tortoise and the hare fairy tale, but it can be easily applied to the 2009 Redbirds.

    They didn’t win conference. They didn’t make the postseason. They didn’t beat in-state rivals U of I, SIU or EIU.
    But, they did knock off No. 9 ranked Northern Iowa in the last game of the season to finish the race with a 6-5 record, a remarkable improvement considering their 3-8 season last year and the fact that they started out 2009 with losing three of their first four games.
    It wasn’t progression made in one game. The ‘Birds’ development came slowly, but it came surely. Each and every game they seemed to get just a little bit better overall, finally culminating in a huge upset over a team that many “experts” picked to be the FCS Champions at the end of this season.
    “Our kids have come a long way from 12 weeks ago when we opened up at Eastern Illinois,” first-year head coach Brock Spack said. “Twelve weeks ago, we never could have done this. I’m just real proud of our team.”

    Offense: B+
    Spack’s statement after the ‘Birds’ win over UNI said it all –the Redbirds turned the ball over the least of anybody in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
    Couple that with MVFC Freshman of the Year Matt Brown and record-breaking senior wide receiver Eyad Salem and Spack had himself an offense to be proud of.
    Brown threw just eight interceptions and the ‘Birds lost just five fumbles all year for a plus-6 turnover differential, good for second in the Valley. That’s a far cry from the 2008 edition of the ISU Football Redbirds who threw 15 interceptions and put the ball on the ground 21 times (12 of which were lost) for a minus-15 turnover differential.
    The Brown-Salem connection was one for the record books as the senior wideout recorded back-to-back 14-reception games en route to setting the ISU and Valley record with 92 receptions on the season. His 8.4 receptions and 85.7 yards per game were tops in the conference.
    Brown’s 226 completions in 352 attempts (64.2 percent) for 2369 yards and 11 touchdowns earned him numerous conference accolades as he garnered the top spot in the conference in passing yards per game (215.4) while ranking second in total offense and third in pass efficiency.
    The running game was the only area that brought this unit down as they scrounged just 98.7 yards per game, good for seventh in the conference, barely better than the pair of 1-10 teams, Indiana State (97.8) and Illinois (97.4).

    Defense: C
    By the numbers, the ISU defense doesn’t project an air of confidence about what the program can do in the coming years. The unit ranked in the bottom four of the conference in points per game allowed (25.5), total defense (373.9 yards per game), rushing defense (167.5) and pass defense (206.4).
    But, they held a UNI team, who averaged 33.4 points per game, to just 20 points in the season finale and righted the ship on their rushing defense, lowering their total from 220 yards per game during their bye week four games ago.
    They also forced 19 turnovers (14 interceptions, five fumble recoveries), which, coupled with the offense’s ability to protect the football, enabled the ‘Birds to finish with a plus-6 turnover margin, a statistic Spack calls the “most relevant statistic in football.”
    E.J. Jones (six interceptions), Chris Garrett (four picks, two of which were returned for scores) and Kelvyn Hemphill (71 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, interception) shored up the secondary while Doni Phelps (8.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks), Bert Whigham (3.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, two blocked punts) and Eric Brunner (47 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks) pressured the opposing quarterbacks.
    The young linebacking core of sophomore Josh Howe and freshmen Mike Zimmer and Austin Davis also provide Spack and defensive coordinator Phil Elmassian with a solid foundation to build around in the coming years.
    
    Special Teams: B
    Placekicker Zach Kutch set a slew of records and earned himself award after award throughout the season. The senior, who led the conference with 22 field goals made (in 29 attempts), recorded six field goals in one game against Western Illinois Nov. 7 and nailed two from beyond 50 yards in the season finale, both records.
    “He’s been money,” Spack said. “It makes it easy for me, when we’re inside the 40-yard line, we’re kicking a field goal.”
    Senior punter Kevin Mazur also had a career day against UNI, turning the field over on a 70-yard punt.
    “We spent a lot of time on our kicking game,” Spack said. “As a coach, you hope that all the time you spent in practice comes to fruition on the field. Those were big plays in the game. We won the game with the kicking game.”
    Whigham added two blocked punts throughout the course of the season and senior long snapper Joe Doyle was, to steal a phrase from Spack, “money” all season long, up until the final quarter against Northern Iowa.
He had a few high snaps and, had the Redbirds lost, those snaps would have likely brought this unit’s grade down a few notches, as they would have been the difference in the game. But, they won, so it’s water under the bridge now.

    Intangibles: A
    The Redbirds’ mindset all year has been to win now. No rebuilding. No waiting.
    Spack instilled the winning goal in the minds of the entire team, starting with the upperclassmen.
    “I’m real proud of our seniors,” he said. “A new coach taking over a program, it’s easy for those seniors to push back sometimes, especially with that opening loss [to Eastern Illinois] and the way that we played.
    “To their credit, they stuck with the plan, got the message and did a great job leading this football team and launch us into a winning season number one, and boy our future looks bright playing 12 freshmen and having the majority of team coming back. But, the seniors did a great job helping us.”
    It would have been easy for the ‘Birds to give up on the season after their 1-3 start, but they continued to pluck away and ended the season on the highest of high notes.

    Coaching: B
    It’s hard to give this unit a lower grade than an A, since the turnaround on the team was incredible, but we couldn’t give the coaching staff an A when they sported just a 6-5 record and no postseason games on the horizon.
    That being said, winning six games after a 3-8 season, playing with almost a completely new team, having a redshirt-freshman start at the most important position on the field (quarterback) all season and rebounding from a slow start is something to write home about. Or at least write in the Vidette about.
    From day one, Spack began the process of molding the Redbirds into an energetic and passionate unit that is both mentally and physically tough.
    “We’ve been pretty hard on them,” he said. “We practice hard. Not too many people practice the way we practice. They hadn’t done it that way before.
“Practices were almost harder than the game for them sometimes and they never complained and they just got better and better. It paid off for them [in the last game]. You’re just hoping for a huge win and that’s what happened.
That victory not only cemented the Redbirds with their first winning record in three seasons, but it was something Spack could use as a stepping stone to launch the team to new heights next season.
E.J. Jones said it best—the Redbirds are looking for nothing short of a playoff berth next season.