2014 Illinois State Redbirds football team
The 2014 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by sixth-year head coach Brock Spack and played their home games at Hancock Stadium. Illinois State was a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Thee Redbirds finished the season 13–2 overall and 7–1 in MVFC play to share the conference title with North Dakota State. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they defeated Northern Iowa, Eastern Washington, and New Hampshire to advance to the FCS National Championship. There they lost conference foe North Dakota State to finish as national runner-up.
| 2014 Illinois State Redbirds football | |
|---|---|
 | |
MVFC co-champion | |
FCS Championship Game, L 27–29 vs. North Dakota State | |
| Conference | Missouri Valley Football Conference |
| Ranking | |
| Sports Network | No. 2 |
| FCS Coaches | No. 2 |
| 2014 record | 13–2 (7–1 MVFC) |
| Head coach |
|
| Offensive coordinator | Kurt Beathard |
| Defensive coordinator | Spence Nowinsky |
| Home stadium | Hancock Stadium (Capacity: 13,391) |
| 2014 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 1 North Dakota State +^ | 7 | – | 1 | 15 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 2 Illinois State +^ | 7 | – | 1 | 13 | – | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 10 Northern Iowa ^ | 6 | – | 2 | 9 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 12 South Dakota St. ^ | 5 | – | 3 | 9 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 19 Indiana State ^ | 4 | – | 4 | 8 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No. 22 Youngstown State | 4 | – | 4 | 7 | – | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Southern Illinois | 3 | – | 5 | 6 | – | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Illinois | 3 | – | 5 | 5 | – | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Missouri State | 1 | – | 7 | 4 | – | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| South Dakota | 0 | – | 8 | 2 | – | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Schedule
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 6 | 6:30 pm | Mississippi Valley State* | CSNC | W 62–0 | 10,243 | ||
| September 13 | 12:00 pm | No. 25 Eastern Illinois* |
| CSNC | W 34–15 | 12,570 | |
| September 27 | 6:30 pm | Austin Peay* | No. 23 |
| RTV | W 55–6 | 8,443 |
| October 4 | 2:00 pm | No. 9 South Dakota State | No. 22 |
| RTV | W 45–10 | 10,919 |
| October 11 | 2:00 pm | at No. 20 Indiana State | No. 15 | CSNC | W 20–18 | 7,534 | |
| October 18 | 3:00 pm | at Western Illinois | No. 10 | WIUtv3 | W 37–34 | 4,641 | |
| October 25 | 6:00 pm | Missouri State | No. 9 |
| RTV | W 21–7 | 10,164 |
| November 1 | 4:00 pm | at No. 22 Northern Iowa | No. 7 | RTV | L 28–42 | 12,154 | |
| November 8 | 1:00 pm | No. 10 Youngstown State | No. 12 |
| RTV | W 35–21 | 8,271 |
| November 15 | 1:00 pm | at South Dakota | No. 8 | RTV | W 45–26 | 6,712 | |
| November 22 | 1:00 pm | Southern Illinois | No. 8 |
| CSNC | W 44–29 | 7,295 |
| December 6 | 1:00 pm | No. 10 Northern Iowa* | No. 7 |
| ESPN3 | W 41–21 | 5,575 |
| December 13 | 3:00 pm | at No. 4 Eastern Washington* | No. 7 |
| ESPN3 | W 59–46 | 6,239 |
| December 20 | 1:00 pm | at No. 1 New Hampshire* | No. 7 |
| ESPNU | W 21–18 | 9,497 |
| January 10 | 12:00 pm | vs. No. 2 North Dakota State | No. 7 |
| ESPN2 | L 27–29 | 20,918 |
| |||||||
- Source: Schedule
Home attendance average
The Illinois State Redbird football program averaged 10,497 fans for the 2014 home football games.
Ranking movements
| Week | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Final | ||||||
| Sports Network | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 22 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
| Coaches | RV | RV | RV | 24 | 22 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 2 | ||||||
Redbirds drafted
| Draft Year | Player | Position | Round | Overall | NFL Team |
| 2015 | James O'Shaughnessy | TE | 5 | 173 | Kansas City Chiefs |