Inside Illinois State's Historic Run To The FCS National Championship Game

In our fast-paced, modern age of social media, instant gratification, and the need to be entertained by whatever grabs our attention next, people as a whole tend to fail to appreciate what is right in front of us in the moment.

We fail to appreciate and ponder the significance of events happening all around us, and while we are quick to assign superlatives to every passing headline, I think we can miss the truly great and unique aspects of life that give this sport so much meaning.

This present age of college football particularly highlights this. The 2025 season just ended. Do we take the time to appreciate and reflect on what we just witnessed? Nope! Because the transfer portal is open, rosters need to be constructed, and agents are manipulating everyone, so we have to talk about what's next and how such-and-such programs can take it to the next level.

Nothing demonstrates this better than how the FCS season ended. Montana State won a historic national championship, its first in 41 years. The Bobcats won it in incredible fashion in a game for the ages. The atmosphere in Nashville was amazing, and down on the field after the game, you could feel the emotions from the players, coaches, and maybe more importantly, the fan base.

What did many of the main FCS media (including this site) and school reporters start covering as soon as quick game recaps came out? Transfer portal trackers! No time or thought to reflect on or appreciate the incredible moments we just saw or were a part of.

To be clear, I don't blame all the Illinois State and Montana State players who hit the portal the next day. I don't blame the media for focusing on next season and all the transfer portal news. It's how this new system is set up, and we have to function within it as best we can, including the national media.

But on the other hand, I would like to try to do my best to make sure we don't run through the 2025 season and the incredible moments it gave us.

Montana State has an incredible program and could arguably be even better next year. Plenty will be said about this team in the future and deservedly so. I want to spend some more time talking about the 2025 Illinois State team.

Illinois State wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz (2) dives over Montana State cornerback Takhari Carr (0) during the FCS National Championship | Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Redbirds ultimately fell short in Nashville. Before we know it, the 2025 Illinois State team will be a fading memory far quicker than they should have been. This was one of the most incredible stories of the season, and one I don't think we should forget anytime soon.

I wanted to put into context just how special this team was and how close they were to doing something so historically unprecedented that it would have been one of the greatest stories of all time.

Before the season, I looked at how many national title contenders we typically see each year. The main point of the analysis was to show how little parity we normally have in football and how tight that circle of contenders actually is.

The basic premise was that, to be considered a true title contender, a team had to be power-rated within six points of the best team in the FCS that season. There were a couple of other qualifiers to make it more accurate, but the data showed that there were, on average, four true contenders every season, and that number has trended down since 2011.

In the exercise, I went back to 1995. No team outside the contender list had ever won the championship. In fact, no team had ever even gotten close. Five times in the past 30 years, teams outside the "true contender" list had even made the championship game, only to get blown out each time.

In 1999, Youngstown State lost to Georgia Southern by 35 points. That happened again in 2003 when Colgate lost by 40, Towson lost by 28 in 2013, Eastern Washington lost by 14 and never had the ball in the second half with a chance to tie, and in 2023 when Montana lost by 20 in the title game.

This season, only two teams would have made the list of true contenders heading into the postseason. North Dakota State and Montana State, both of which were the heavy favorites all season. There were six or seven teams closer to making this list than the Illinois State Redbirds.

Illinois State had a tumultuous season after entering the season ranked 6th. In 2024, the Rebirds had a nice bounce-back year after missing the postseason for four straight seasons and being outside of the top half of the MVFC. They finished 6-2 in the MVFC but also lost to the best teams they played in non-competitive games, including a 42-10 loss to UC Davis in the playoffs.

Despite that loss, it was a promising step for a 2025 team that had a lot of talent coming back, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The season had a bit of a rocky start as the Redbirds played close games against Eastern Illinois and North Alabama, which finished 2-10 and in last place of the UAC. Arguably, the Redbirds were pretty lucky to win that game in overtime.

Illinois State followed that up with a valiant effort against No. 1 North Dakota State, but was still vastly outplayed in the 4th quarter when all the chips were down. Two weeks later, the Redbirds lost again at home to Youngstown State in a game where turnovers and the inability to get stops led to another 4th quarter disappointment.

The next week saw them get a huge bounce-back win on the road against South Dakota, in which they scraped by with an eight-point win. The next big game came in Brookings, where a series of bizarre turnovers and mistakes gave the Redbirds an early 35-0 lead over South Dakota State. After that, the Redbirds didn't really do much and actually ended up holding on for the win against SDSU's backup quarterback.

At the end of the year, Illinois State completely no-showed the last game of the season against Southern Illinois, losing 37-7. All of that led to an 8-4 season where Illinois State was one of the committee's last four teams into the field.

Illinois State running back Victor Dawson (5) runs the ball against Montana State during the FCS National Championship | Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

I set all that up to showcase how incredible the playoff run of this 2025 Illinois State team was. This team transformed itself almost overnight into nearly the best team in the entire country, after basically showing no evidence all year that they were capable of such a feat.

In the second round, No. 1-seeded North Dakota State prepared to defend its title and win its 11th FCS championship. The Bison were massive favorites to do so. No other team (including Montana State) even had comparable odds. The Bison had beaten Illinois State by 17 in Normal and held a 14-game winning streak over the Redbirds. This is where the transformation of this team began.

They went into the Fargodome and really beat the Bison down. We've well-documented how badly Illinois State outplayed NDSU after the first 78-yard touchdown pass. The game should have been a blowout. NDSU never once marched the length of the field and scored, and yet, somehow the Redbirds found themselves down 28-14 with three minutes to go in the game.

Turnovers and countless other mistakes left the Redbirds in this position, despite dominating the game. Everybody on that Illinois State sideline could've packed it in, and nobody would have blamed them. The headlines would be the same that we've seen throughout the Bison dynasty.

Instead, this team gave us something truly amazing. While all the history and anecdotal evidence told us the game was over, Illinois State delivered a historic comeback. The defense had a physicality that never wavered and just kept finding ways to get key stops. Tommy Rittenhouse shrugged off a nightmare performance with five interceptions and just kept making throws.

They showed a collective belief in themselves when Rittenhouse connected with Daniel Sobkowicz with one minute left; there was no hesitation from Tommy as he showed two fingers to the sideline. They wanted to finish the game right there.

What a statement and credit to head coach Brock Spack and that staff that they never blinked and went to the offense right away. Just like that, Illinois State pulled off one of the biggest upsets in FCS football history.

REDBIRDS WITH A 2PT CONVERSION🤯🤯

📺ESPN+#ValleyFootball x #FCS x @RedbirdFB x @NCAA_FCS pic.twitter.com/llBWjZmnVm
— Valley Football (@ValleyFootball) December 6, 2025

Most impressively, that upset had nothing to do with catching a few breaks or getting lucky. They dominated the Bison. Deep within that locker room and themselves, the Redbirds pulled out a performance far superior to anything they had shown all season.

Even more impressively, Illinois State proved over the next several weeks that the upset in Fargo was no fluke. They were relatively dominant and comfortable through both semifinal and quarterfinal wins. The Redbirds found a way to elevate their play from the regular season to the postseason. And then Nashville comes around.

Montana State was again a big favorite in the game. As I said before, the only teams that qualified as true contenders coming into the postseason were NDSU and Montana State. And in the first half, it looked like maybe the Redbirds finally met their match. But just like their entire season, a little adversity didn't stop this team.

Despite being dominated in the first half, trailing 21-7 at halftime, Illinois State came out in the second half and completely turned the tables. Not counting end-of-half kneel downs, the Redbirds finished the game driving all over the Bobcat defense. They had six drives resulting in five touchdowns and one field goal attempt from the 21-yard line.

As I said earlier, football can be a cruel sport, and ultimately, two blocked kicks cost this team a national championship. Who knows what would have happened if the game had been five minutes longer, but Montana State made the key plays to ultimately win the game.

This story feels a bit cliché... The underdog turns it around, flips a switch, and goes on an incredible run. I can't let us dismiss it as just that.

This has never happened in the history of the FCS. No team like Illinois State has ever been able to just turn into a title-contending team seemingly overnight after being that far off during the regular season. Somehow, this 2025 Illinois State team was able to do it.

So while they fell short, I'd like for us not to forget the amazing postseason run we just witnessed. They may not have fulfilled their ultimate dreams, but this team delivered a ton of incredible moments and showed us what makes college football special. This 2025 Illinois State team was a special story, and don't forget about it.

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