CHICAGO – The Illinois State football team was selected as the No. 15 team in the country Monday when the STATS FCS Preseason Top 25 poll was released. Ten conferences placed teams in the preseason rankings, led by the Missouri Valley, Big Sky and CAA conferences with five each.
The two-time defending national champion North Dakota State Bison, who finished 15-0 last season and have a Division I-leading 21-game winning streak, gained 142 of the 160 first-place votes and 3,971 of a possible 4,000 points in the national media poll. James Madison edged South Dakota State for the No. 2 spot, while national runner-up Eastern Washington and UC Davis rounded out the top five.
Illinois State came in at No. 15 just ahead of Indiana State at No. 16, and Northern Iowa rounded out the MVFC representatives in preseason poll at No. 18. The Top 25 will be released every Monday during the regular season, except for Sunday, Nov. 24, 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. 11 in Frisco, Texas.
The Redbirds return 39 letterwinners and 16 starters from last year's squad, including seven players named to All-MVFC teams last season in All-American James Robinson and Luther Kirk (1st Team), Drew Himmelman and Devin Taylor (2nd Team) and special teams standouts JT Bohlken, Christian Uphoff and Paul Monaco (Honorable Mention). ISU was picked No. 3 in the MVFC preseason poll last week.
As a team, the Redbirds also came in at No. 9 in the HERO Sports 2019 Preseason FCS Top 25 poll announced last month. The initial FCS Coaches Poll will be released next week.
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