Linebacker Jalan Gaines had one of four tackles for loss Saturday in Illinois State’s 42-10 loss to North Dakota State in Normal. (Photo by SIUSalukis.com)
By Barry Bottino
Starting Missouri Valley Football Conference play against North Dakota State proved to be a humbling day for Illinois State.
The No. 18 Redbirds (3-2 overall, 0-1 MVFC) struggled offensively and allowed the No. 2 Bison to outgain them by nearly 340 yards in ISU’s 42-10 loss in Normal.
“They kicked our ass,” Illinois State head coach Brock Spack said. “We weren’t very good on either side of the ball.”
NDSU (4-1, 1-0) won for the 13th consecutive time in the series by allowing ISU’s run game only eight net yards while collecting five sacks and outgaining the Redbirds, 544-206.
While NDSU had 307 rushing yards, the Redbirds managed eight net yards and rushed for 0.3 yards per carry despite 24 yards and a touchdown run from junior Wenkers Wright.
“That really hurt us,” Spack said of the run game struggles. “I didn’t see that coming. I thought we’d have some success. We got shoved around. We couldn’t get our running game going. Our quarterback, when he did have some receivers open, he didn’t have the time to throw. That was an issue all day.”
ISU junior QB Tommy Rittenhouse was 10-for-14 passing for 132 yards, but he was sacked three times as the offense converted only four of 12 third downs.
“We didn’t execute. They did. That was the name of the game,” Rittenhouse said. “Up front, they out-physicaled us.”
After trimming NDSU’s lead to 14-7 less than 3 minutes before halftime, ISU yielded 28 unanswered points to fall behind 42-7.
NDSU quarterback Cam Miller finished 20-for-23 passing for 216 yards and three touchdowns.
“We couldn’t produce a pass rush. We didn’t put enough pressure on him,” Spack said. “We tried to blitz our way to some pressure and got ourselves out of position a couple times and gave up some big plays.”
Game changers
2:56, 2nd quarter: Wright scored his third rushing TD of the season just before halftime.
10:55, 3rd quarter: Miller threw his third scoring pass of the game in less that 35 minutes of action.
11:27, 4th quarter: Cole Payton’s 73-yard scoring run helped NDSU score 28 unanswered points and forge a 42-7 lead early in the quarter.
What it means
The Redbirds opened the Missouri Valley conference season off on a sour note.
Best ‘Birds
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the top three Illinois State players in the game:
Mark Cannon Jr., CB: ISU’s junior DB had eight tackles, one shy of the team lead, and also contributed a tackle for loss.
Steven Curtis, DE: The sophomore from Florida had three tackles and forced a fumble in the first half.
Eddie Kasper, WR: In his return after missing the first four games due to mononucleosis, Kasper had three catches for 51 yards.
What’s next?
ISU travels to Carbondale to face rival Southern Illinois on Oct. 5 in a key game for both teams.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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