The 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

as a member of the

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate A ...

(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 Champion ...

. Led by 11th-year head coach Brock Spack, 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 The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was ca ...

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 ...

in the second round before losing to the eventual national champion, North Dakota State, in the quarterfinals. The team played home games at Hancock Stadium in

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

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 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

{{Illinois State Redbirds football navbox Illinois State Illinois State Redbirds football seasons Illinois State Illinois State Redbirds football