2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

The 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by eleventh-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 10–5, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Southeast Missouri State and Central Arkansas to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to North Dakota State.

2019 Illinois State Redbirds football
FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals, L 3–9 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 7
FCS Coaches	No. 7
2019 record	10–5 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	Brock Spack (11th season)
Home stadium	Hancock Stadium (Capacity: 13,391)

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					16	–	0
No. 5 Northern Iowa ^		6	–	2					10	–	5
No. 7 Illinois State ^		5	–	3					10	–	5
No. 10 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Southern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	5
South Dakota		4	–	4					5	–	7
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Youngstown State		2	–	6					6	–	6
Missouri State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Western Illinois		1	–	7					1	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Redbirds finished the 2018 season 6–5, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Redbirds were predicted to finish in third place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	392 (32)
2	South Dakota State	348 (4)
3	Illinois State	289 (3)
4	Indiana State	279 (1)
5	Northern Iowa	266
6	South Dakota	176
7	Youngstown State	153
8	Western Illinois	128
9	Southern Illinois	89
10	Missouri State	80

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Redbirds had four players selected to the preseason all-MVFC team.[2]

Offense James Robinson – RB Drew Himmelman – OL

Defense Luther Kirk – DB Devin Taylor – DB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:00 p.m.	at Northern Illinois*	No. 15	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	ESPN+	L 10–24	14,568
September 7	6:30 p.m.	Morehead State*	No. 16	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBCS CHIC+/ESPN+	W 42–14	11,256
September 14	2:00 p.m.	at Eastern Illinois*	No. 13	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL (Mid-America Classic)	ESPN+	W 21–3	6,119
September 21	6:30 p.m.	Northern Arizona*	No. 15	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN+	W 40–27	9,891
October 5	12:00 p.m.	No. 1 North Dakota State	No. 10	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBCS CHIC/ESPN+	L 3–37	13,391
October 12	6:00 p.m.	at Southern Illinois	No. 14	Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	ESPN3	W 21–7	5,525
October 19	1:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois	No. 11	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN+	W 28–14	2,984
October 26	2:00 p.m.	Indiana State	No. 8	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	W 24–7	8,510
November 2	12:00 p.m.	No. 9 Northern Iowa	No. 7	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBCS CHIC	L 10–27	6,705
November 9	2:00 p.m.	at No. 4 South Dakota State	No. 11	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN+	W 27–18	7,211
November 16	12:00 p.m.	Missouri State	No. 7	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBCS CHIC/ESPN+	W 17–12	5,701
November 23	11:00 a.m.	at Youngstown State	No. 7	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	L 3–21	9,190
November 30	1:00 p.m.	at No. 12 Southeast Missouri State*	No. 13	Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 24–6	3,274
December 7	2:00 p.m.	at No. 9 Central Arkansas*	No. 13	Estes Stadium Conway, AR (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	W 24–14	5,127
December 14	11:00 a.m.	at No. 1 North Dakota State*	No. 13	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)	ESPN	L 3–9	14,132
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source:[3][4]

Game summaries

at Northern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Redbirds	0	3	0	7	10
Huskies	3	0	7	14	24

Morehead State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	0	0	7	7	14
No. 16 Redbirds	21	14	0	7	42

at Eastern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Redbirds	7	7	7	0	21
Panthers	0	3	0	0	3

Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
Lumberjacks	14	7	0	6	27
No. 15 Redbirds	10	13	14	3	40

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	16	7	7	7	37
No. 10 Redbirds	3	0	0	0	3

at Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Redbirds	7	7	7	0	21
Salukis	0	0	7	0	7

at Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Redbirds	7	7	0	14	28
Leathernecks	0	0	7	7	14

Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	0	7	0	0	7
No. 8 Redbirds	0	7	3	14	24

Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Panthers	7	7	0	13	27
No. 7 Redbirds	0	7	3	0	10

at South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Redbirds	7	3	3	14	27
No. 4 Jackrabbits	3	8	7	0	18

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	6	3	0	3	12
No. 7 Redbirds	7	7	0	3	17

at Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Redbirds	0	3	0	0	3
Penguins	7	7	0	7	21

FCS Playoffs

The Redbirds were selected for the postseason tournament, with a first-round pairing against Southeast Missouri State.[5]

at Southeast Missouri State–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Redbirds	14	7	0	3	24
No. 12 Redhawks	3	0	0	3	6

at Central Arkansas–Second Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Redbirds	0	21	0	3	24
No. 9 Bears	0	7	0	7	14

at North Dakota State–Quarterfinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Redbirds					0
No. 1 Bison					0

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	13	Final
STATS FCS	15	16	13	15	14	10	14	11	8	7	11	7	7	13	7
Coaches	13	16	13	10	8	6	13	10	7	7	12	8	6	14	7

References

1. "North Dakota State Picked to Win Missouri Valley Football Crown". www.valleynewslive.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
2. "MVFC Announces Preseason All-Conference Team". valley-football.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
3. "2019 Illinois State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
4. "2019 Football Schedule". Illinois State University Athletics. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
5. "FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.