The Illinois State University football team held off a fourth-quarter rally Saturday to advance in the Football Championship Subdivision [FCS] playoffs with a 35-27 win at Southeast Missouri State [SEMO] in Cape Girardeau.
ISU forced eight Redhawk turnovers, a Division I program record, leading to four Redbird touchdowns.
The Redbirds raced out to a 28-7 halftime lead before SEMO countered with three second-half scores.
Junior quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse completed 24 of 36 passes for ISU, throwing for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Daniel Sobkowicz hauled in seven passes for 136 yards, including 62-yard scoring pass that gave ISU the lead for good, 13-7, in the second quarter.
The win is ISU’s first postseason victory since 2019, when the Redbirds defeated SEMO and then Central Arkansas before bowing out against eventual national champion North Dakota State in the quarterfinals.
The Redbirds came into the game as the No. 12 seed in the FCS playoffs, but played on the road against unseeded SEMO due to ISU's commitment to host the Illinois High School Association state football finals this weekend at Hancock Stadium.
The Redbirds will visit No. 5 seed California-Davis at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, in the second round.
The win was the 11th postseason victory in ISU playoff history and the eighth under Brock Spack, the winningest head coach in program history.
