This week's Missouri Valley Football Conference Players of the Week include QB Nic Baker of Southern Illinois; QB Jason Shelley of Missouri State; LB Zeke Vandenburgh of Illinois State; P Cade Peterson of North Dakota; and QB Zack Annexstad of Illinois State.
Co-Offensive Player of the Week
QB Nic Baker, Southern Illinois
5-9, 204, Jr., Rochester, Ill. (Rochester High)
Baker guided SIU to the second win over a Big Ten opponent in school history, as the Salukis beat Northwestern, 31-24. The junior QB completed 23-of-34 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns, connecting on strikes of 57, 18 and 9 yards. He also scored Southern’s final touchdown himself on a 1-yard quarterback sneak that put the Salukis ahead, 31-17, with 5:09 left in the game. Excluding sacks, Baker had 35 yards rushing, including a key 20-yard bootleg to convert a fourth-quarter fourth down.
Co-Offensive Player of the Week
QB Jason Shelley, Missouri State
5-11, 200, Sr., Frisco, Texas (Lone Star High / Utah State)
Shelley was in top form in Saturday's near-upset at No. 10 Arkansas, firing for 357 passing yards in Fayetteville for the second-highest passing total of his career. He also added a 24-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter that put the Bears ahead 17-0 at the time. For the night, Shelley was 24-for-43 with no interceptions and a touchdown. It also marked the second-most passing yards ever by any Missouri State quarterback against an FBS foe (DeAndre Smith threw for 405 at Tulsa in 1990) and the Bears' third-highest scoring total ever against an FBS team.
Defensive Player of the Week
LB Zeke Vandenburgh, Illinois State
6-3, 235, Sr., Freeport, Ill. (Freeport HS)
Linebacker Zeke Vandenburgh once again disrupted the game for the Redbird defense, which was dominant in a 35-7 win over rival Eastern Illinois on Saturday night. Vandenburgh’s final line was extremely balanced, as he led the team with eight tackles, added a sack, three TFLs, recovered a fumble, had a pass breakup that led to an interception for a touchdown and was credited with two quarterback hurries. In total, the Redbird defense forced five turnovers on the night (3 INT, 2 FR), recorded four sacks and had 11 TFLs.
Special Teams Player of the Week
P Cade Peterson, North Dakota
6-1, 200, 5th, Kewaskum, Wis. (Kewaskum HS)
Peterson recorded four punts for 209 yards in the 27-24 win at Northern Arizona as he averaged 52.2 yards per boot. He had two touchbacks, and three of the punts were over 50 yards. Peterson is now tied in the UND Division I record book with Brett Cameron (2009-12) for most punts in a career (186).
Newcomer of the Week
QB Zack Annexstad, Illinois State
6-3, 220, Jr., Norseland, Minn. (IMG Academy/Minnesota)
Transfer quarterback Zack Annexstad led the Redbirds to a dominant 35-7 win over Eastern Illinois in the annual Mid-America Classic at Hancock Stadium. For the second week in a row, Annexstad accounted for three touchdowns for the Redbirds as he threw a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for another in the victory over the Panthers. Annexstad had touchdown throws of 17 and 30 yards and called his own number on a 2-yard TD run for the final score of the game. He finished the game 19-for-33 with 212 yards passing for ISU.
OTHERS CONSIDERED
FB Hunter Luepke, North Dakota State -- Luepke had 180 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns in North Dakota State’s 31-28 loss at Arizona. Luepke carried 18 times for 115 yards and two TDs and made three receptions for 65 yards and one score. He scored on plays of 31, 6 and 38 yards. Luepke averaged 6.4 yards per carry as the Bison rolled up 283 yards on the ground.
QB Theo Day, UNI -- Day passed for 270 yards against No. 7 Sacramento State. He found eight different targets for positive gain, including Alen Allen and Logan Wolf for touchdown passes. He is ninth in the nation in three stat categories: passing yards (890), passing yards per game (296.7) and yards per pass attempt (9.37). He is 11th in the nation for total offense with 304.3 yards. He is 21st in the nation for passing efficiency (152.9).
QB Mark Gronowski, South Dakota State -- Gronowski tied a career high with three touchdown passes and ran for another in South Dakota State's 45-17 victory over Butler on Sept. 17. He finished the game 17-of-25 passing for 279 yards and connected with seven different receivers. Gronowski began the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game, then tossed touchdown passes of 7, 17 and 28 yards later in the first half. It marked the second time this season and sixth time in his career that Gronowski has rushed and passed for touchdowns in the same game.
QB Tommy Schuster, North Dakota -- Went 21-of-32 through the air for 206 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the 27-24 win at Northern Arizona .. Went a perfect 5-for-5 through the air on UND’s final drive, capped by a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jack Wright to put the Hawks up 27-24 with 53 seconds left in the game .. Completed over 20 passes for the third consecutive game .. Schuster is now No. 2 in career passing completions in UND history all-time with 450 .. Also rushed five times for 20 yards.
QB Carson Camp, South Dakota -- Passed for a career-high 355 yards and three touchdowns and added a 75-yard rushing touchdown in leading USD to a 38-21 win against Cal Poly Saturday inside the DakotaDome. Completed 18-of-21 passes. First incompletion that wasn’t a drop came in the fourth quarter (19th pass of the game).
S PJ Jules, Southern Illinois -- Had a career-high 11 tackles, including a fourth quarter strip-sack of Northwestern quarterback Ryan Hillinski, that was recovered at the Wildcats 20 and eventually led to a Saluki touchdown. Southern’s defense forced four turnovers on the day and held the Wildcats to 380 yards of total offense.
CB Myles Harden, South Dakota -- Had six tackles (5 solo) and notched his second interception in as many weeks during South Dakota’s 38-21 win against Cal Poly Saturday inside the DakotaDome. Also credited with two pass breakups.
DB C.J. Siegel, North Dakota -- Made the Lumberjacks pay for throwing his way, taking a 50-yard interception to the house early in the second quarter in North Dakota’s 27-24 win. It was Siegel’s first touchdown of his career .. With the pick six, Siegel became the first Hawk to score on a pick-six since Hayden Galvin vs. Missouri State (W, 44-10) on April 24, 2021 .. Siegel is now tied for No. 8 on UND’s Division I list for interceptions in a career with four .. He recorded his first sack of the season, forcing a 42-yard NAU field goal early that landed wide right .. Also added three tackles and 1.5 TFL’s and returned two kickoffs for 54 yards.
LB Ferrin Manuleleua, Missouri State -- Manuleleua anchored a Missouri State defense that forced three turnovers at No. 10 Arkansas and held the Razorbacks to just 17 points through the first 49 minutes of the game. Manuleleua had a team-high 8 total tackles with 4 solo stops. He also had a forced fumble on a key first-half turnover that MSU turned into a touchdown moments later.
LB Spencer Cuvelier, UNI -- Cuvelier led the Panther defense in the home opener against No. 7 Sacramento State. He earned his second sack in as many games and forced one of SAC's fumbles. He had 12 tackles on the day, including five solo stops. He also broke up one pass.
PK Jose Pizano, Missouri State -- Missouri State's standout placekicker was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts in Saturday's narrow loss at No. 10 Arkansas, converting kicks from 28 and 31 yards. His second FG of the night (31 yarder) capped a 71-yard MSU scoring drive that put the Bears up 27-17 with 12:04 left in the game. Pizano was also 3-for-3 on extra points to extend his streak to 45 consecutive extra points, while 3 of his 6 kickoffs went into the end zone for touchbacks.
P Nathan Torney, Southern Illinois -- A freshman from Australia, he averaged 44 yards on four punts during SIU’s win at Northwestern. He had a pair of 50+ yard boots, with a long of 58 yards and one punt that pinned Northwestern inside its 15.
P John Bickle, South Dakota -- Pinned four of five punts inside the 20 including one at the 2-yard line and one at the 8-yard line during South Dakota’s win against Cal Poly Saturday inside the DakotaDome. Averaged 38.6 yards with no returns. No points were scored on drives following a USD punt.
WR Jack Martens, South Dakota -- Hauled in a 70-yard touchdown for his first collegiate touchdown Saturday during South Dakota’s 38-21 win against Cal Poly inside the DakotaDome. Catch extended USD’s lead to 28-7 early in the fourth quarter. Martens had two catches for 79 yards.
LB Chris Harris Jr., Southern Illinois -- Harris had eight tackles for the Salukis, including a tackle for loss. He recovered a fourth-quarter fumble that stopped a Northwestern drive deep in SIU territory.