8 things to know about Illinois State ahead of UND's matchup Saturday
· Yahoo Sports
Nov. 4—GRAND FORKS — After playing six of the last eight games on the road, the UND football program returns home Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup with Illinois State at the Alerus Center.
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Here are eight things to know about the Redbirds.
Illinois State has done some quarterback rotations this season but the Redbirds appear to have settled on Beckham Pellant, who was 13-for-27 for 248 yards and two touchdowns last week against Murray State.
The 6-foot junior from Chandler, Ariz, hadn't thrown for more than 191 yards this season until the Murray matchup.
On the year, Pellant is 77-for-139 with eight touchdowns and five interceptions. He's run 20 times for 40 yards with a long run of 12 yards.
Pellant has yet to receive the majority of the snaps against the top half of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. He's emerged of late in the Redbirds' stretch against Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Murray State — the bottom three teams in the MVFC standings.
Rob Spack was named head coach at Illinois State in 2009. UND head coach Eric Schmidt recalled this week Spack was named head coach when Schmidt was at Southern Illinois, which Schmidt said felt like a lifetime ago.
Spack has now been head coach in Normal for 18 seasons. He entered this year with a 123-79 record and a 75-57 mark in the MVFC.
Spack's 75 wins entering the year are third all-time in the MVFC behind Mark Farley of Northern Iowa (119) and John Stiegelmeier of South Dakota State (84).
Spack is a Rockford, Ill., native. He's a 1984 graduate of Purdue, where he played linebacker from 1980-83, earning first team all-Big Ten honors as a sophomore.
UND's running game will have a familiar face to the Redbirds.
UND junior running back Matt Lawson played one season at Illinois State in 2024 before redshirting with the Redbirds in 2025.
He ran for 447 yards at 4.3 yards per carry with Illinois State.
At UND this season, Lawson has 109 carries for 541 yards (4.9 yards per carry). Lawson has yet to break the 100-yard rushing mark in a game but has ran for 99 yards against South Dakota State and 99 against Youngstown State.
"Matt's a very good player," Spack said. "He wanted to get on the field quicker and play more snaps. I get it."
Illinois State's go-to running back is in his sixth season of college football. A former Cincinnati transfer, Victor Dawson has 126 carries for 512 yards and eight touchdowns.
Like Lawson at UND this year, Dawson has yet to run for 100 yards in a game this season but finished with 99 yards on 22 carries last Saturday against Murray State.
Dawson was a MVFC All-Newcomer pick in 2025 as he ran for 1,377 yards, which was third in the MVFC and ninth in the FCS.
Illinois State has attempted just five field goals this season with Michael Cosentino going 3-for-4. However, his longest make is 30 yards.
Cosentino in his fourth season with ISU after transferring from Elon.
He was 3-for-4 on field goals in 2025. He was 3-for-3 against Villanova in the FCS playoffs with a long of 35, while he had one attempt blocked in the national championship game against Montana State.
ISU junior wide receiver Dylan Lord is a pass-catching threat and a dangerous punt returner.
Lord is averaging 28.3 yards per punt return on six attempts, including a return for a touchdown against Eastern Illinois.
Lord has 46 catches for 507 yards and seven touchdowns this season.
In last season's national championship against Montana State, Lord had 13 catches for 161 yards and two touchdowns.
Illinois State wide receiver Ethan Loss, a fifth year senior from Mahtomedi, Minn., had a breakout performance last Saturday against Murray State.
Loss, a first-year Butler transfer, had five catches for 58 yards two weeks ago against Indiana State, then followed that up with 117 yards on just two catches against Murray.
Loss' first grab went for 67 yards, then scored a 50-yard touchdown on a flea-flicker from Pellant.
Brothers Tye and Dexter Niekamp have led Illinois State's defensive effort.
Tye has 67 tackles, 10.0 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, while Dexter has 40 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and two interceptions. He also has two fumble recoveries.
Tye and Dexter are the sons of ISU defensive coordinator Travis Niekamp.