The overwhelming favorite for the FCS national championship is out of the playoffs.
No. 1 North Dakota State lost 29-28 to unseeded Illinois State in the second round on Saturday after giving up 15 points in the final three minutes of the game. The Bison, the most dominant program at college football’s second level for the past two decades, were -300 to win the national title this week at BetMGM with 16 teams still alive in the 24-team playoffs.
After getting stopped on fourth-and-goal with 6:14 to go while trailing 28-14, Illinois State’s chances at a win were near zero. But NDSU went three-and-out and the Redbirds went 41 yards in seven plays as Tommy Rittenhouse found Daniel Sobkowicz for an eight-yard touchdown and a seven-point deficit.
On NDSU’s next drive, Illinois State DL Jake Anderson sacked NDSU QB Cole Payton and recovered the fumble as Illinois State took over with 1:51 to go. Six plays later, Rittenhouse hit Sobkowicz again for a six-yard TD with a minute left.
Not content for the tie, Illinois State went for the win, and Rittenhouse completed a pass to Scotty Presson Jr. for the go-ahead conversion.
North Dakota State was unable to get into field goal range on its final drive and then turned the ball over on downs.
Illinois State somehow won despite Rittenhouse throwing five interceptions. He was 35-of-52 passing for 249 yards and three touchdowns to go with those five picks. Three of them came in the first half and his fifth helped NDSU take a 28-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
NDSU’s quarterbacks weren’t much better. Payton, a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, was just 4-of-12 passing and Nathan Hayes was 2-of-7. They combined to throw for 120 yards and 78 came on a TD pass to Bryce Lance, the younger brother of former NDSU and current Los Angeles Chargers QB Trey Lance.
The Bison’s loss means that the door is again very open for a team not from the Dakotas to win a national championship. NDSU won the 2024 national title over Montana State, as the Bison won their 10th national title since the 2011 season. Before NDSU’s most recent title, South Dakota State won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
With Sam Houston and James Madison now at the top level of college football, the last team outside of NDSU or SDSU to win an FCS title that is currently in the division is Eastern Washington in 2010.
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