SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Coming off a crucial 24-14 road win Saturday over then No. 20 ranked South Dakota State, the Illinois State football team was ranked as the No. 25 team in the Football Championships Subdivision (FCS) in this week's Football FCS Coaches Poll announced Monday.
The national ranking is the first for Illinois State since being tabbed as the No. 16 team in FCS football on October 2 of 2007.
The Redbirds earned a total of 80 points in this week's vote and just edged out Central Arkansas for the final spot in the poll. The Redbirds fell just outside the top-25 in The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top-25 Poll, also announced Monday, behind Central Arkansas at No. 25 and Texas State.
ISU is one of four Missouri Valley Football Conference team ranked in this week's poll. Southern Illinois (No. 13) dropped eight spots, after dropping its game Saturday to Southeast Missouri State, and Northern Iowa (No. 15) also dropped five spots after being defeated by No. 7 Stephen F. Austin at the UNI Dome. North Dakota State rounds out the Valley representatives in this week's poll in a tie for 18th place with New Hampshire.
The FCS Coaches Poll is based exclusively on a voting panel of head coaches in the FCS, under the cooperation of the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), and is administered by the Southern Conference.
The nationally-ranked Redbirds will return to the field Saturday night against Missouri State. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Midwest and the Fox College Sports (Pacific) as part of the Missouri Valley Football Conference television package, with kickoff scheduled for 6:07 p.m. at Hancock Stadium.
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