When the FCS championship game goes down on January 5 it will not necessarily be between a pair of teams that many thought it might be at the beginning of the season. No North Dakota State. No South Dakota State. Instead it will be another team from the Missouri Valley Conference… a team that didn’t even win it this year… in Illinois State and last year’s runner-up Montana State. It’s a fresh and exciting flavor that the big game had been lacking as of late
While at face value it might not be all
that shocking to see the Bobcats back in the big game, it is not where a lot of folks thought they’d be after starting the season 0-2. Losses, albeit understandable ones, to Oregon and South Dakota State right out of the gate paired with the fact that MSU was trying to move on from some of its biggest names like Tommy Mellott under center had folks wondering about the legitimacy of this year’s squad and just where they fit into the national picture.
To say Brent Vigen’s team answered those questions emphatically would be doing it a disservice. All Montana State did following its bumpy start was win 13 straight to get back to the big stage and, in doing so, beat rival Montana twice in the span of a month to first win the Big Sky championship and then second to punch their ticket to Nashville last Saturday. In what was probably the most meaningful win in school history MSU cruised to a 25-point win over UM and left no doubt about its place among the FCS elite.
And the quarterback question? That was also answered in the form of one Justin Lamson who came over in the transfer portal last offseason. Lamson came in, earned the starting position and then proceeded to tear up the competition for most of the year. The junior has thrown for just under 3,000 yards and boasts a completion percentage of 72%. He’s only tossed three interceptions all fall and has accounted for 38 total touchdowns. Lamson has been everything Montana State hoped he would be last summer and then some and is a huge reason why they are back in the final game.
He, of course, has been complimented greatly by other big names that returned to the lineup as well. Running backs Julius Davis and Adam Jones were again a monstrous one-two punch, piling up 2,182 yards and 23 scores between them this year. Receiver Taco Dowler, who made arguably the biggest catch in Montana State history last week with his remarkable 87-yard touchdown snag, lit it up on the outside once more and so did the stifling defense with guys like Dowler’s twin brother Caden (the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year) at safety and Paul Brott on the line.
The Bobcats open up as a 9.5-point favorite for the championship game per the books but, as everyone who’s paid any sort of attention to the FCS playoffs this year should know by now, their opponents are nothing to be trifled with. Illinois State took one of the longest and hardest roads in postseason history to earn the right to play MSU in two weeks and if any group feels like it’s a team of destiny, it’s these Redbirds.
ISU entered this fall with a lot of potential but were never really seen by most a true national title contender even with a bunch of seniors on the roster. Of those, quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse and receiver Daniel Sobkowicz are the most notable. With head coach Brock Spack now in his 17th season leading the charge in Normal, the Redbirds were certainly not lacking in experience. Playing in the same conference as NDSU and SDSU has its drawbacks, however, and once again Illinois State did not end up winning the league.
In fact, with a blowout loss to Southern Illinois and an 8-4 record at the end of the regular season, it was not even a sure thing that they would get into the playoffs at all. Spack’s team did, of course, but did so as one of the last teams in. Going in unseeded meant that ISU would not get the luxury of any home games but that, as shocking as it eventually turned out to be, was not a problem
After handedly dispatching Southeastern Louisiana in the first round, Illinois State put the crown jewel of this season (and any other) on its mantle in the second round when it went into Fargo and upended the #1 Bison. Winning in the Fargodome in December is so rare that the 29-28 victory made the Redbirds just the second ever team to accomplish the feat in NDSU’s Division I history. In spite of Rittenhouse tossing five picks, ISU found a way behind a strong defensive performance. It was the signature win of the entire postseason and paved way for this whole thing.
Illinois State rode the momentum of the win over North Dakota State to two more road wins over #8 UC Davis and then #12 Villanova respectively, making them the first team in FCS playoff history to come out on top in four consecutive road games to get to the championship. The Redbirds bring with them a nine-game road winning streak into Nashville.
Rittenhouse and Sobkowicz have been the spark that have made it all happen. Since the playoffs began, the tandem has hooked up for 314 yards and seven touchdowns and they are showing no signs of slowing down. That paired with the tough running of Victor Dawson and a defense that is playing its best ball of the season right now makes Illinois State a tough out. It is not a forgone conclusion that Montana State has this game in the bag and it should make for a good one when it all finally kicks off in two weeks.
The national championship is set for Monday, January 5 and will get underway at 7:30 PM (ET) on ESPN.
