Illinois State knows what’s coming Saturday from Iowa

CEDAR RAPIDS — The 1970s called and wants its movie reference back.

Illinois State head football coach Brock Spack used a series of 50-year-old action films to describe his team’s opponent Saturday. That’d be the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Kickoff in the season opener is 11 a.m. at Kinnick Stadium (Big Ten Network).

“Anybody ever seen the movie ‘Billy Jack?’” Spack said at his weekly press conference. “You probably don’t know ‘Billy Jack.’ When Billy Jack gets in the movie and says ‘You know what, I’m going to put my right foot on the side of your face, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ That’s Iowa football.”

Kudos to Spack for making everyone look up “Billy Jack.” It was a drama made in 1971 starring Thomas Laughlin as the titular character, a Green Beret Vietnam War veteran and its action hero.

Four movies featuring the Billy Jack character were made. Just Google them.

Spack was referring, by the way, to the way Iowa plays. There are no surprises with Kirk Ferentz-coached teams.

The Hawkeyes are what they are, do what they do.

“They’re very gritty, they’re physical, and, year in and year out, they are one of the more physical teams in the Big Ten,” Spack said. “I’d say if you put your money on a team that’s going to be physical year in and year out, it’s them. It’s been their calling card.

“They play their kind of guy. That means they’re very disciplined in what they do, they try to out-execute you. They’re not a dial-up defense. What I mean is change every week. They don’t do that. That’s what great defenses do. They do what they do, and they’re going to try and out-execute you. That’s their mindset. And they’re very, very well coached.”

Spack knows Iowa.

This is his 16th season leading the Illinois State program, where he has regularly produced quality teams and FCS playoff entrants and is its all-time winningest coach. Prior to that, he was the defensive coordinator at Purdue, where he annually went head to head against the Hawkeyes.

What he sees now is what he saw back in the late ‘90s and 2000s.

“It’s been, what, 16 years since I’ve coached in the Big Ten,” he said. “They were the same then. They play under, they play heavy shades, and they’re going to make life miserable for you up front. They play thick and square on defense.”

Illinois State was 6-5 last season, losing a pair of games by a point each and a pair of games by three each. The Redbirds have 17 returning starters, including a pair of preseason FCS All-Americans in linebacker Amir Abdullah and running back Mason King.

Spack said the team plans on playing two quarterbacks in sophomore Tommy Rittenhouse and junior Jake Rubley. The latter is a junior transfer from Kansas State who is the son of former Davenport West all-stater and NFL QB T.J. Rubley.

Jake Rubley transferred from a school in the Denver suburbs to West Des Moines Valley for his senior high school season of 2020 because Colorado canceled its season due to the COVID pandemic. But he was declared ineligible by the Iowa High School Athletic Association after two games at Valley and did not play the rest of the season.

“Most people would think quarterback, which is what we’re all curious to watch,” Spack said, when asked what part of his football team he was most anxious to see Saturday. “But I’m looking forward to watching our front seven on defense. Being a defensive guy and seeing maybe some of the strides we’ve made hopefully in the offseason to become better there.”

“I've gotten to know (Spack) over the years,” Ferentz ssid. “An outstanding person and a good football coach. And then if you look broader, a lot of the guys on the staff have experience at Illinois State. Yeah, they have an identity, its no big surprise. It's a veteran staff for the most part. I think they have a good idea what they want to do, what they want to accomplish. A lot of respect for them that way.”

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