NORMAL — Chris Garrett has been instructed not to, yet he couldn’t resist.

The Illinois State senior cornerback snuck a look — while in pass coverage — at Northern Iowa quarterback Pat Grace. The information led to a 32-yard interception return for a first-quarter touchdown in the Redbirds’ 22-20 victory Saturday at Hancock Stadium.

“I was looking at the quarterback, which I’m not supposed to do,” Garrett said with a sly smile. “I saw him lifting up his arm to throw the deep out. I was able to tip it. I had concentration while the ball was in the air and was able to catch it. I thought I stepped out of bounds but was able to take it all the way.”

Garrett also had a hand in the biggest defensive play of the second half. Northern Iowa had fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line when Garrett and Kelvyn Hemphill stopped Derrick Law for a 1-yard loss at the 8:52 mark of the fourth quarter.

“The heroes of this game are the defense,” said wide receiver Eyad Salem, who caught the game-winning touchdown pass from Matt Lancaster with six-tenths of a second remaining. “They played the best game of their year. I’m so proud of the defense and how they held out and kept stopping them. It was the most amazing effort by the defense.”

Linebacker Josh Howe paced the Redbird defense with nine tackles.

Cornerback E.J. Jones added eight tackles and pair of interceptions and was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week. Linebacker Austin Davis also had eight stops, while tackle Eric Brunner had seven tackles and a whopping five quarterback hurries.

“We played very well defensively for most of the game,” ISU coach Brock Spack said. “Our kids have come a long way from 12 weeks ago when we opened up at Eastern Illinois. Twelve weeks ago we could never do this.”

Jones’ six interceptions were the most for a Redbird in one season since David Calhoun had six in 1989. It also was twice as many interceptions as the entire ISU team had all of 2008.

Kutch as in clutch: Senior place-kicker Zach Kutch capped an amazing second half of the season with field goals from 52, 30 and 51 yards on Saturday.

He was selected MVFC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season after becoming the first Redbird to hit two field goals from over 50 yards in a game.

Kutch booted a school-record 22 field goals in 29 attempts and was perfect on 25 extra point kicks.

“In the spring, I didn’t know why he was here. He was that bad. But he really went to work,” Spack said. “There is not a better kicker at our level. If he’s not first team All-American, I don’t know who is. He made it easy on me. We get inside the 40, we’re kicking a field goal.”

Saving Doyle: The Redbirds’ dramatic victory ended a nightmarish day for long snapper Joe Doyle on a high note. High snaps from the normally rock solid Doyle contributed to a blocked punt, a blocked field goal and a 4-yard Kevin Mazur punt.

“I felt really bad for him. He’s been tremendous all year,” said Spack. “He couldn’t seem to get the ball down. I’m glad we were able to bail him out.”

Getting votes: Knocking off No. 9-ranked Northern Iowa to close out a 6-5 season got the attention of several voters in the Sports Network final regular-season rankings announced Sunday.

The Redbirds received 29 points, which was sixth among those teams not listed in the national top 25. The rankings have Southern Illinois first, South Dakota State 11th, Northern Iowa 16th and Eastern Illinois 19th