Illinois State Redbirds

On the heels of Illinois State football’s trip to the Football Championship Subdivision title game, the athletics department has announced a $2.5 million gift to the football program.

The Redbirds will bring an eight-game road winning streak against FCS opponents to Villanova Stadium in Philadelphia against a Wildcat team that’s won an FCS-record 23 consecutive home games.

Illinois State University basketball legend Doug Collins will now be forever linked to a part of campus that helped transform him into an All-American and — ultimately — a basketball Hall of Famer.

The Redbirds' improbable win over NDSU, two months after ISU lost to the Bison in Normal, lifted ISU into the FCS quarterfinals for a postseason rematch with UC-Davis at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The unseeded Redbirds [9-4] rolled to a 21-3 victory at No. 16 seed Southeastern Louisiana in the first round of the FCS [Football Championship Subdivision] playoffs Saturday at Strawberry Stadium in Hammond, Louisiana.

The Redbirds received at at-large bid to the 24-team field and will play at No. 16 seed Southeastern Louisiana at noon, Saturday, Nov. 29, in Hammond, Louisiana.

Illinois State men's basketball coach Ryan Pedon says his team embraces being a target this season. The Redbirds are picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference — something the program last achieved in 1998.

As the Illinois State men's basketball team prepares for one of its most anticipated seasons in years, head coach Ryan Pedon says he's frustrated that schools like ISU have a tough time getting schools from major conferences to play them.

Tuesday was the first day colleges and universities can make direct payments to student-athletes. This stems from a settlement in a landmark case involving student compensation. Illinois State University Athletics Director Jeri Beggs called it the most dramatic change ever seen in college sports.

Ryan Pedon led the Redbirds to their winningest season in eight years, and the team won the College Basketball Invitational title last season.