Clint Killough was convinced his UIW team would receive an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs last year. The Cardinals held a 9-2 record, with one loss at FBS UTEP in the season opener. The other was a home defeat to a Nicholls squad that went undefeated through the Southland Conference to claim its first outright conference title and the conference’s automatic bid.
The Cardinals appeared in the American Football Coaches Association Top 25 and the FCS Stats Perform Top 25 for 37 consecutive weeks, the fifth-longest streak in the country behind North Dakota State, two-time reigning national champion South Dakota State, Montana, and Montana State.