By Illinois State Sports News and Information
NORMAL – Coming off its third appearance in the FCS playoff quarterfinals in the past four seasons, the Illinois State football team was ranked No. 5 in the final 2015 STATS FCS Top 25 poll on Monday.
Five-time defending national champion and Missouri Valley Conference co-champion North Dakota State was the unanimous No. 1 selection. Jacksonville State (13-2), which had been No. 1 for much of the regular season, finished at No. 2 and received all but one second-place vote. Sam Houston State (11-4) and Richmond (10-4) were a step short of reaching the title game and finished No. 3 and 4, respectively ahead of the Redbirds at No. 5.
Illinois State (10-3, 7-1 MVFC), shared the Missouri Valley title for the second consecutive season with NDSU and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs for the second year in a row and the third time in the last four seasons overall. The rest of the Top 10 consisted of Big South champion Charleston Southern (10-3), McNeese State (10-1), Northern Iowa (9-5), Chattanooga (9-4) and Portland State (9-3).
The Bison led the way for the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which placed five teams in the Top 25. No. 8 Northern Iowa, No. 15 South Dakota State and No. 22 Western Illinois joined North Dakota State and Illinois State in the final poll of the year. No other conference had more than three teams in the final poll.
