2016 Illinois State Redbirds football team

The 2016 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by eighth-year head coach Brock Spack and played their home games at Hancock Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 6–6, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for fourth place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost to Central Arkansas in the first round.

2016 Illinois State Redbirds football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 24–31 vs. Central Arkansas
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
2016 record	6–6 (4–4 MVFC)
Head coach	Brock Spack (8th season)
Offensive coordinator	Kurt Beathard
Defensive coordinator	Spence Nowinsky
Home stadium	Hancock Stadium (Capacity: 13,391)

2016 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 North Dakota State +^		7	–	1					12	–	2
No. 6 South Dakota State +^		7	–	1					9	–	4
No. 2 Youngstown State ^		6	–	2					12	–	4
Illinois State ^		4	–	4					6	–	6
Northern Iowa		4	–	4					5	–	6
Western Illinois		3	–	5					6	–	5
South Dakota		3	–	5					4	–	7
Indiana State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Missouri State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Southern Illinois		2	–	6					4	–	7
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	6:00 pm	Valparaiso*	No. 10	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	W 50–13	10,026
September 10	2:30 pm	at Northwestern*	No. 10	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	BTN	W 9–7	30,748
September 17	2:00 pm	Eastern Illinois*	No. 5	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL (Mid-America Classic)	CSN CH	L 21–24	13,391
September 24	2:00 pm	Indiana State	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	L 31–34	6,561
October 1	1:00 pm	at No. 1 North Dakota State	No. 18	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN3	L 10–31	18,907
October 8	2:00 pm	No. 15 Youngstown State	No. 23	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	CSN CH	L 6–20	12,570
October 15	6:00 pm	Southern Illinois		Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	CSN CH	W 31–28	10,211
October 22	2:00 pm	at South Dakota		DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN3	L 24–27	7,416
October 29	2:00 pm	No. 7 South Dakota State		Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	CSN CH	W 38–21	7,595
November 5	1:00 pm	at No. 12 Western Illinois		Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 31–26	3,589
November 12	12:00 pm	Missouri State		Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	W 37–0	7,144
November 26	2:00 pm	at No. 14 Central Arkansas*		Estes Stadium Conway, AR (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	L 24–31	3,165
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

Valparaiso

	1	2	3	4	Total
Crusaders	3	7	0	3	13
#10 Redbirds	7	27	9	7	50

@ Northwestern

	1	2	3	4	Total
#10 Redbirds	0	6	0	3	9
Wildcats	0	0	0	7	7

The Redbirds beat the Wildcats 9–7. The win came on an Illinois State field goal as time expired. This was ISU's first-ever victory over a Big Ten team.[1][2]

Eastern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	3	7	7	7	24
#5 Redbirds	0	0	7	14	21

@ Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#9 Redbirds	0	7	7	17	31
Sycamores	7	10	7	10	34

@ North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#18 Redbirds	3	7	0	0	10
#1 Bison	7	21	3	0	31

Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#15 Penguins	0	3	0	17	20
#23 Redbirds	0	0	6	0	6

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	10	0	11	7	28
Redbirds	7	7	14	3	31

@ South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redbirds	7	10	0	7	24
Coyotes	17	7	3	0	27

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#7 Jackrabbits	0	14	7	0	21
Redbirds	14	14	0	10	38

@ Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redbirds	14	7	7	3	31
#12 Leathernecks	0	16	3	7	26

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	0	0
Redbirds	3	14	17	3	37

FCS Playoffs

First Round–Central Arkansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redbirds	10	7	0	7	24
#14 Bears	0	7	0	24	31

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	10	10	5	9	18	23	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	8	9	5	12	20	23	RV	RV	NR	RV	RV	25	RV

References

1. Reinhardt, Randy (September 10, 2016). "ISU Upsets Northwestern with Game-Winning Field Goal". The Pantagraph. Bloomington. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
2. Helfgot, Mike (September 10, 2016). "Illinois State Topples Northwestern 9-7 on Field Goal as Time Expires". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 11, 2016.