2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

American college football season

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
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.

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.

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 (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

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.

	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	3	0	0	0	3
No. 1 Bison	16	7	7	7	37

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

"North Dakota State Picked to Win Missouri Valley Football Crown". www.valleynewslive.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
"MVFC Announces Preseason All-Conference Team". valley-football.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
"Illinois State Redbirds Schedule 2019". ESPN. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
"2019 Football Schedule". Illinois State University. Retrieved November 29, 2022.
"FCS bracket revealed for 2019 Division I football championship". ncaa.com. November 24, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2019.

v t e Illinois State Redbirds football
Venues	Hancock Stadium (1963–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Eastern Illinois: Mid-America Classic
Culture & lore	Reggie Redbird "Go, You Redbirds"
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1887 1888–1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898–1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910–1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

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