The 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

as a member of the

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivi ...

(MVFC) during the

2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season The 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The FCS Champions ...

. Led by 11th-year head coach

Brock Spack Brock D. Spack (born January 5, 1962) is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Illinois State University, position he has held since December 2008. Previously, he was the defensive coordinator at Purdue University under J ...

, the Redbirds compiled an overall record of 10–5 with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, placing in a three-way tie for third in the MVFC. Illinois State received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs, where the Redbirds beat Southeast Missouri State in the first round and

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state o ...

in the second round before losing to the eventual national champion,

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

, in the quarterfinals. The team played home games at

Hancock Stadium Hancock Stadium is a 13,391-seat multi-purpose stadium in Normal, Illinois. It opened in 1963. It is home to the Illinois State University Redbirds football team as well as University High School. Central Catholic High School also played its ...

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Redbirds were predicted to finish in third place.

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Redbirds had four players selected to the preseason all-MVFC team. Offense James Robinson – RB Drew Himmelman – OL Defense Luther Kirk – DB Devin Taylor – DB

Schedule

Game summaries

at Northern Illinois

Morehead State

at Eastern Illinois

Northern Arizona

North Dakota State

at Southern Illinois

at Western Illinois

Indiana State

Northern Iowa

at South Dakota State

Missouri State

at Youngstown State

at Southeast Missouri State—NCAA Division I First Round

The Redbirds were selected for the

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

tournament, with a first-round pairing against Southeast Missouri State.

at Central Arkansas—NCAA Division I Second Round

at North Dakota State—NCAA Division I Quarterfinal

Ranking movements

References

{{2019 NCAA Division I FCS playoff navbox

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

Illinois State Redbirds football seasons

Illinois State Redbirds football