NORMAL — Jake Kolbe hooked up with Christian Gibbs for nearly identical first-half touchdown passes of 54 and 77 yards to spark Illinois State to a 24-13 Missouri Valley Football Conference victory over Indiana State on Saturday before a sellout crowd of 13,391 at Hancock Stadium.
No. 8-ranked ISU (4-0, 2-0 in the MVFC) led 24-0 at halftime and hung on through a misfiring offensive second half with the invaluable help of a sturdy Redbird defense.
"I thought we would play a little better the second half and we didn't," ISU coach Brock Spack said. "But you don't want to put asterisks on wins.