2026 Week 9 - WIU at Charleston Southern

[ST_Lawson]

 AT 

Opponent: Charleston Southern Buccaneers
Game Time: Saturday, October 31 at 1 PM
Location: Buccaneer Field, Charleston, SC

Last Year: Last year, CSU web 5-7 overall with a 4-4 OVC record. They won our matchup with them, 29-24 on October 18, 2025 in Macomb.
This Year: The Buccaneers are 4-4 overall with a 1-2 conference record. They have wins over The Citadel (in OT), NAIA Point University, South Carolina State, and last weekend against Tennessee State. Losses to Lindenwood, FBS Georgia Southern, Gardner-Webb, and FBS Clemson.
History: The Leathernecks and Buccaneers have faced off twice, with us getting a 31-20 win at Charleston in 2024 and them getting a 29-24 win over us last year in Macomb.

Projections: 

• Massey Ratings currently says we have a 50% chance of winning this game with a predicted score of 28-27 for CSU. It's essentially exactly the same, as the actual "mean" projection says 27.37 points for them and 27.33 points for us...you don't get much closer than that. (as a reminder, we had a 44% chance against UT Martin and we saw how that turned out)
• Sagarin has essentially the same, with CSU favored by ~1 point.

Coincidentally, this will be the first of two back to back weekends where we play in a Charleston, as the next game after this is at EIU, in Charleston, IL.

[meganeck]

Hopefully its just the teams they have played on the road and not something more, but they are 0-3 on the road so far. So hopefully they can pick up their first road win Saturday. Charleston Southern is 2-1 at home so far this year losing to Gardner Webb.

[rocki]

Hopefully its just the teams they have played on the road and not something more, but they are 0-3 on the road so far. So hopefully they can pick up their first road win Saturday. Charleston Southern is 2-1 at home so far this year losing to Gardner Webb.

 

If we see the team we saw Saturday, I'd say our chances are excellent.