Player family and friends are enjoying their weekend in the Philadelphia area as Illinois State football prepares to face Villanova on Saturday in the FCS playoffs. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
For the families of two senior players, this is hardly their first road trip. Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse’s mother, Jennifer, said she has not missed an ISU football game in two years. However, she did not say whether the streak will continue if the Redbirds advance to the national championship game in Nashville with a win Saturday.
“I do not tempt fate,” Rittenhouse told WGLT on Saturday morning in Philadelphia. “I go one game at a time.”
Throughout the season, player families and friends can reach the next Redbird game through flying or on the road in travel caravans.
“The great thing about all of the travel is not only meeting everybody's families, but also becoming families with those families,” said Pete Edwards, father of linebacker Reese Edwards. “And it's just great to be able to support not only the kids the way we do, and each other's kids, but to support the university.”
Edwards added that because many schools in the Missouri Valley Football Conference are close enough together, most games can be driven to if desired. Flying is an option if getting there quicker is needed.
Rittenhouse said the game against Villanova, like all other games, will bring a mixture of fun and stress for player families.
“It's so much fun in the stands, and I think we really all come together and cheer for the boys so they can hear us on the sidelines, and they've told us that they can. So we've had a great time doing that,” said Rittenhouse.
“The boys, I think, are very focused and treating this as just another business trip,” said Edwards. “When they got off the bus last night, we could see it in their faces. They're ready to go.”
Hannah Nagel, girlfriend of Tommy Rittenhouse, and Hannah Rittenhouse, Tommy’s sister, have also been to all 17 games that ISU has played this season. Nagel graduated from ISU in the spring.
Hannah Rittenhouse said it is hard to gauge the odds for the Redbirds as the programs face off for just the second time. ISU won the only other matchup in 1976. Almost five decades later, ISU comes in as winners of three-straight road playoff games, including against North Dakota State, a perennial contender for the FCS title. The Wildcats earned a game at their home Villanova Stadium, where the team has not been beaten this year, after winning twice on the road.
“I think the Villanova game last weekend, they were kind of the underdogs as well,” said Hannah Rittenhouse. “So I think it'll be a pretty good game, and will be fun to watch.”
“It looks like they're going to be an incredible team,” Nagel told WGLT. “So we'll see what it shakes up to be.”
