No. 17 Illinois State Returns Home To Face UNI

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: November 1, 2025
Time: 2 p.m. CT
Site: Normal, Ill.
Stadium: Jay and Lori Bergman Field at Hancock Stadium
Capacity: 12,440
Series: UNI leads 23-17
Last: ILS won 31-9 (Nov. 9, 2024)
Watch/Stream: ESPN+ / Marquee Sports Network 
Listen: WJBC 1230 AM / 102.1 FM / 98.9 FM WJEZ / The Varsity Network

THE GAME
As the calendar flips to November, the remaining Missouri Valley Football Conference games loom larger than ever for No. 17 Illinois State (5-3, 2-2 MVFC), as the Redbirds look to keep their playoff hopes alive against the Northern Iowa Panthers (2-6, 0-4 MVFC) on Jay and Lori Bergman Field at Hancock Stadium on Saturday.

THE SERIES
Illinois State and Northern Iowa will meet for the 41st time, with the Panthers holding a 23-17 advantage in the all-time series between the two programs. The Redbirds have won three out of the last four meetings overall, including a pair of wins at the vaunted UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. Overall, head coach Brock Spack is 8-7 against UNI in his tenure as ISU head coach and he holds a 5-3 record against the Panthers at home at Hancock Stadium.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his 17th season as the head coach at Illinois State (116-77). Spack guided the Redbirds to back-to-back shares of the MVFC title in 2014-15 and an appearance in the 2014 FCS Championship game. He has led the ISU to six playoff appearances overall and became the program's all-time wins leader in 2021.

Northern Iowa: Todd Stepsis (Ashland, 2000) is in first season as the head coach at Northern Iowa (2-6) and his seventh as a collegiate head coach (31-37). He takes the reins of the Panthers program after a six-year stint as the head coach at Drake, where he guided the Bulldogs to consecutive appearances in the FCS Playoffs after winning back-to-back Pioneer Football League championships.

THE REDBIRD FOOTBALL PROGRAM

• 9 FCS playoff appearances (1998, 1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2024)
• 6-time FCS quarterfinalists (1999, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019)
• 2-time FCS semifinalists (1999, 2014)
• 1-time FCS Championship game qualifier (2014)
• The team is 69-26 at home under Spack's guidance
• ISU is 52-20 at Hancock Stadium since 2013 renovation

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• The University of Northern Iowa is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and has an enrollment of 9,204. The Panthers are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) and play their home games at the UNI-Dome (12,200).
• The Panthers are still seeking their first conference victory and first road win of  the year, after suffering a 31-17 loss on the road to Southern Illinois last week. Since a 17-14 win at Eastern Washington on September 13, UNI has dropped five-straight contests while averaging just 10 points scored in those games.
• UNI fell behind early in the contest to SIU by a score of 24-0 in the second quarter, but picked up a field goal headed into the break to cut the lead to 24-3. The Panthers would score a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to trim the SIU lead, but it was not enough as the nationally-ranked Salukis picked up a home win.
• Quarterback Jaxon Dailey saw his first extended action under center for UNI, completing eight passes for 93 yards with two touchdown connections to JC Roque Jr. and Briggs Hughston. On defense, Jonathan Cabral-Martin and Kolben Miller led the UNI defense with 11 total tackles and linebacker Ryan Crandall recorded 1.5 TFLs. Crandall leads the way on the year for UNI, with 72 total tackles, 1 sack, 10 TFLs and one forced fumble.
• The Panthers have two players with nearly 250 yards rushing on the season, including Harrison Bey-Buie (294, 2 TD) and Bill Jackson (234), while quarterback Matthew Schecklman (173) also figures into the rushing attack for UNI.

LAST TIME AGAINST UNI (NOV. 9, 2024)
After a choppy start to the contest, Illinois State scored on a field goal by Ian Wagner late in the first quarter and never looked back against Northern Iowa, as the Redbirds held the Panthers to just three field goals on the day in a dominant 31-9 win at the UNI-Dome. Wenkers Wright finished the day with 109 yards on 21 attempts, his second straight 100-plus yard effort and fifth of the season overall, and scored two touchdowns on the day. The ISU defense was led by senior safety Keondre Jackson, who tallied nine tackles with a half TFL and two pass breakups.

SCOTTY FINDS THE END ZONE
Whenever the Redbirds have needed a big catch this season, especially on third down, fullback Scotty Presson Jr. has been the go-to guy. At South Dakota, he was back at it as he caught the first two touchdown passes of his career in Illinois State's 21-13 road win against No. 21 ranked Coyotes. The senior from Florissant, Missouri, scored the first touchdown of the game on an 11-yard pass from Tommy Rittenhouse and he later added a 2-yard touchdown catch on fourth-and-goal from the 2 to put the Redbirds up by 11 late in the third quarter. He set a season-best with three catches and tallied 30 yards in the victory for ISU.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Junior middle linebacker Tye Niekamp has been a stalwart for the Redbird defense all season, and he put together another strong performance in ISU's 21-13 road win at No. 21 South Dakota. Niekamp  tied his career and season high with a game-best 14 tackles against the Coyotes, including a career-high 11 solo stops, which earned him MVFC Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. The junior from Normal, Illinois, was also credited with a TFL, as the Redbirds held the No. 21 ranked Coyotes to just 13 points at home. It marked Niekamp's fourth double-digit tackling effort of the season and third game with 13 plus stops.

RITTENHOUSE REACHING NEW HEIGHTS
Just a week after he broke his career high with four passing touchdowns in a win at Murray State, senior quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse followed that up with five touchdown passes in the Homecoming contest against South Dakota State. He became the first Redbird to throw for 5 TDs in a game since Matt Brown did it against Appalachian State in a 2012 FCS playoff victory. Rittenhouse now has four games with 3+ touchdown passes this season and has already eclipsed his single-season high of 17 with now 20 on the year including 11 in the past three contests. He is currently second in the league in touchdown passes behind Jerry Kaminski of North Dakota (22).

STEPPING UP WHEN NEEDED
With all-conference wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz out with an injury, the Illinois State offense was looking for wideouts to step up to fill the void left by one of the best receivers in FCS football. In the win against South Dakota, wide receivers Dylan Lord (8) and Rylan Crawford (6) each set career highs in receptions in the contest for the Redbirds, as Lord led all receivers with the eight catches for 82 yards in the victory. Crawford had six catches for 44 yards, which included three receptions that moved the chains for first downs. 

THE WRIGHT STUFF
Senior running back Wenkers Wright hit a big milestone in the win at South Dakota, as he passed 2,500 career rushing yards against the Coyotes. With his 33 yards against USD, Wright now has 2,510 yards in his stellar career making him just the eighth player in school history to achieve that mark. He currently ranks eighth on the all-time rushing yards list, but needs just 14 yards to pass Larry Spinks in seventh place (2,523) and 35 yards to pass Pierre Rembert for sixth place (2,544) on the list. He is also just one rushing touchdown away from tying Tre Roberson (22) for eighth on the career rushing TDs list and three from tying Bruce Cullen and Ron Bell (24) in sixth place.

DAN THE MAN
With his 16 yards receiving against Youngstown State, wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz became just the third wide receiver in school history to get to the 3,000. That puts him in third place overall on the ISU career receiving yards list, and he is just seven yards away from tying Laurent Robinson (3,007) for second place on the all-time list. He also ranks second in career receptions (218) behind Walker (250) and is tied with Robinson (29) for third place in career receiving touchdowns. 

SOMETHING ABOUT MURRAY
There's something about playing against the Murray State Racers on the road that quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse really enjoys. Last season, Rittenhouse was named MVFC Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 21, after throwing for a career-high 347 yards, rushing for a 128 and accounting for three scores against the Racers. He followed that up this year by throwing for 338 yards and a career-high four touchdown passes to lead the Redbirds to their second-straight road win in Murray. Rittenhouse's .840 completion percentage (21-of-25) in the contest also ranks as the second-best single-game effort in school history with at least 20 attempts.

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
The Redbird offense was very creative in finding ways to score at Murray State, and that resulted in several players scoring their first touchdowns of the season or in their careers at ISU. A rare rushing touchdown by receiver Daniel Sobkowicz (his first career rushing TD) started things off for the Redbirds and Dylan Lord was next to find paydirt, as he took a shovel pass four yards for his first career touchdown reception. Then came Victor Dawson, who scored from 12 yards out running off left tackle for his first TD as a Redbird after transferring from Cincinnati. After that, Seth Glatz caught his first receiving touchdown of his career, a 52-yard wheel route down the sideline that gave him his first score of the year and third total in his career at ISU (2 rushing, 1 receiving). The first touchdown catch of the season from Javon Charles was the last of the 'firsts' on the night, as five different Redbirds scored touchdowns against the Racers. Not to be outdone, defensive back Doreon Dubose also intercepted his first career pass in the win for the Redbirds.

INTERESTING WAY TO START
It had been over seven years since Illinois State had recorded a safety until the team's game against North Dakota State, in which it happened on NDSU's first play from scrimmage. After the Redbirds were forced to punt on their first drive of the game and it was then downed at the NDSU 1 yard line, the Bison lined up to run their first play which was blown up by Tye Niekamp who rushed through the line to tackle the ball carrier in the endzone for two points. The last time ISU recorded a safety was in 2018 at home against Saint Xavier.