2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

2019 Illinois State Redbirds football
NCAA Division I Quarterfinal, L 3–9 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 7
FCS Coaches	No. 7
Record	10–5 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	Brock Spack (11th season)
Offensive coordinator	Kurt Beathard (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Travis Niekamp (2nd season)
MVP	Ty DeForest, James Robinson
Captain	Brady Davis, Luther Kirk, JT Bohlken
Home stadium	Hancock Stadium
Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

v t e	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

The 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by 11th-year head coach Brock Spack, the Redbirds compiled an overall record of 10–5 with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, placing in a three-way tie for third in the MVFC. Illinois State received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs, where the Redbirds beat Southeast Missouri State in the first round and Central Arkansas in the second round before losing to the eventual national champion, North Dakota State, in the quarterfinals. The team played home games at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Illinois.

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]

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 (NCAA Division I 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 (NCAA Division I 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 (NCAA Division I Quarterfinal)	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

^[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

At Southeast Missouri State—NCAA Division I First Round

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

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

At Central Arkansas—NCAA Division I 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—NCAA Division I Quarterfinal

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

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	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