Dynamic quarterback Tre Roberson was one of the many stars on Illinois State’s 2014 team, which lost to North Dakota State in the national title game. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Barry Bottino
After more than three decades in coaching, Brock Spack has stories.
Stories about players, fellow coaches, recruiting battles and much more.
Over the past decade, some of his favorite stories have been about the 2014 Illinois State team, which lost to North Dakota State in the final seconds of the national championship game on Jan. 10, 2025.
Do current ISU players – who will play Montana State for the FCS national title Jan. 5 in Nashville — hear about the last Redbird national finalist often?
“Yeah, we do,” junior defensive lineman Jake Anderson said with a laugh.
ISU head coach Brock Spack has kept telling the stories this season for one reason.
“They’ve wanted to hear about it,” he said. “This team is a little different. I’ve had some teams after (2014) that really got mad at me. ‘You’re bringing this up way too much. We’re getting sick of hearing it.’ I said, ‘OK.’ But then I knew I didn’t have a great team.
“This team wanted to be pushed. Maybe that’s why they’re having the success they’re having.”
There are plenty of 2014 stories to tell. From dynamic quarterback Tre Roberson to 2,200-yard rusher Marshaun Coprich and 1,000-yard receivers Cameron Meredith and Lechein Neblett, the offense had plenty of star power.
Defensively, linebacker Pat Meehan piled up 115 tackles, lineman Teddy Corwin was one of four players with at least 7.5 sacks and defensive back Mike Banks had 93 tackles and 17 pass breakups.
And then there were the cross-country playoff trips – back-to-back wins at Eastern Washington and New Hampshire – to get the Redbirds to the title game.
Hearing about that team has provided plenty of fuel for the current Redbirds.
“A lot of it is motivation,” Anderson said. “He tells us how their mindset was, how they practiced and what it takes to go that national championship game. We try to feed off of that.”
Current players also have taken Spack’s stories as a challenge.
“They’ve always been compared to us, in a non-disrespectful way,” senior linebacker Reese Edwards said. “Coach always talks about, ‘Oh the 2014 team, they did this well and you guys are slacking. They did all these things so great.’
“We want to be the group that Coach is talking about and saying, ‘That’s the standard,” Edwards said. “We want to one-up those guys.”
Doing so likely will require one more step — winning on Jan. 5.
“They’re the best team that’s ever been here,” Anderson said. “Well, I think we are the best team that’s ever been, so now we’ve got to prove it.”
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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