Illinois State football coach Brock Spack doesn’t remember much about the time he took the Redbirds to the Football Championship Subdivision title game in January 2015.
“I remember flying there and everything else. I remember game day but everything else is kind of a blur,” Spack recalled at a Hancock Stadium news conference.
While Spack said he’s gotten smarter with age and now takes more time to enjoy the journey, there’s much about that 2014 team and postseason run he does remember and he wants to share with his team as it prepares for their an FCS semifinal tilt at Villanova on Saturday.
While Spack’s players were in grade school when that happened, he appreciates they want to know more about that experience.
“Some teams after [2014] really got mad at me [saying] ‘you bring this up way too much, and we’re getting sick of hearing it,’” Spack recalled. “I knew I didn’t have a great team. This team wanted to be pushed.”
Spack knows this year’s crop of Redbirds are good, but it’s too soon to fully compare them with the 2015 national runners-up.
“We’ll see if they win this game, then we can start comparing,” he said.
Spack noted two players from that 2014 team — tight end James O’Shaughnessy and offensive lineman Michael Liedtka — both played long careers in the National Football League.
The Redbirds [11-4] will bring an eight-game road winning streak against FCS opponents to Villanova Stadium in Philadelphia against a Wildcat team that’s won an FCS-record 23 consecutive home games.
“I think it’s just a comfort level for them [at home], they are just really good,” Spack said of the 12-2 hosts. “We’re comfortable being uncomfortable. We like to play on the road."
The Redbirds have traveled south [Southeastern Louisiana], north [North Dakota State] and west [California-Davis] in posting their postseason wins in the last three weeks. The trip to Philadelphia will put ISU past 8,600 miles traveled by air during their postseason run.
Spack said it wasn’t just the 2015 FCS title game that he has little recollection of. He also hardly remembers much about the 2001 Rose Bowl when he was Purdue’s defensive coordinator.
He blames that on have such a deep focus on the game that he didn’t take time to “smell the roses.” It's something he's working to improve.
“You get older, you get a little smarter. Coach Tiller said, ‘Man you are wound tight,’” said Spack, referring to the late Purdue head coach and mentor. “I don’t sweat the little stuff as much as I used to, but I still get upset about the little stuff on the football field, but it’s probably the new me.”
