Western Illinois and the rest of the opponents on Northern Colorado’s schedule have been served notice.
They don’t have to worry about All-America wide receiver Vincent Jackson anymore, but they had better start worrying about Cory Sleeth and Andy Birkel.
When the Bears play Western Illinois in Macomb, Ill., in College Sports Television’s Division I-AA national game of the week at 6 tonight, the cameras are sure to be focused on the Bears’ new wide receivers.
Sleeth, a sophomore from Northglenn High School, caught seven passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns Saturday in the Bears’ opener, a 52-31 victory over Colorado School of Mines.
Birkel, a junior transfer from Nebraska, caught three passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
The Bears set a school record with seven touchdown passes, with senior quarterback Nick Hager throwing for five.
But Western Illinois, despite getting pounded 62-14 by Toledo last week, figures to be a tougher test.
Western Illinois has a new defensive coordinator and has been unwilling to exchange game film, UNC coach Kay Dalton said.
“Defensively, we know nothing about them,” Dalton said. “We’ve done some investigating and it looks like they’re playing out of a 3-3 alignment, but we’ll have to see for ourselves.”
If the Bears find themselves passing more this weekend, Sleeth will probably be Hager’s go-to guy. They worked out a lot last year when Sleeth was the No. 3 wide receiver and Hager was a backup.
“We kind of developed a thing together, and when we played our first game together last week, our timing was really on,” Sleeth said. “I know he feels confident in me, and I feel real confident in him.”
Western Illinois is led offensively by halfback Travis Glasford.
“He’s up for the Walter Payton Award, so he must be pretty good,” Dalton said.
