2018 Illinois State Redbirds football team

2018 Illinois State Redbirds football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Record	6–5 (3–5 MVFC)
Head coach	Brock Spack (10th season)
Offensive coordinator	Kurt Beathard (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Travis Niekamp (1st season)
Home stadium	Hancock 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

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.

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.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	390 (39)
2	South Dakota State	270
3	Northern Iowa	258
4	Youngstown State	248
5	Illinois State	248
6	South Dakota	206
7	Western Illinois	163
8	Southern Illinois	139
9	Missouri State	90
10	Indiana State	41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

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

Offense

1st team

James Robinson – RB

Spencer Schnell – WR

Drew Himmelman – OL

2nd team

Tylor Petkovich – TE

Defense

2nd team

Mitchell Brees – DB

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:30 p.m.	Saint Xavier*	No. 21	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBCS CHIC+ ESPN+	W 46–0	9,157
September 8	6:30 p.m.	Eastern Illinois*	No. 19	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL (Mid-America Classic)	NBCS CHIC+ ESPN+	W 48–10	8,914
September 22	2:00 p.m.	at Colorado State*	No. 16	Canvas Stadium Fort Collins, CO	ATTSN	W 35–19	26,259
September 29	2:00 p.m.	at Missouri State	No. 9	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	L 21–24	12,224
October 6	2:00 p.m.	Western Illinois	No. 15	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBCS CHIC ESPN+	W 33–16	8,516
October 13	2:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois	No. 12	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	W 51–3	11,247
October 20	2:30 p.m.	at No. 1 North Dakota State	No. 8	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN+	L 14–28	18,553
October 27	12:00 p.m.	No. 7 South Dakota State	No. 11	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	L 28–38	12,144
November 3	1:00 p.m.	at Northern Iowa	No. 14	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN+	L 16–26	10,838
November 10	12:00 p.m.	at Indiana State	No. 23	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	L 23–28	4,016
November 17	12:00 p.m.	Youngstown State		Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	NBCS CHIC ESPN+	W 35–28	6,072
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

• Source: Schedule

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
RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below

	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