CHICAGO, Ill. – The Illinois State football team is once again ranked nationally heading into a new season, as the Redbirds were ranked No. 10 Monday in the STATS FCS Preseason Top 25.
The power conferences ruled the preseason Top 25 with the Colonial Athletic Association collecting six selections, and the Big Sky Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference gaining five apiece. To no surprise, North Dakota State will enter the 2016 season as the FCS favorite. Having won an NCAA-record five straight national titles, the Bison earned 152 of the 158 first-place votes from a national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries.
The Bison are followed in the Top 5 by Sam Houston State, which earned two first-place votes, Jacksonville State, which earned the other four, Richmond and MVFC member Northern Iowa. Chattanooga, Charleston Southern, South Dakota State and William & Mary ranked above the Redbirds to round out the Top 10. Western Illinois was the fourth MVFC team in the poll, coming in at No. 20 overall, and Youngstown State was the first team just outside of the Top 25. Â
Following a heartbreaking loss to the Bison in the 2014 FCS National Championship game in Frisco, Texas, the Redbirds rebounded with 10 wins in 2015 and advanced to the FCS quarterfinals for the third time in the past four seasons. ISU, which finished No. 5 in the final STATS FCS Top 25 poll last year, are led by head coach Brock Spack, who begins his eighth season at the helm of the program (56-29). The Redbirds are working toward making the playoffs in three-straight seasons for the first time in program history.
The 2016 squad returns 15 starters (nine offense, six defense) from last year's team and features five players who were selected to the MVFC preseason team. Â Included in the group are 2015 All-MVFC First-Team selections Anthony Warrum and Mark Spelman, and they were joined by Kyle Avaloy, Brady Tibbits and Alec Kocour. Spelman, Avaloy and Warrum were also selected as preseason All-Americans by STATS.
The STATS FCS Top 25 is released every Monday afternoon during the regular season, except for Sunday morning, Nov. 20, prior to the selection of the 24-team FCS playoff field. A final Top 25 will follow the FCS championship game, which will be held Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas.
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