Illinois State sacked North Dakota State quarterback Cole Payton – one of three finalists for the Walter Payton Award – four times in the Redbirds’ 29-28 victory. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Barry Bottino
Stunned. Shocked. Surprised.
Those are just some of the words that fans and media alike used to describe unseeded Illinois State’s 29-28 comeback win against No. 1 North Dakota State last weekend.
UC Davis head coach Tim Plough used none of those words, even leading up to the game.
During the No. 8-seeded Aggies’ playoff bye week in the opening round, Plough and another staff member scouted potential quarterfinal opponents – ISU and NDSU – while the rest of the Davis coaches scouted their potential second-round foes.
“Don’t be surprised if we’re playing the Redbirds at home,” he told staff members after scouting every Illinois State and North Dakota State game this season. “I’m not shocked that they’re here. They’ve played (in Fargo) a million times. They played them really tough (a 33-16 loss in Normal) earlier in the year. I knew they were going to be confident to go in there.”
Plough admitted that only one thing about the Redbirds caught him off guard in the upset win.
“Did I think they were going to turn the ball over five times and still win?” he joked. “No.”
On Saturday in Davis, Calif., the Aggies will host Illinois State in an FCS quarterfinal at 4 p.m. (ESPN-Plus) ISU and Davis met in California in a second-round playoff game last season, which the Aggies won, 42-10.
Plough cautioned his team that even with the defending national champion Bison out, there is “no yellow brick road” for Davis through the playoffs.
“What’s scarier: North Dakota State or the team that beat North Dakota State?” he asked. “This is going to be a tough challenge.”
Touchdown Tommy
Senior quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse broke the school record for passing touchdowns in a single season during Saturday’s win in Fargo.
Rittenhouse, who stands at 31 TDs, surpassed Tre Roberson (30 in 2014) for the record. The 31 TDs ranks third in the nation this season and only two players – Western Carolina’s Taron Dickens (38) and Mercer’s Braden Atkinson (34) – have thrown more touchdowns.
The record came in a game in which Rittenhouse threw five interceptions, three of which came on tipped balls.
“Not too many quarterbacks I’ve been around could ever do what he did,” ISU head coach Brock Spack said. “He was able to turn the page. He has an uncanny ability to get himself out of a tailspin.”
Rittenhouse has far outdistanced his previous career high of 17 TDs last season. He needs 101 yards to surpass his career-best total of 2,840 yards last season and 260 yards to become the fourth player in ISU history to throw for 3,000 yards in a season.
The other Niekamp
This week, ISU redshirt freshman linebacker Dexter Niekamp was selected for the FCS Football Central Freshman All-American team.
In 15 games this fall, Neikamp has 43 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. He posted a career-best six tackles in ISU’s opening-round playoff win at Southeastern Louisiana.
Dexter Niekamp’s older brother is Tye, the Redbirds’ leading tackler. Their father is ISU defensive coordinator Travis Niekamp.
Waiting on Woodard
Spack said Tuesday that veteran guard Landon Woodard would likely be a game time decision on Saturday. Woodard missed the NDSU game with a hand injury.
“He practiced (Tuesday),” Spack said. “He looked pretty good to me. We’ll see how the week continues to advance.”
Playoff challenges
While playing a home playoff game is a welcome benefit for UC Davis, Plough said doing so during finals week has long been a challenge for the program.
“This has kind of been the bugaboo week for Davis football, just figuring out how to navigate when we’ve got finals going on,” he said. “Just being able to take your finals in class has relieved a little bit of stress on our guys.”
However, the finals week schedule has thrown a wrench into practice times. This week, the Aggies will practice at 6 p.m. one day, 4 p.m. the next and another day at 8 a.m.
A Saturday home game also means one other snag – the Davis dorms close Friday for the holiday break, leaving the team’s freshmen without access to their rooms.
“We have 30 guys with nowhere to go,” Plough said. That could mean sleeping at teammates’ apartments or finding a hotel.
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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