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 coachBrock Spack (10th season)
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. 21
NBCS 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. 16
ATTSNW 35–1926,259
September 292:00 p.m.at Missouri StateNo. 9
ESPN+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. 8
ESPN+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. 14
ESPN+L 16–2610,838
November 1012:00 p.m.at Indiana StateNo. 23
ESPN3L 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
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–0 2004 ILST, 44–14

Eastern Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
Panthers 0 0 10 0 10
No. 19 Redbirds 7 21 10 10 48
See also: 2018 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team and Mid-America Classic
Overall record Last meeting Result
55–42–9 2017 ILST, 44–13

at Colorado State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 16 Redbirds 0 14 7 14 35
Rams 6 0 7 6 19
See also: 2018 Colorado State Rams football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

at Missouri State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 9 Redbirds 0 0 14 7 21
Bears 3 7 7 7 24
See also: 2018 Missouri State Bears football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
21–15–1 2017 ILST, 34–9

Western Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 6 7 3 0 16
No. 15 Redbirds 2 10 0 21 33
See also: 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
46–51–3 2017 WIU, 31–14

Southern Illinois
1 2 3 4 Total
Salukis 0 0 3 0 3
No. 12 Redbirds 7 24 7 13 51
See also: 2018 Southern Illinois Salukis football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
36–41–3 2017 SIU, 42–7

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
See also: 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
2–8 2017 NDSU, 20–7

South Dakota State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 7 Jackrabbits 7 21 7 3 38
No. 11 Redbirds 7 0 0 21 28
See also: 2018 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–4 2017 SDSU, 27–24

at Northern Iowa
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 14 Redbirds 3 0 0 13 16
Panthers 3 16 7 0 26
See also: 2018 Northern Iowa Panthers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
2–8 2017 ILST, 21–13

at Indiana State
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 23 Redbirds 10 0 7 6 23
Sycamores 0 21 0 7 28
See also: 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
36–30–2 2017 ILST, 24–13

Youngstown State
1 2 3 4 Total
Penguins 3 10 8 7 28
Redbirds 7 7 7 14 35
See also: 2018 Youngstown State Penguins football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
14–13 2017 ILST, 35–0

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
gollark: But mostly rares.
gollark: Then at 5000 dragons allow access to an ultracave containing only uncommons and up.
gollark: Constantly empty the cave and force everyone to buy bred ones? Seems fair.
gollark: Empty the cave and make the ratios bend to your will? Why Not™.
gollark: Pick up the entirety of the AP? Why not.

References
  1. http://www.valley-football.org/news/2018/7/19/football-north-dakota-state-tabbed-as-favorite-to-win-2018-mvfc-title.aspx
  2. http://valley-football.org/documents/2018/7/31//2018_MVFC_Preseason_Team_and_Poll.pdf?id=41
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