Illinois State dominated Villanova on the road from start to finish en route to a 30-14 FCS semifinal win.

Illinois State set the tone early with a 53-yard bomb to star wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz who finished with seven catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns. His second touchdown put the Redbirds up 21-6 entering halftime, putting the game out of reach.

In the second half, Illinois State leaned on a third-straight career-high day on the ground from running back Victor Dawson, who rushed for 155 yards after going for 148 and 137 in his last two games. Dawson and the ground attack dominated the time of possession for 36:48. Click or tap here for final stats from the game.

HOW ABOUT THOSE REDBIRDS!!!!!!!!!#ValleyFootball x #FCS x @RedbirdFB x @ISURedbirds x @NCAA_FCS x @ESPNCFB x @espn pic.twitter.com/otoo7t1YoM

— Valley Football (@ValleyFootball) December 21, 2025

Advertisement

Illinois State becomes the first team in the 24-team FCS playoff era to make the national championship game after playing all road games and only the second unseeded team in the 24-team era to make the national championship game.

Overall, it’ll be Illinois State’s first FCS Championship game appearance since 2014. The Redbirds have never won a national championship.

You can catch the 2025-26 FCS Championship Game on Monday, January 5, 2026 at theFirstBank Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

When I became disabled due to a traumatic injury at 17, the first thing I felt was a tremendous loss of control over my life. I’ve worked since then to regain and retain it.

It’s why I embrace the fundamental principle of the independent living movement and the disability rights and justice movement – that all of us have and deserve the right to self-determination and to make our own decisions, including decisions about the services and care we receive.

That is why I am grateful to Gov. Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly for passing a new law that legalizes Medical Aid in Dying (SB 1950), the End of Life Options Act.

Death elicits fear. It certainly represents the ultimate loss of control. We all hope that it will be peaceful and without great suffering.

More: Pritzker signs bill legalizing physician-assisted suicide

For many of us who have experienced marginalization because of disability or age, poverty, race, and other socially imposed constructs, we fear being devalued or dismissed in decision-making in systems, including in chronic or acute health care situations. This law relates specifically to terminal illness, not chronic or acute care. And disability should not be conflated with terminal illness.

The ability to control the decision-making process in the End of Life Options Act is detailed and robust. It’s a high bar to be eligible to participate.

It requires you to be able to be fully in control of the decision-making process and of the administration of medication, only when you have a prognosis of less than six months or less to live. It requires consultation with at least two different medical professionals. It has strong provisions that prevent anyone from assisting or exerting undue influence, including any person to whom you might have already given health care power of attorney.

Medical aid in dying is a trusted and time-tested medical practice that is part of the full spectrum of end-of-life care options, including hospice and palliative care. People move across the country to access it. Those with terminal illness who are unable to relocate because of disability or income need the equity that comes from being able to access options where we live.

As someone who has learned to never take it for granted, I want this right to self-determination to extend through the final days of my life if I should face a terminal illness.

I am grateful that Illinois has joined the many other states who support this additional end of life care option for all who are facing terminal illness.

Beth Langen,Springfield

A recent study published by three state agencies warns electricity shortages are coming to Illinois.

The shortages will start in PJM Interconnection’s regional transmission system by 2029, with the shortage hitting Illinois’ ComEd territory (which is within PJM) beginning in 2030, and then kicks in hard by 2032.

Capacity shortages in downstate Ameren’s territory are expected to begin in 2031 and escalate through 2035, when the stuff hits the fan. Ameren is in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s, or MISO’s, regional transmission network.

The report acknowledges that some fossil fuel power plants might have to remain open at least in the short-term, despite the state’s ambitious climate goals. A bill passed the legislature in October to facilitate that.

The Illinois Power Agency, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Commerce Commission conducted the study.

Massive increases in power needs by data centers are the “primary driver” of increased electricity demand, according to the report. Those gigantic increases were not foreseen when the state designed its landmark clean energy law in 2021 requiring net-zero carbon energy by 2045.

Coal and gas plants “are planned to retire across both [PJM and MISO] due to age, economics and emissions limits,” the new report points out, and that’s also contributing to the coming shortage.

Also problematic is the fact that new gas plant equipment takes 5-7 years to purchase and install, and the plants face additional siting and permitting barriers. Wind and solar face serious obstacles as well..

All that results in this warning from the three state agencies: “These conditions create a credible risk of regional capacity shortfalls that will impact Illinois’ future ability to import power during critical hours and may cause reliability issues in Illinois even if Illinois market zones have enough capacity to meet their [resource adequacy] requirements as determined by [PJM and MISO].”

Translation: Even if Illinois produces more power, we still might be in big trouble because other states are facing similar problems.

In the ComEd region alone, projected load growth “drives a 24% increase in resource adequacy requirements between 2025 and 2030, which contributes to growing dependence on external capacity even before the onset of an outright shortfall in 2032.”

However, the report claims, “The state can successfully navigate both near-term reliability risks and longer-term decarbonization goals through a diversified resource strategy.” That strategy includes “the continued use” of fossil fuel plants “even as their energy output declines with higher renewable penetration.”

Another study will be published in 2027. The report said that study will likely include increased renewables and battery storage but will also look at “delays and/or reductions” to emissions requirements allowed by the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, which passed in October.

That’s cutting it awful close. Some business groups, including the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, want the state to act immediately to keep existing fossil fuel plants open.

Forty years ago, Illinois had some of the highest electric utility rates in the Midwest. Then, after the state deregulated the industry, our costs became far more competitive and the state used those low rates to lure new businesses.

But then abundant supply (encouraged by deregulation) pushed rates to a point where some nuclear power plant owners couldn’t afford to operate, so Illinois had to force consumers to subsidize the plants.

Then, with the gigantic data center and resulting artificial intelligence booms, along with aging plants going offline, electricity started becoming scarce again and rates have gone up.

Unilaterally cutting off data center expansion here won’t work because the state is part of those two large regional power distribution networks. They’ll just cross the state lines and continue consuming our juice.

Maybe the AI bubble will burst. But what is clear is that Illinois laws have to be flexible enough to deal with the unexpected, and that obviously hasn’t been the case

Yes, coal plants were closing anyway because they aren’t cost competitive. Same with some gas plants. But government operates so slowly that few have confidence it can turn the ship around in time to avert a coming shortage.

Everyone is pointing to the recently passed Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act as a possible solution because it gives the state more pollution control flexibility, but even that may not be adequate if there’s not enough will at the top to make extra sure we don’t enter a crisis stage.

The governor has expressed confidence that the state can handle this. But businesspeople are rightly freaking out.

Climate change is real. But if the lights don’t go on, or the local factories close, nobody will care about excuses. They’ll just want it fixed.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.