Redbirds Look to Fix Some Bumps and Bruises Coming off their Bye Week

Image Courtesy of Illinois State Athletics 

NORMAL, Ill. – Coming off a big road win over Murray State, Coach Spack made his way to the podium for his Tuesday Press Conference. Spack first talked about how well the team has been practicing, today especially, but specifically all year. The Redbirds are coming off a 40-32 win in a game where neither team could pull away from one another, but a huge performance from Junior Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse helped the Redbirds come out with the win.

The Redbirds are now headed into a bye week that they “need in the worst way.” said Coach Spack. The Bye Week leaves the Birds with 4 remaining games in the regular season, 3 of which have 2 wins on the season. A well-needed bye for Illinois State provides them with a chance to heal some bumps and bruises, especially the injuries to the secondary. Injuries have been a story for this Redbird team, which led them to play 20 guys who are either true freshmen, redshirt freshmen, or true sophomores. 

With the Redbirds being such a young team, this may make them susceptible to some big plays, but overall, Coach Spack said he is “been impressed by the young guys.” Some guys that came to mind for him were Freshman Running Back Matt Lawson, who has two touchdowns for the Redbird offense, as well as guys like Freshman Ben Harman on the defensive line, who is currently tied for second on the team in sacks with 2. Coach Spack made sure to praise his team, saying “I’m very proud of our team, they’ve gone through a lot of adversity.”

While some young players have been making some noise recently, someone who has been doing it consistently, specifically this past weekend, is Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse accounted for 475 of the Redbirds’ 635 total yards, throwing for 347 and 1 touchdown and rushing for 128 with 2 rushing touchdowns. These stats are what allowed Rittenhouse to be named the MVFC Offensive Player of the Week.

The Illinois State Redbirds headed into their bye with a 5-3 record and are ranked 21st in the country in FCS Rankings. The Redbirds will use the week to prepare for their next game, a home matchup against the Penguins from Youngstown State. ISU football just has four regular-season games left as they look to make a push toward a playoff spot.