Senior safety Keondre Jackson (3) and head coach Brock Spack are working to get Illinois State back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – With two games remaining in the regular season, a 7-3 record and a potential return to the FCS playoffs ahead, Illinois State senior safety Keondre Jackson can’t help but think ahead.
“It would be a big thing,” he told Prairie State Pigskin after ISU’s 31-9 win at Northern Iowa. “I’ve never been to the playoffs – high school or college. It would mean a lot, not just for us but for the community of Bloomington-Normal, the whole ISU community, the coaches.”
For the Redbirds to make the playoffs for the first time since 2019, though, Jackson said the team’s focus must be on practice and playing games rather than brackets and projections.
“We’ve just got to live in the present and take care of what we can control today,” he said.
A prime example was Saturday’s game against a now 2-8 Northern Iowa team, which ISU outscored 21-6 in the second half using a potent offensive attack and a stingy defense.
“They want to take away what we’ve got in the making,” Jackson said of UNI.
Senior linebacker Jalan Gaines also has never been to the playoffs in his entire football career.
“Seeing that we have a chance to do that is wonderful,” he said. “But we don’t want to think too big picture.”
Only two players remain on the ISU roster from that 2019 team, wide receiver Jalen Carr and cornerback Nigel White, who were both true freshmen.
The resume
How did Illinois State put itself in this position?
First, a 7-3 overall record and a 4-2 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference – considered the nation’s premier FCS league – has ignited the conversation.
So has a three-game winning streak and a 4-1 record on the road.
“The (playoff selection) committee doesn’t want teams that are 6-0 at home and 0-5 on the road,” said ISU head coach Brock Spack, whose team is 4-1 away from Hancock Stadium and will play its final road game at Indiana State this weekend. “More than likely you’re going to be on the road at some time or another.”
Another benefit for ISU is Missouri State (8-2, 6-0) being ineligible for the playoffs because of its upcoming move to FBS. The Bears are currently tied for first place in the league standings with North Dakota State.
The predictions
Since Illinois State is not able to host a first-round game because of the IHSA state championships at Hancock Stadium the weekend after Thanksgiving, a first-round road date is guaranteed should they make the playoff field.
However, an athletic department spokesperson said ISU is preparing a bid to host beyond Round 1.
When Illinois State won the prep championships bid in December 2022, Spack said the IHSA confirmed on its site visit that the Redbirds would be willing to travel for any potential first-round playoff games.
“It won’t be an issue,” Spack told Prairie State Pigskin at the time. “How can you give this (opportunity) up? There’s too much value.”
Esteemed national FCS writer Craig Haley projected the Redbirds this week as the No. 16 seed and playing a first-round road game at Drake, the likely champion of the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.
Haley’s bracket has the winner of Illinois State-Drake traveling for a second-round game to face No. 1 seed North Dakota State. The Bison defeated ISU, 42-10, in Normal on Sept. 28.
This week, HERO Sports projected Illinois State as an unseeded at-large selection in the field. The HERO bracket prediction pitted Illinois State playing a first-round road game against No. 10 seed Southeast Missouri of the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Football Association, with the winner traveling to face No. 7 seed Incarnate Word.
With a 9-16 seed or no seed, a first-round win would send the Redbirds on the road in the second round to face a top-eight seed. Seeds 1-8 get first-round byes in the playoffs, which now seeds 16 of the 24 teams in the field.
Ending the longest playoff drought of Spack’s 16-year tenure at ISU will depend on Saturday’s game at Indiana State (4-6, 3-3) and a Nov. 23 home game against North Dakota (5-5, 2-4).
“It’s really important, especially for my seniors,” sophomore defensive back Teon Parks said. “I don’t want to send my seniors out the wrong way. The time is here. We’ve just got to work.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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