1988 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Last updated

1988 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
Gateway champion
Conference Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference
Record10–2 (6–0 Gateway)
Head coach
Home stadium Hanson Field
Seasons
 1987
1989 
1988 Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 3 Western Illinois $^ 6 0 010 2 0
Southwest Missouri State 4 2 05 5 0
Indiana State 4 2 05 6 0
Northern Iowa 3 3 05 6 0
Eastern Illinois 2 4 05 6 0
Southern Illinois 2 4 04 7 0
Illinois State 0 6 01 10 0
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant
Rankings from NCAA Division I-AA Football Committee poll

The 1988 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference during the 1988 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by sixth-year head coach Bruce Craddock and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 10–2 record overall and a 6–0 record in conference play, making them conference champions. The team received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they lost to Western Kentucky in the first round. [1]

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 3 Southern Illinois No. 12W 17–139,226 [2]
September 10 Grand Valley State *No. 12
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
W 55–011,123 [3]
September 17at Southwest Missouri State No. 12W 35–317,655 [4]
September 24at Indiana State No. 4W 24–218,034 [5]
October 1at Northern Iowa No. 4W 28–2712,321 [6]
October 8 Northwest Missouri State *No. 2
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
W 63–313,392 [7]
October 15 Eastern Illinois No. 2
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
W 45–89,680 [8]
October 22at Liberty *No. 2W 36–3511,400 [9]
October 29 Illinois State No. 3
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
W 13–1013,833 [10]
November 5at Northern Illinois *No. 2L 6–167,556 [11]
November 12at Delaware State *No. 4W 22–133,000 [12]
November 26No. 13 Western Kentucky *No. 3
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
L 32–356,000 [13]

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The Western Illinois Leathernecks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Western Illinois University located in Macomb, Illinois. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). The school's first football team was fielded in 1902. The team plays its home games at the 16,368 seat Hanson Field. The Leathernecks are playing one final MVFC campaign in the fall of 2023 before joining the football alliance between the Big South Conference and Western's primary home of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in 2024.

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The 1991 Marshall Thundering Herd football team represented Marshall University as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon) during the 1991 NCAA Division I-AA football season. Led by second-year head coach Jim Donnan, the Thundering Herd compiled an overall record of 11–4 with a mark of 5–2 in conference play, tying for second place in the SoCon. Marshall advanced to the NCAA Division I-AA Championship playoffs, where they beat Western Illinois in the first round, Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals, and Eastern Kentucky in the semifinals before losing to Youngstown State in the NCAA Division I-AA Championship Game.

The 2003 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2003 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with an 9–4 record overall and a 5–2 record in conference play. The team received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they defeated Montana in the first round and lost to Colgate in the second round. The team was ranked No. 6 in The Sports Network's postseason ranking of Division I-AA.

The 2002 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with an 11–2 record overall and a 6–1 record in conference play, making them conference co-champions. The team received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they defeated Eastern Illinois in the first round and lost to Western Kentucky in the quarterfinal. The team was ranked No. 5 in The Sports Network's postseason ranking of Division I-AA.

The 2000 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2000 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by second-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 9–3 record overall and a 5–1 record in conference play, making them conference champions. The team received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they lost to Lehigh in the first round. The team was ranked No. 12 in The Sports Network's postseason ranking of Division I-AA.

The 1998 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 1998 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by ninth-year head coach Randy Ball and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with an 11–3 record overall and a 5–1 record in conference play, making them conference champions. The team received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they defeated Montana and Florida A&M before losing to Georgia Southern in the semifinals. The team was ranked No. 4 in The Sports Network's postseason ranking of Division I-AA.

The 1997 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 1997 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by eighth-year head coach Randy Ball and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with an 11–2 record overall and a 6–0 record in conference play, making them conference champions. The team received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they defeated Jackson State before losing to McNeese State in the quarterfinals.

The 1996 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 1996 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Randy Ball and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 9–3 record overall and a 3–2 record in conference play. The team received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they lost to Murray State in the first round.

The 1991 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference during the 1991 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by second-year head coach Randy Ball and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 7–4–1 record overall and a 4–2 record in conference play. The team received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they lost to Marshall in the first round.

The 1981 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Association of Mid-Continent Universities during the 1981 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by third-year head coach Pete Rodriguez and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 5–6 record overall and a 2–1 record in conference play, making them conference co-champions with Eastern Illinois and Northern Iowa.

The 1973 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as an independent during the 1973 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Darrell Mudra and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 7–4 record. The team received a bid to the inaugural NCAA Division II Football Championship, where they lost to Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinal.

The 1953 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1953 college football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Vince DiFrancesca and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 8–2 record overall and a 5–1 record in conference play, placing second in the IIAC. They were invited to the postseason Corn Bowl, where they defeated Iowa Wesleyan 32–0.

The 2004 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference in the 2004 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by sixth-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 4–7 record overall and a 2–5 record in conference play.

The 2005 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2005 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by seventh-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 5–6 record overall and a 3–4 record in conference play.

The 2006 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2006 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by eighth-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 5–6 record overall and a 2–5 record in conference play, placing sixth in the Gateway.

The 2007 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2007 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by ninth-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 6–5 record overall and a 3–3 record in conference play, tying for third place in the Gateway.

The 2008 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) in the 2008 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by tenth-year head coach Don Patterson and acting head coach Mark Hendrickson, who coached the team in its first seven games while Patterson underwent cancer treatment. The team played their home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 6–5 record overall and a 4–4 record in conference play, tying for fourth place in the MVFC.

The 2001 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by third-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 5–5 record overall and a 4–3 record in conference play. Western Illinois played a ten-game schedule instead of the typical eleven-game schedule in Division I-AA, as they were unable to schedule an eleventh opponent before the season began.

The 1999 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 1999 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by first-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois. The Leathernecks finished the season with a 7–4 record overall and a 2–4 record in conference play.

References

  1. "Western Illinois Football Record Book" (PDF). Western Illinois University Athletics. p. 72. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  2. Monserud, Scott (September 4, 1988). "SIU falls one second short". The Southern Illinoisan . p. C17. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Western Ill. 55, Grand Valley 0". The Dispatch-Argus . UPI. September 11, 1988. p. E2. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Western Illinois rally stops Southwest Missouri". The Kansas City Star . September 18, 1988. p. 12 Sports. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Western Illinois tops Indiana State". Evansville Courier & Press . Associated Press. September 25, 1988. p. C3. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  6. Denney, Bob (October 2, 1988). "Dropped 2-point conversion hangs loss on UNI". The Gazette . p. 5B. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Leathernecks' Singer stings NW Missouri". Quad-City Times . Associated Press. October 9, 1988. p. 2C. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  8. Carlson, Chuck (October 16, 1988). "Turnovers devastate Eastern". Herald and Review . p. B5. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Western Illinois 36, Liberty 35". The Dispatch-Argus . October 23, 1988. p. E7. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Western Illinois Rallies For 9th Victory". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . October 30, 1988. p. 6D. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  11. Wesselhoff, Bill (November 6, 1988). "Huskies spoil Western Illinois' undefeated season". The Daily Chronicle . p. 15. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  12. Bryson, Gene (November 13, 1988). "Hornets stumble 22-13". The News Journal . p. C1. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.
  13. Branch, Bruce W. (November 27, 1988). "6th interception does it as Western survives Western Illinois comeback". The Courier-Journal . p. C5. Retrieved November 11, 2021 via Newspapers.com.