Tommy Rittenhouse threw two touchdown passes to Daniel Sobkowicz and found Scotty Presson Jr. on the go-ahead two-point conversion as Illinois State scored 15 unanswered points in the final 2:44 to post a stunning 29-28 victory over top-seeded North Dakota State on Saturday in Fargo, N.D., in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
The unseeded Redbirds (10-4) had lost 14 straight games to the Bison, the defending FCS champions. Powerful North Dakota State (12-1) has won 10 FCS national titles since 2011.
The Bison appeared on their way to advancing when Barika Kpeenu scored on a 4-yard run to give North Dakota State a 28-14 lead with 12:38 remaining in the contest.
But Rittenhouse, who was intercepted five times, pulled Illinois State within 28-21 on an 8-yard touchdown pass to Sobkowicz with 2:44 remaining.
A short time later, Jake Anderson made a big play with a third-down, strip-sack of Bison quarterback Cole Payton and Anderson recovered the ball at the North Dakota State 23-yard line with 1:51 left.
Six plays later, Rittenhouse tossed an 6-yard scoring pass to Sobkowicz to bring the Redbirds within one with one minute left. Illinois State then followed its plan and went for the two-point conversion and Rittenhouse connected with a wide-open Presson.
“I thought to myself earlier in the week, we gotta (go) for two,” Redbirds coach Brock Spack said after the victory. “We met as a staff and I said, ‘Listen fellas, if it gets to that down here we need to go for two.’ Lo and behold, it came up and we did. So, there was really no waffling. Everybody knew.”
North Dakota State didn’t advance past midfield on its final possession before turning the ball over downs.
Rittenhouse completed 35 of 52 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns, all of the scoring throws going to Sobkowicz.
Illinois State will face either eighth-seeded UC Davis or Rhode Island in next week’s quarterfinals. Those two schools play Saturday night.
