PHILADELPHIA - The Illinois State football team was ranked No. 20 in The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top 25 final poll, which was released Monday by the organization following the FCS National Championship Game over the weekend in Frisco, Texas.
After finishing the regular season with a 7-4 record and in third place in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, the Redbirds were ranked No. 18 in the final regular-season poll, but dropped two spots in the final poll of the year. ISU has now been ranked in The Sports Network/Fathead.com poll for six-consecutive weeks and head into the 2012 season with something to prove.
MVFC member and 2011 national champion North Dakota State was a unanimous selection as the final No. 1 in The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top 25 after a 17-6 victory over Sam Houston in the NCAA Division I Championship Game Saturday. The Bison (14-1) earned all 125 first-place votes and 3,125 points from the poll's national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries.
Northern Iowa (10-3), the MVFC co-champion with North Dakota State and the league's only other playoff participant, was ranked No. 6 in the final poll. The Panthers finished their season with a 48-10 loss at No. 3 Montana in the FCS quarterfinals. Sam Houston State (14-1), which was top-ranked at the end of the regular season, finished second and the other two teams that reached the national semifinals, Big Sky Conference co-champion Montana (11-3) and Southern Conference champion Georgia Southern (11-3), finished No. 3 and 4, respectively. Liberty (11-2), the Patriot League champion, rounded out the top 5.
Illinois State will open the 2012 season at home on Thursday, August 30, against FCS foe Dayton from the Pioneer League.
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