2015 Illinois State Redbirds football team

The 2015 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by seventh-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 10–3, 7–1 in MVFC play to win a share of the conference title with North Dakota State. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost to Richmond in the quarterfinals.

2015 Illinois State Redbirds football
MVFC co–champion
FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals, L 27–39 vs. Richmond
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 5
FCS Coaches	No. 5
2015 record	10–3 (7–1 MVFC)
Head coach	Brock Spack (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Kurt Beathard
Defensive coordinator	Spence Nowinsky
Home stadium	Hancock Stadium (Capacity: 13,391)

2015 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State +^		7	–	1					13	–	2
No. 5 Illinois State +^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 8 Northern Iowa ^		5	–	3					9	–	5
No. 15 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	4
Western Illinois ^		5	–	3					7	–	6
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Youngstown State		3	–	5					5	–	6
South Dakota		3	–	5					5	–	6
Southern Illinois		2	–	6					3	–	8
Missouri State		0	–	8					1	–	10
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	11:00 AM	at Iowa*	No. 2	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	BTN	L 14–31	59,450
September 12	6:30 PM	Morgan State*	No. 4	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	CSN+/ESPN3	W 67–14	13,391
September 19	6:00 PM	at Eastern Illinois*	No. 5	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL (Mid-America Classic)	WMBD	W 34–31 ^OT	8,104
October 3	12:00 PM	No. 7 Northern Iowa	No. 4	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	MVC TV/ESPN3	W 21–13	13,391
October 10	6:00 PM	at No. 9 Youngstown State	No. 4	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN3	W 31–29	17,715
October 17	2:00 PM	at Missouri State	No. 4	Plaster Sports Complex Springfield, MO	ESPN3	W 38–2	14,212
October 24	2:00 PM	No. 20 Western Illinois	No. 3	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	CSNC/ESPN3	W 48–28	13,391
October 31	12:00 PM	No. 21 Indiana State	No. 3	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	CSNC/ESPN3	W 27–24	7,498
November 7	2:00 PM	at No. 11 South Dakota State	No. 2	Coughlin–Alumni Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN3	L 20–25	9,081
November 14	2:00 PM	at Southern Illinois	No. 6	Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	MVC TV/ESPN3	W 42–21	6,388
November 21	12:00 PM	South Dakota	No. 6	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	CSNC/ESPN3	W 46–0	5,210
December 5	1:00 PM	Western Illinois*	No. 4	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	W 36–19	6,124
December 11	6:30 PM	No. 12 Richmond*	No. 4	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)	ESPN3	L 27–39	5,356
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule

2015 Home Attendance Average

The Illinois State Redbird Football program averaged 9,194 fans for the 2015 home football games.

Game summaries

@ Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Redbirds	0	0	0	14	14
Hawkeyes	7	10	7	7	31

See also: 2015 Iowa Hawkeyes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Morgan State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	7	7	0	14
#4 Redbirds	22	14	21	10	67

See also: 2015 Morgan State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

@ Eastern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
#5 Redbirds	10	14	0	7	3	34
Panthers	14	7	0	10	0	31

See also: 2015 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team and Mid-America Classic

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
53–40–9	2014	ILST, 34–15

Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
#7 Panthers	0	7	3	3	13
#4 Redbirds	0	0	7	14	21

See also: 2015 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–20	2014 FCS Playoffs	ILST, 41–21

@ Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#4 Redbirds	7	7	3	14	31
#9 Penguins	6	3	3	17	29

See also: 2015 Youngstown State Penguins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–12	2014	ILST, 35–21

@ Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#4 Redbirds	14	17	7	0	38
Bears	0	0	0	2	2

See also: 2015 Missouri State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
18–16–1	2014	ILST, 21–7

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
#20 Leathernecks	7	14	7	0	28
#3 Redbirds	14	7	14	13	48

See also: 2015 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
43–50–3	2014	ILST, 37–34

Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#21 Sycamores	0	21	3	0	24
#3 Redbirds	2	7	7	11	27

See also: 2015 Indiana State Sycamores football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
35–29–2	2014	ILST, 20–18

@ South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#2 Redbirds	7	0	7	6	20
#11 Jackrabbits	0	13	6	6	25

See also: 2015 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–2	2014	ILST, 45–10

@ Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
#6 Redbirds	0	14	21	7	42
Salukis	0	21	0	0	21

See also: 2015 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
34–40–3	2014	ILST, 44–29

South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Coyotes	0	0	0	0	0
#6 Redbirds	3	20	13	10	46

See also: 2015 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	2014	ILST, 45–26

FCS Playoffs

Second Round–Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	3	3	6	7	19
#4 Redbirds	7	0	8	21	36

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
44–50–3	10/24/2015	ILST, 48–28

Quarterfinals–Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
#12 Spiders	10	9	6	14	39
#4 Redbirds	0	7	7	13	27

See also: 2015 Richmond Spiders football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

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	2 (3)	4 (20)	5 (6)	4 (2)	4 (2)	4 (1)	4 (1)	3 (6)	3 (3)	2 (18)	6	6	4	5
Coaches	2	5 (6)	6 (1)	5	4	4	4	4 (2)	3 (20)	2 (3)	6	6	4	5

References