Illinois State throws 5 interceptions but still stuns No. 1 NDSU in FCS playoffs

Tommy Rittenhouse threw five interceptions Saturday. He atoned big time when it mattered most.

The Illinois State quarterback threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz in the final three minutes and completed a gutsy 2-point PAT as the unranked Redbirds defeated No. 1 North Dakota State 29-28 in the second round of the FCS playoffs in the Fargodome on Saturday.

The Bison (12-1), the No. 1 seed, were defending FCS champions and had not lost since Nov. 23, 2024. The Bison won the FCS title 10 times from 2011 to 2024 and had beaten the Redbirds 14 straight times.

“I’ll do it again if we win by 1 point, I don’t care,” Rittenhouse said of his five INTs. “My first three interceptions were tipped at the line of scrimmage. They (NDSU) did a great job all game. That’s a really tough defense to go against, but I just trusted the guys around me. Everyone was coming up to me saying it, and I knew I was going to. That’s all I could do to give us a chance.”

Illinois State head coach Brock Spack said his team was partly motivated by their 42-10 defeat to UC Davis in the second round last year.

“Sometimes what happens in the last game of the season is good for you,” Spack said. “That (loss) really bothered them. That’s what I told them today, lets just be us. Just be us. That’s all you gotta do and you can win the game.”

By most measures, the Redbirds (10-4) had little chance of winning. The Bison returned one of Rittenhouse’s picks 73 yards for a touchdown and another one 21 yards to the Illinois State 4, leading to a touchdown that gave NDSU a 28-14 lead with less than 13 minutes remaining in the game.

But NDSU senior quarterback Cole Payton, considered an NFL draft prospect, struggled for most of the game and completed 4 of 12 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown. He was injured after being strip-sacked by Jake Anderson, who recovered the fumble to give Illinois State the ball at the NDSU 23 with 1:51 left in the game.

Several plays later, on fourth down and goal from the NDSU 6, Rittenhouse scrambled right and threw to a leaping Sobkowicz for their third TD connection of the day to bring the Redbirds to within a point.

“I’m not the best at rolling to the right, throwing it back, and I found that good touch and Dan went up and made the play,” Rittenhouse said.

“The play (call) didn’t plan out how we wanted it to, but when you have Tommy at quarterback and he’s got his legs and scramble drill, you gotta make sure you’re doing everything you can to get open,” Sobkowicz said. “The scramble drill is the biggest thing in football that gets overlooked, and that a big thing that our team does really well, is the scramble drill, especially because we have Tommy.”

Rather than try a PAT kick and potentially send the game into overtime, Spack opted to go for 2. Rittenhouse fired a dart to Scotty Presson Jr. in the end zone to put the Redbirds on top.

Spack said he and his coaching staff had no hesitation about going for 2.

“I thought myself earlier in the week, we gotta for 2,” Spack said. “We met as a staff and I said, listen fellas, if it gets to that down here we need to go for 2. Lo and behold, it came up and we did. So, there was really no waffling. Everybody knew.”

Taking over at quarterback for the injured Payton, Nathan Hayes got the Bison to their own 44 but couldn’t convert on fourth down with 12 seconds left.

Illinois State will play the winner of the UC Davis-Rhode Island game in the next round. The FCS bracket is shown here.