No. 11 Redbirds Return Home For Senior Day Contest Against No. 24 Salukis

SETTING THE SCENE
Date: November 22, 2025
Time: 12 p.m. CT
Site: Normal, Ill.
Stadium: Jay and Lori Bergman Field at Hancock Stadium
Capacity: 12,440
Series: Southern Illinois leads 43-39-3
Last: ILS won 45-10 (Oct. 5, 2024)
Watch/Stream: Marquee Sports Network / ESPN+ 
Listen: WJBC 1230 AM / 102.1 FM / 98.9 FM WJEZ / The Varsity Network

THE GAME
A lot is on the line in the season finale for No. 11 Illinois State against No. 24 Southern Illinois, as the Redbirds (8-3, 5-2 MVFC) look to bolster their playoff seeding and potentially maneuver their way into second place in the Missouri Valley Conference alone with a ninth victory. The Salukis (6-5, 3-4 MVFC) will be looking to play spoiler, and get their seventh win which could put them squarely on the playoff bubble come Sunday's selection show.

THE SERIES
Illinois State and Southern Illinois for the 86th time on the gridiron on Saturday, with the Salukis leading the all-time series 43-39-3. Overall, the Redbirds have won three out of the last five contests against the Salukis, including a dominant 45-10 win over SIU on the road last year in Carbondale. In all, the Redbirds are 7-7 against the Salukis under the leadership of head coach Brock Spack with a 3-3 mark against SIU in games at Hancock Stadium in that stretch.

THE COACHES
Illinois State: Brock Spack (Purdue, 1983) is in his 17th season as the head coach at Illinois State (119-77). 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.

Southern Illinois: Nick Hill (Southern Illinois, 2008) is in his 10th season as the head coach his alma mater (54-61). The Salukis have advanced to the playoffs three times in the last five seasons and have beaten 12 ranked FCS teams in the last five seasons, including wins over the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4-ranked opponents.

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 70-26 at home under Spack's guidance
• ISU is 53-20 at Hancock Stadium since 2013 renovation

THIS WEEK'S OPPONENT

• Southern Illinois University is located in Carbondale, Illinois, and has an enrollment of 11,785 students. The Salukis are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) and play their home games at Saluki Stadium (15,000).
• The Salukis have dropped their last two games to ranked opponents in No. 21/22 Youngstown State and last week to No. 17/22 South Dakota at home.
• Last weekend, SIU fell in a five-overtime heartbreaker, 53-51, to the Coyotes. SIU totaled 455 yards on offense with 307 passing and 148 rushing, while South Dakota compiled 524 total yards with 300 through the air and 224 on the ground.
• Quarterback DJ Williams was stellar for the Salukis, throwing for 303 yards and four touchdowns while also running for 89 yards on the ground. He has completed 63.3 percent of his passes on the year for 2,687 yards and 22 touchdowns through the air, while also running for 713 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground.

LAST TIME AGAINST SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (OCT. 5, 2024)
With two wins already against in-state FCS foes, No. 18 Illinois State was looking to go 3-0 against teams from the Land of Lincoln on Saturday against No. 19 Southern Illinois. Thanks to a strong offensive effort and a bend but don't break defensive performance, the Redbirds pulled away in the second half to pick up a big 45-10 win over the Salukis on Homecoming at Saluki Stadium Tommy Rittenhouse's touchdown run was his team-leading fourth of the season and he finished the day with a team-leading 84 yards on the ground to go along with his 172 yards passing and one passing touchdown to Daniel Sobkowicz.

THOSE NIEKAMP BOYS ARE TROUBLE
One quick look at the defensive stat sheet from Illinois State's big 35-21 road win at South Dakota and a familiar name is featured heavily: Niekamp. Not only was dad Travis Niekamp calling the plays, but his two sons Tye and Dexter were all over the field making plays against the Jackrabbits. Tye led the way with a career-best 16 tackles and added a forced fumble to earn his third MVFC Defensive Player of the Week honor. Dexter also recorded a career high in tackles with five, but also recorded a career-best two sacks and hauled in his first career interception deep in coverage. They were a big part of the defensive effort that held the Jacks to just 66 yards on the ground and the group that added five sacks and 10 TFLs in the victory.

DAN THE MAN
A big three-touchdown day against South Dakota State propelled senior wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz to the top of the Illinois State record books. With his three scores, Sobkowicz now has 33 career receiving touchdowns which puts him in the top spot on the career list passing Tyrone Walker (32). With his 55 yards receiving against the Jackrabbits, Sobkowicz (3,086) upped his career total in that category in second and continues to chase Walker for first place (3,565). He also ranks second in career receptions (226) behind Walker (250).

28 IS GREAT
In wins over Indiana State and South Dakota, Illinois State scored 28 points in a quarter in each contest. The Redbirds scored 28 points in the second quarter on way to a big win at Indiana State and followed that up with a 28-point first quarter outburst in a 35-21 win over South Dakota State. ISU is one of just three teams in the country (FBS & FCS) to achieve that feat this season, joining Florida State and Washington.

OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER
The Redbird offense seems to be firing on all cylinders at the moment and the group is coming off its best offensive output in early a decade after defeating Indiana State, 52-20. The 52 points for the Redbirds were their most since scoring 67 in the 2015 home opener against Morgan State and their most in a conference game since scoring 55 against Indiana State in 2013. ISU racked up a season-high 555 yards of total offense, marking its third game of the year with 500 yards or more, and scored 40 or more points for the fourth time this year. 

BAUER COMES UP BIG 
Linebacker Patrick Bauer had quite the day against South Dakota State, and it started early on SDSU's first offensive series of the day. On second down, Bauer recorded a tackle for loss to put the Jacks behind the sticks at their own 14 yard line. Then on third down, Bauer jumped the route on a pass to the flat, intercepted it and returned it five yards for the pick six. Then, on the Jacks' final possession of the game, Bauer recorded a 10-yard TFL to ice the game and allow the Redbirds to take a knee for the victory. He would finish the game with three tackles, two TFLs and the big interception for a touchdown.

ROAD WARRIORS 
Over the past two seasons, Illinois State has been very comfortable going on the road picking up key victories away from home. In the past two years, ISU is 11-3 on the road with two of those losses coming to FBS foes in Iowa (2024) and Oklahoma (2025). Last season, the Redbirds won six-straight FCS road games before suffering a second-round playoff loss to UC Davis and this year, the Redbirds are 5-0 on the road against FCS foes after a 35-21 road win at South Dakota State. In fact, only Oregon (10-0), Montana State (9-1) and North Dakota State (9-1) have a better record than the Redbirds (8-2) over their last 10 FBS/FCS road games overall.

NOVEMBERS TO REMEMBER
The month of November has been very good to the Redbirds over the past two seasons, and the team's performance in the final month of the regular season has made it a playoff contender nationally. Last year, the Redbirds were 5-0 in the month of November, including a 35-27 road playoff win at Southeast Missouri State, and so far this year the Redbirds are 3-0 in November. 

TOMMY TIME
As the season winds out, Illinois State quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse seems to be playing some of the best football of his career. Against Indiana State, he recorded his second 300+ yard passing performance of the season with 314 against the Trees and he threw for four touchdown passes while running for another. It marked Rittenhouse's third game of the season with four or more passing touchdowns and his fifth with three or more on the year. He now leads the MVFC with 28 touchdown passes on the year (2nd on the single-season list at ISU) and he currently ranks No. 4 in the FCS in that category. He has also been extremely accurate on the year, as his completion percentage of .655 ranks No. 25 in the FCS while he has posted two of the top three single-game completion percentage marks in school history, including the No. 2 effort of 85.3 at Indiana State (29-for-34). 

DAWSON DOES IT AGAIN
A week after he rushed for a season-high 101 yards and scored a touchdown in the Redbirds' win over UNI, transfer running back Victor Dawson topped that performance with 116 yards rushing on a career-high 21 carries and scored a touchdown in a dominant 52-20 win for the Redbirds over Indiana State. Dawson averaged 5.5 yards per carry and scored his third touchdown of the year on a 6-yard run early in the second quarter that gave the Redbirds a 14-7 lead at the time. With his 116 yards on the ground, Dawson took over the team lead with 616 rushing yards on the season and for his efforts, he was named the MVFC Newcomer of the Week.

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 31 yards against Northern Iowa, Wright now has 2,541 yards in his stellar career making him just the eighth player in school history to rush for 2,500 yards or more. He currently ranks seventh on the all-time rushing yards list, but needs just four 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) for sixth place.