2020 Illinois State Redbirds football team
The 2020 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by twelfth-year head coach Brock Spack and played their home games at Hancock Stadium as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. On March 21, 2021, Illinois State announced that it would opt-out of the remainder of the 2021 spring season due to safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous season. The Redbirds finished the 2019 season 8–4, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three -way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Southeast Missouri State and Central Arkansas to advance to the quarterfinals where they lost to North Dakota State. Schedule. Illinois State released their full schedule on July 15, 2019. The Redbirds football team had non-conference games scheduled at Illinois on September 4, versus Eastern Illinois on September 12, and versus Dixie State on November 21. All were canceled prior to the scheduled start of the 2020 season. On January 21, 2021, the Missouri Valley Football Conference office released an altered spring  season schedule based on the participation of ten league schools. Scheduled games against South Dakota State (March 27), Southern Illinois (April 3), North Dakota (April 10), and Missouri State (April 17) were canceled when the Redbirds opted out of the remainder of the spring season.