2018 Illinois State Redbirds football team

The 2018 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by tenth-year head coach Brock Spack and played their home games at Hancock Stadium. They are a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 6–5, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

2018 Illinois State Redbirds football
ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference
2018 record6–5 (3–5 MVFC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorKurt Beathard (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorTravis Niekamp (1st season)
Home stadiumHancock Stadium
(Capacity: 13,391)
2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 1 North Dakota State $^  8 0     15 0  
No. 3 South Dakota State ^  6 2     10 3  
No. 23 Northern Iowa ^  5 3     7 6  
Indiana State  5 3     7 4  
Western Illinois  4 4     5 6  
Illinois State  3 5     6 5  
Youngstown State  3 5     4 7  
South Dakota  3 5     4 7  
Missouri State  2 6     4 7  
Southern Illinois  1 7     2 9  
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Redbirds finished the 2017 season 6–5, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place.

Preseason

Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Redbirds predicted to finish in fifth place.[1]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1North Dakota State390 (39)
2South Dakota State270
3Northern Iowa258
4Youngstown State248
5Illinois State248
6South Dakota206
7Western Illinois163
8Southern Illinois139
9Missouri State90
10Indiana State41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Redbirds placed five players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.[2]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 16:30 p.m.Saint Xavier*No. 21NBCS CHIC+
ESPN+
W 46–09,157
September 86:30 p.m.Eastern Illinois*No. 19
NBCS CHIC+
ESPN+
W 48–108,914
September 222:00 p.m.at Colorado State*No. 16ATTSNW 35–1926,259
September 292:00 p.m.at Missouri StateNo. 9ESPN+L 21–2412,224
October 62:00 p.m.Western IllinoisNo. 15
  • Hancock Stadium
  • Normal, IL
NBCS CHIC
ESPN+
W 33–168,516
October 132:00 p.m.Southern IllinoisNo. 12
  • Hancock Stadium
  • Normal, IL
ESPN3W 51–311,247
October 202:30 p.m.at No. 1 North Dakota StateNo. 8ESPN+L 14–2818,553
October 2712:00 p.m.No. 7 South Dakota StateNo. 11
  • Hancock Stadium
  • Normal, IL
ESPN3L 28–3812,144
November 31:00 p.m.at Northern IowaNo. 14ESPN+L 16–2610,838
November 1012:00 p.m.at Indiana StateNo. 23ESPN3L 23–284,016
November 1712:00 p.m.Youngstown State
  • Hancock Stadium
  • Normal, IL
NBCS CHIC
ESPN+
W 35–286,072
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Game summaries

Saint Xavier

1 2 3 4 Total
Cougars 0 0 0 0 0
No. 21 Redbirds 14 10 14 8 46

Eastern Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 0 0 10 0 10
No. 19 Redbirds 7 21 10 10 48

at Colorado State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 16 Redbirds 0 14 7 14 35
Rams 6 0 7 6 19

at Missouri State

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

Western Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 6 7 3 0 16
No. 15 Redbirds 2 10 0 21 33

Southern Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Salukis 0 0 3 0 3
No. 12 Redbirds 7 24 7 13 51

at North Dakota State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 8 Redbirds 0 0 7 7 14
No. 1 Bison 7 14 7 0 28

South Dakota State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 7 Jackrabbits 7 21 7 3 38
No. 11 Redbirds 7 0 0 21 28

at Northern Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 14 Redbirds 3 0 0 13 16
Panthers 3 16 7 0 26

at Indiana State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 23 Redbirds 10 0 7 6 23
Sycamores 0 21 0 7 28

Youngstown State

1 2 3 4 Total
Penguins 3 10 8 7 28
Redbirds 7 7 7 14 35

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 21 19 19 16 9 15 12 8 11 14 23 RV RV  
Coaches 20 19 18–T 15 10 14 12 9 9 13 22 RV RV

References

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