How to Watch Montana State vs. Illinois State: Live coverage for the FCS Championship

A pair of teams on a hot streak will meet in the FCS championship game on Monday night.

Montana State faces Illinois State at 7:30 PM ET in Nashville.

The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision title game will be broadcast on ESPN and can be streamed live DirecTV Stream (Free Trial), fuboTV and other live television services.

Montana State brings a 13-game winning streak into the game. Illinois State became the first team to win four playoff games during its postseason run.

Here’s what you need to know:

What: 2026 Football Championship Subdivision National Championship Game

WHO: Montana State vs. State of Illinois

When: 7:30 PM ET on Monday, January 5, 2026

Where: Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.

TV: ESPN

Tickets: Starting at $61 StubHub.

Here’s a preview of the game from the Chicago Tribune via the Tribune News Service:

Illinois State coach Brock Spack saw it in his team in the season opener at Oklahoma.

Yes, Oklahoma, which made it to the College Football Playoff this year, went 35-3. The Sooners were clearly more talented than their FCS opponent.

But Spack thought his Redbirds were playing relaxed and well. He hasn’t seen a team that has been disappointed playing in an atmosphere like the one at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

This team is uncomfortable, Spack thought. “They just thrive on it. They really like it.”

That, it turned out, was a major key to the Redbirds’ remarkable trip to Monday’s FCS national championship game.

When Illinois State plays No. 2 Montana State at Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., it will be the Redbirds’ fifth road game in just over five weeks.

ISU (12-4) was unseeded in the 24-team playoff and each of its first four playoff games came against seeded teams on the road.

• Nov. 29 in Hammond, Los Angeles, a 21-3 win over No. 16 Southeastern Louisiana.
• 29-28 win over No. 1 North Dakota State on Dec. 6 in Fargo, ND.
• 42-31 win over No. 8 UC Davis on Dec. 13 in Davis, Calif.
• Dec. 20 at Villanova, Pa. 30-14 win over No. 12 Villanova.

No team in FCS history has ever won four playoff games to reach the championship before ISU.

ISU is 9-1 this season with the only loss coming to Oklahoma. While Monday is technically a neutral game — and the Redbirds are hoping to draw a large ISU crowd for a game within driving distance of Bloomington-Normal — they will have something that helped them succeed on the road.

This team likes each other, Spack said, so they enjoy the team bonding that comes with traveling and staying in a hotel together. As an FCS team trying to save money, the Redbirds don’t stay at the team hotel before home games like many FBS programs do.

“I think we feel more connected and more like a family when we’re on the road and it seems to make us play better,” wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz said.

Montana State (13-2) has plenty of ability to make opposing teams uncomfortable — a balanced team with big, long, physical players up front, Spack said. The Bobcats are powered by two 1,000-plus yard rushers in Julius Davis and Adam Jones and a defense that has 16 interceptions. They are making their third title game appearance in five seasons, though they have yet to win one under coach Brent Vigen.

But the Redbirds have the knowledge they can beat the best in the FCS, even in an imperfect game.

They were down 14 points with three minutes to play against top-seeded North Dakota State in the second round. Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse threw five interceptions in the game.

And yet, Sobkowicz made an impressive catch on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Rittenhouse with 2:44 left in the game. The Redbirds forced a fumble on North Dakota State’s next possession. With a minute to play, Rittenhouse broke right and threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Sobkowicz, followed by the game-winning two-point conversion pass to Scotty Presson Jr.

Spack called Rittenhouse, who is from Geneva and played at St. Francis, a “mentally tough player”, a player capable of getting himself and his team out of a corkscrew. He threw for 3,257 yards and 36 touchdowns with 12 interceptions this season.

“He threw five interceptions, but he didn’t have one drop in confidence,” Sobkowicz said of Rittenhouse. “He was so confident in everything he did, even when something went wrong or mistakes were made. He has so much confidence as a player and he has confidence in all of us.”

The win, Spack said, sent the Redbirds’ confidence “through the roof.” They advanced with double-digit wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals behind stellar performances from Sobkowicz and running back Victor Dawson, who has rushed for 1,251 yards this season.

“I think our team did a really good job of regaining that focus and going 1-0 again next week against UC Davis,” Rittenhouse said. “So it gave us a huge, huge amount of confidence. But you’ve got to kind of rekindle that energy and just keep that focus and that push going into the next game.”

The run was meaningful for Spack, who is in his 17th season coaching Illinois State and leading the Redbirds back to the title game for the first time since the 2014 season. He said the program took a hit during COVID-19 with some players transferring to bigger programs to play the fall season, but he believes he and his coaching staff have rebuilt the team with the right type of players. He thinks this team is full of smart and capable leaders.

“They take everything very seriously,” Spack said. “And they’re very motivated guys. You don’t need to motivate these guys. They’re just good self-starters.”

And it makes sense for players like Rittenhouse and Sobkowicz, seniors who have been together at ISU for five seasons.

Sobkowicz, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound wide receiver who played at Rolling Meadows, said other schools are looking at him to transfer after a 2024 season in which he had 80 catches for 1,108 yards. But he decided to stay and has 78 catches for 1,089 yards and 18 touchdowns this season.

His huge playoff performances — he has 29 catches for 403 yards and seven touchdowns in four games — moved him to the ISU record with 257 career catches and 40 career touchdown catches.

“To be with guys I grew up with in college for five years, I’d like to play with them my last year,” Sobkowicz said. “And of course I knew I was pretty close to some records. … Knowing that our team was able to play at a really high level, especially in a national championship, I’m not sure who else would walk away when you have a team like that.”

Where to watch the NCAA Division III football championship live and on demand for free

Non-cable viewers can watch the games live and on demand for free when they sign up for a trial offer from DIRECTV or Fubo.

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