After a great win at a top 20-ranked Youngstown State, it's back home for a game against Illinois State.
Kickoff is at 3 PM at Hanson Field on Saturday, October 18th.
Weather is currently projected to be a high of 61 and sunny on Saturday, which should be perfect for an October football game.
Illinois State is probably the closest thing to a rival we have in football, being only ~3 hours away from each other, and with them being the team we've played the most in our history.
We have an overall record of 50-42-3 against ISU going back to 1904. We have played them every year going back to 1923 other than in 1973, when (I think) a weird situation with conference realignment caused us to miss playing them that year (we both went Div. II Independent that year).
This year, Illinois state is undefeated so far at 5-0 (2-0 in the conference) with wins over Mississippi Valley State, Eastern Illinois, Austin Peay, South Dakota State, and Indiana State. They are currently ranked #10 in the Sports Network Poll, #9 in the FCS Coaches' Poll, and #7 in the AGS Poll.
So far this season, ISU has been a pretty high-scoring team, currently averaging 43.2 points per game, but had a difficult time with Indiana State, winning on a last second field goal 20-18. They also currently have the 2nd best defense in the FCS, allowing only 9.8 points per game. That being said, they've only played 5 games (vs 7 for us), against all FCS-level teams, including two against pretty low-ranked teams (MS Valley State, Austin Peay) and currently only have the 42nd best strength of schedule (based on Massey Ratings), as opposed to Western's 2nd toughest SOS (behind only Missouri State).
ISU has one of the FCS's best RB's, Marshaun Coprich, who is currently #4 for rushing yards per game (146 ypg) in the FCS list. They also have a QB who is currently #5 on the FCS list for passing efficiency although he doesn't put up huge passing numbers (184.6 passing ypg....vs Norvell's 222.1 ypg).
On paper, Illinois State is favored by ~7 points, but I think that last weekend's win will "get them over the hump" and they'll turn out a performance like they did against NDSU. Although ISU is a very good team, I don't think they're quite as good as NDSU (we unfortunately won't know that for sure during the regular season, since they don't play each other this year, unless it works out in the playoffs), so I think Western will be able to slow down their offense and come away with a 3 point victory.
My prediction: 24-21....Leathernecks
Western vs Illinois State - 10/18/2014
Scott Lawson - Board AdminWestern Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
I am also going to rank Eastern Illinois as a lowly team as they are only 1-5 this season and came in ranked way better than they truly were. I feel like they have won 5 games and only 2 of them deserve much recognition. That being said 1 was against SDSU which is a very good team and the other was against INSTU which I have no idea what to say about them as they have proven to somehow turned things around and are playing good football. In fact as ST said ISU almost lost this game and one wrong move it would of been over. I know ISU would be pissed when they read this, but they are ranked pretty high for who they have played. That being said you do not get to 5-0 and have blow out wins without being a good team. Very winnable game and once again we need Norvell to show why he will break all the records at WIU and take control of the game as a leader. I am looking for a Norvell career day with 325 passing yards 3 passing TD's and JC Baker will have 120 rushing and 1 rushing TD. Final score is 28-24 WIU Wins!
On a different note can we go ahead and chalk Nathan Knuffman up as the most improved player of the year??? This kid is playing amazing! If he reads this keep up the good work!
On a different note can we go ahead and chalk Nathan Knuffman up as the most improved player of the year??? This kid is playing amazing! If he reads this keep up the good work!
Definitely....much, much, MUCH improved over last year. I don't know if it was the recruiting of a couple of new guys that lit a fire under his butt or just Knuffman putting in the extra work in the offseason, but he's improved tremendously. He's only a Sophomore too, so we'll get him back for two more years.WIU0812 wrote:On a different note can we go ahead and chalk Nathan Knuffman up as the most improved player of the year??? This kid is playing amazing! If he reads this keep up the good work!
Scott Lawson - Board AdminWestern Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
Here's the football section of their forum if anyone wants to go check it out: http://www.redbirdfan.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=8rocki wrote:We are getting some respect over on the ISU message boards. We are being noticed for how tough we have hung with top notch teams.
Scott Lawson - Board AdminWestern Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
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letsgonecks
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Redbirds are good team on both sides of the ball, but beatable. We'll have to play D like the first 3 quarters against NDSU and offense like last week. Hell if we can do that we'll win out...we can dream can't we?
Will say ISU should have lost last week. ISUB was missing their qb Perish who is their leader and best player. Guy is/was having an MVP type season. Don't know what kept him out and if he's back. ISUB also chose right to squib with 1:11 left and the lead, but kicked it right at a front line guy, who made a great play and gobbled it up. They could have driven and kicked a FG on a good kick too, but that set them up nicely. Glad it worked out as it got them ranked higher and gives us more cred if we get the win.
WIU 31 - ISU 21
Key will be to score early. Think they've outscored opponents in the first quarter 70something to 3. Rest of the quarters are also lopsided, but the first is key.
Will say ISU should have lost last week. ISUB was missing their qb Perish who is their leader and best player. Guy is/was having an MVP type season. Don't know what kept him out and if he's back. ISUB also chose right to squib with 1:11 left and the lead, but kicked it right at a front line guy, who made a great play and gobbled it up. They could have driven and kicked a FG on a good kick too, but that set them up nicely. Glad it worked out as it got them ranked higher and gives us more cred if we get the win.
WIU 31 - ISU 21
Key will be to score early. Think they've outscored opponents in the first quarter 70something to 3. Rest of the quarters are also lopsided, but the first is key.
Weather-wise, it looks like it's shaping up to be a pretty good Saturday. Sunny & low 60's. I believe tailgating officially starts at 10am, but I'm pretty sure the Athletics Staff won't mind if you show up early. If you're in/around the WIU campus, spread the word.. would like to see a really active WIU student section, Greek's & other student organizations. Largely because, for at least the first half, Macomb HS has a home football game at 2pm (JV at Noon).
Unfortunately, Macomb & other teams in the West Central Conference have had to find teams 2, 3 & 4 hours away, such as this weekend opponent. Breese is about a 4-hour haul from Macomb, and they pass about 90% of the time.
I'm hoping I (and several other MHS game attendees) can get to Hanson Field by the start of/early 3rd quarter... similar to the WIU/NDSU game a couple weeks ago, when it seemed like people just kept trickling into the game. I also recall some WIU/IllSt home games in the past where the attendance was pretty huge. Scott, maybe you could look this up, but I think there was one game back in the late 90's when we had maybe 14, or 16,000? I could be mistaken, I was still in college & had tailgated pretty extensively. I think both teams were ranked & Mark Zanders was the QB that year, and I recall an Illinois St. O-lineman breaking his leg, it was pretty gruesome.
Unfortunately, Macomb & other teams in the West Central Conference have had to find teams 2, 3 & 4 hours away, such as this weekend opponent. Breese is about a 4-hour haul from Macomb, and they pass about 90% of the time.
I'm hoping I (and several other MHS game attendees) can get to Hanson Field by the start of/early 3rd quarter... similar to the WIU/NDSU game a couple weeks ago, when it seemed like people just kept trickling into the game. I also recall some WIU/IllSt home games in the past where the attendance was pretty huge. Scott, maybe you could look this up, but I think there was one game back in the late 90's when we had maybe 14, or 16,000? I could be mistaken, I was still in college & had tailgated pretty extensively. I think both teams were ranked & Mark Zanders was the QB that year, and I recall an Illinois St. O-lineman breaking his leg, it was pretty gruesome.
Let's see.....Zanders was the starting QB in '98 and '99, and the one of those two years where we played Illinois State in Macomb was '98. We defeated ISU 37-10 on 10/24/98. There used to be a list of the top 10 crowds at Hanson Field, which, if it was ~16k, would probably be on that list, but I can't seem to find that list now.KippJones wrote:I also recall some WIU/IllSt home games in the past where the attendance was pretty huge. Scott, maybe you could look this up, but I think there was one game back in the late 90's when we had maybe 14, or 16,000? I could be mistaken, I was still in college & had tailgated pretty extensively. I think both teams were ranked & Mark Zanders was the QB that year, and I recall an Illinois St. O-lineman breaking his leg, it was pretty gruesome.
1998 was the year that we made it the furthest through the playoffs as well. We were the Gateway Conference Champions, went into the playoffs as the 4th seed, demolished Montana (52-9), narrowly defeated Florida A&M (24-21), then went down to Georgia Southern and got steamrolled.
In the regular season, we only lost 2 games that year: against I-A Central Michigan, and the last game of the season against UNI, 10-6.
At the point when that game against Illinois State was played, we were 6-1, on a 5 game winning streak and Illinois State was 5-1, with their only loss to Kansas. Western and ISU were the Gateway's two playoff representatives that year, so likely there was a lot of excitement at both campuses about the way the season was progressing.
In '98, Western had a very good QB in Zanders, one of the best RB's we've ever had (Aaron Stecker), probably the second best punter we've had (Jeff Baker), Rich Seubert on the front line (who went on to play for and win a Super Bowl with the NY Giants), as well as a defense that was the best in the country that year for scoring against...only allowing 9.4 points per game...with players like David Bowens (11 years in NFL), James Milton ('98 Buck Buchanan Award Winner), Eddie Hartwell ('00 Buck Buchanan Award Winner, 7 years in NFL), and Donnie Caldwell (played in NFL Europe and XFL).
It was an exciting time to be a Leatherneck fan.
Scott Lawson - Board AdminWestern Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
It was 1998 Scott... okay, so the attendance wasn't 16,000 that year, but it was still pretty big. It was a nice, sunny day and I was sitting w/some WIU & ISU friends in the North Endzone when there were bleachers there. Our (WIU) sideline was on the East (WIU facing sun), but I recall a swarm of purple on the West Side, and the peach blossoms leading the charge along with some WIU students, really giving ISU "the business."