The Missouri Valley Conference office announced Friday the conference portion of the 2026 schedule.

The Redbirds will open their conference campaign on the road Sept. 26 in Northern Iowa to take on the Panthers.

Oct. 3 marks the conference home opener at Hancock Stadium, where South Dakota State will visit.

Following the meeting with the Jackrabbits, the Redbirds will hit the road to Carbondale on Oct. 17 to face Southern Illinois.

Illinois State will return home for back-to-back home games starting on Oct 24. against Indiana State and a Halloween game against Murray State.

After wrapping up the homestand, the Redbirds will get back-to-back games on the road, first on Nov. 7 at North Dakota and Nov. 14 at Youngstown State.

ISU will wrap up the regular season in Bloomington-Normal to face South Dakota.

The Redbirds went 3-3 at home in the 2025 season.

TYLER GALL is the assistant sports editor for The Vidette. Gall can be contacted at tmgall@ilstu.edu. Follow Gall on X at @tygall_.

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