Heilig » Illinois States more balanced defense has

BALTIMORE -- Manny Machado will have to wait at least another day before making his season debut with the Baltimore Orioles. Machado joined his teammates and was poised to be activated from the 15-day disabled list before rain postponed Tuesday nights game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The game has been rescheduled for Thursday night, previously a day off for both teams. Machado hasnt played for Baltimore since undergoing left knee surgery last October. The 2013 All-Star third baseman wont formally come off the DL until the next day the Orioles are to play a game, manager Buck Showalter said. Rain is in the forecast Wednesday, too. Machado is ready to play, rain or shine. "Im here to play baseball," he said, "If it is snow, if it is rain, if it is whatever." After a rehabilitation assignment that consisted of playing three games for Class A Frederick, Machado was convinced hes ready to compete again at the major league level. "The last couple days definitely helped," he said. "I felt ready a couple days ago. ... It was just a matter of getting the repetitions. I feel good. Thats the main thing. I feel great. My body feels good, everything feels good. Im just excited to be up here." The 21-year-old Machado hit .283 with 14 homers, 71 RBIs and 51 doubles last year, his first full season in the majors. He will fill the roster spot vacated by slugger Chris Davis, who went on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a strained left oblique. Machado will also provide stability defensively next to fellow Gold Glove winner J.J. Hardy. "We played 156, 157 games together on the left side of the infield last year, so its going to be nice to be looking over to my right and being pretty familiar with each other," Hardy said. "Were all happy to a have him back." Machado insists theres no play defensively that he would be reluctant to make. "Im ready to play baseball. Im going to go out there and make whatever play comes my way," he said. "I made a couple of nice plays in the lower levels, and I feel good defensively. I feel great (there). Im not concerned about anything. Im a baseball player, and Ive been doing this my whole life. Im just going to go out there, and whatever comes my way, just go out there and do it and play some baseball and have some fun at the same while Im doing it." Cheap New Orleans Pelicans Jerseys . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Tony Carr Jersey . 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Messi assured Barcelonas fans they will enjoy his goals for years to come, saying "as long as people want me, I will stay here.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - North Dakota States national championship-winning defense has been the standard across the FCS throughout the decade. The best in show, if you will. In contrast, Illinois State likes to claim it unleashes a pack of mutts on game day. But the Missouri Valley Football Conference co-champions will bring both bark and bite to the national dog show, er, NCAA Division I Football Championship Game Saturday at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas (ESPN2, 1 p.m. ET). Yes, beware of defense. The championship game is expected to be a bruising matchup of stopping the run and pounding the other into mission. North Dakota State is seeking an unprecedented fourth straight FCS title while Illinois State will try to end the Bison dynasty in its first championship game appearance. The two defenses might have different pedigrees, but both 4-3 systems are linked by having new defensive coordinators and mixing in new contributors with veteran standouts. North Dakota State led the FCS in scoring defense in each of its championship years and this season the team ranks second nationally behind Harvard in allowing 13.2 points per game. The Bison (14-1), who feature the national defensive player of the year in Buck Buchanan Award-winning defensive end Kyle Emanuel, also rank third in total defense, allowing opponents just 270.8 yards per game. Illinois States more balanced defense has allowed 20.9 points and 337.6 yards per game - not the NDSU standard, of course, but still impressive numbers while playing in the nations top FCS conference. I think when we play together, were very good. If we dont play together, were just average. Were a pack of mutts, were not a bunch of purebreds, said Illinois State coach Brock Spack, whose defense has helped take down a murderers row of offenses in Northern Iowa, Eastern Washington and New Hampshire during the postseason. Spack, who was the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Purdue, from 1997-2008, is in his sixth season as Illinois States head coach. He had been coordinating the Redbirds defense in recent seasons until he began to hand the duties over to defensive line coach Spence Nowinsky during the 2013 season. Right after the 5-6 campaign, Spack handed Nowinsky the keys to the defense. The Redbirds have rebounded to go 13-1 and play with a relentless, physical style on defense, featuring All-Missouri Valley first-team selections Pat Meehan, a middle linebacker, and Teddy Corwin, a defensive end. The defense has two FBS transfers in defensive end David Perkins (Ohio State) and outside linebacker Oshay Dunmore (Oregon). Senior linebacker Mike Banks is the units most experienced player, going into his 50th and final start. Spence has done a great job, along with obviously the rest of our defensive staff, Spack said. So the guys understand the systtem, they understand there is a protocol which we install our system, theres a protocol how we game plan .dddddddddddd. and Ive kind of stuck to that, and they learned it, and now thats kind of what they do. They have their own little tweaks to things, as they should, and theyve done a great job. The system is in place, and I felt that I could step away, and Im still in that room almost exclusively, but Im in the room a lot. They lean on me for advice, and Im there if they need it, and Ill chime in when I feel its necessary, but Ive enjoyed being a head coach - this is my sixth year - more than I have the five previous years. Chris Klieman arrived at North Dakota State also after coaching at his alma mater, Northern Iowa. He joined the Bison in their first national championship season in 2011 as their defensive backs coach and then served as defensive coordinator the last two seasons. After Craig Bohl departed to become Wyomings head coach last January, NDSU wisely elevated Klieman to the top job. He later brought Matt Entz over from Western Illinois to become defensive coordinator. Including Emanuel, who has the most tackles for loss (31) and sacks (19.5) in the FCS, the Bison returned six starters and seven of their top nine tacklers from last season. They rebuilt the interior of the defensive line with junior Brian Schaetz and redshirt freshman Nate Tanguay, and reloaded on the back end with the likes of linebacker Carlton Littlejohn and Esley Thornton and safeties Colten Heagle and Christian Dudzik, who has yet to miss a start as he enters his 60th and final game. Entz, Klieman said, had to leave a really good job with Coach (Bob) Nielson at Western Illinois to come to Fargo with his family and take a chance, and he did that, and hes done a remarkable job of being Matt Entz, of not trying to be anything that I was or Scottie Hazelton was before, similar to myself, trying to make my own niche, Matt has made his own niche, and the guys love to play for him. Hes done a great job of game planning each week as well as our other defensive staff members, and couldnt be happier to have Matt on my staff for the long haul. Well, he didnt want to reinvent the wheel ... its not like weve done a bunch of different things schematically, I think its just his demeanor. Hes a very polished coach that will be a guy thats going to get on a guy, but hes going to love him up. Hes going to get to know those players so well. You know, theres nothing totally different that youd say, boy, were a different coverage, were a different pressure team. Hes just been a great leader, and his leadership style is different than mine. Its different than what Coach Hazelton was, and when I replaced Scottie, and its really meshed and worked well with our guys. Theyre similar yet different defenses, but both championship-level. ' ' '