2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
FCS Playoffs First Round, L 19–21 vs. Weber State
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 13
FCS Coaches	No. 12
Record	8–4 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	Charlie Fisher (2nd season);
Co-offensive coordinator	Doug Malone (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Jared Elliott (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Tony Grantham (1st season)
Home stadium	Hanson Field
	Seasons ← 2016 2018 →

Last updated February 21, 2024

2017 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^	7	–	1	14	–	1
No. 3 South Dakota State ^	6	–	2	11	–	3
No. 19 Northern Iowa ^	6	–	2	8	–	5
No. 13 Western Illinois ^	5	–	3	8	–	4
No. 15 South Dakota ^	4	–	4	8	–	5
Illinois State	4	–	4	6	–	5
Youngstown State	4	–	4	6	–	5
Southern Illinois	2	–	6	4	–	7
Missouri State	2	–	6	3	–	8
Indiana State	0	–	8	0	–	11

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Charlie Fisher and played their home games at Hanson Field. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). They finished the season 8–4, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in fourth place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost to Weber State in the first round.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:00 p.m.	at Tennessee Tech *	No. 25	Tucker Stadium Cookeville, TN	OVCDN	W 41–14	7,886
September 9	6:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona *	No. 22	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	Pluto TV	W 38–20	9,053
September 23	5:30 p.m.	at Coastal Carolina *	No. 19	Brooks Stadium Conway, SC	ESPN3	W 52–10	14,996
September 30	3:00 p.m.	No. 10 South Dakota	No. 13	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	L 33–38	5,631
October 7	4:00 p.m.	at Northern Iowa	No. 15	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	W 38–29	12,642
October 14	3:00 p.m.	Missouri State	No. 14	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 49–30	3,217
October 21	2:30 p.m.	at No. 2 North Dakota State	No. 10	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN3	L 12–24	18,630
October 28	1:00 p.m.	No. 11 South Dakota State	No. 12	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	L 24–52	2,247
November 4	12:00 p.m.	at No. 12 Illinois State	No. 15	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	W 31–14	13,192
November 11	12:00 p.m.	at Indiana State	No. 11	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 45–0	3,173
November 18	1:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois	No. 9	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 28–14	2,812
November 25	3:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Weber State *	No. 9	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (NCAA Division I First Round)	ESPN3	L 19–21	6,876
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Game summaries

At Tennessee Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 25 Leathernecks	3	7	24	7	41
Golden Eagles	0	0	0	14	14

At Northern Arizona

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Leathernecks	7	10	14	7	38
Lumberjacks	0	7	6	7	20

At Coastal Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Leathernecks	7	14	21	10	52
Chanticleers	10	0	0	0	10

South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Coyotes	7	17	14	0	38
No. 13 Leathernecks	0	6	14	13	33

At Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Leathernecks	3	2	13	20	38
Panthers	0	14	0	15	29

Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	14	7	3	6	30
No. 14 Leathernecks	7	6	15	21	49

At North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Leathernecks	9	3	0	0	12
No. 2 Bison	3	7	14	0	24

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Jackrabbits	10	14	21	7	52
No. 12 Leathernecks	10	7	0	7	24

At Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Leathernecks	0	0	17	14	31
No. 12 Redbirds	7	7	0	0	14

At Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Leathernecks	3	28	7	7	45
Sycamores	0	0	0	0	0

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	0	0	0	14	14
No. 9 Leathernecks	0	14	7	7	28

FCS Playoffs

At Weber State–First Round

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Leathernecks	3	3	6	7	19
No. 11 Wildcats	0	14	0	7	21

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:**██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	25	22	20	19	13	15	14	10	12	15	11	9	9	13
Coaches	RV	RV	22	21	16	18	17	12	14	18	13	10	10	12

Related Research Articles

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.

The 2011 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Leathernecks were led by head coach Mark Hendrickson in his 2nd full season and 4th overall year since coaching the first seven games of the 2008 season. They played their home games at Hanson Field and are a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 2–9, 1–7 in MVFC play to finish in last place.

The 2012 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by head coach Mark Hendrickson in his fourth full season and fifth overall year since coaching the first seven games of the 2008 season. They played their home games at Hanson Field. Western Illinois finished the season 3–8 overall and 1–7 in MVFC play to place ninth.

The 2013 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) in the 2013 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first year head coach Bob Nielson and played their home games at Hanson Field. Western Illinois finished the season 4–8 overall and 2–6 in MVFC play to place ninth.

The 2014 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second year head coach Bob Nielson and played their home games at Hanson Field. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 5–7, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for seventh place.

The 2015 Northern Iowa Panthers football team represented the University of Northern Iowa in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The team is coached by Mark Farley in his 15th season and played their home games in the UNI-Dome. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 9–5, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three–way tie for second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they defeated Eastern Illinois in the first round and Portland State in the second round before losing in the quarterfinals to North Dakota State.

The 2015 Southern Illinois Salukis football team represented Southern Illinois University Carbondale as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by Dale Lennon in his eighth and final season as head coach, the Salukis compiled an overall record of 3–8 with a mark of 2–6 in conference play, placing ninth in the MVFC. Southern Illinois played home games at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Illinois.

The 2015 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by seventh-year head coach Brock Spack, the Redbirds compiled an overall record of 10–3 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, sharing the MVFC title with North Dakota State for the second consecutive season. Illinois State received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs. After a first-round bye, the Redbirds defeated Western Illinois in the second round, before losing to Richmond in the quarterfinals. The team played home games at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Illinois.

The 2015 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third year head coach Bob Nielson and played their home games at Hanson Field. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 7–6, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a three way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS playoffs where they defeated Dayton in the first round before losing in the second round to fellow MVFC member Illinois State.

The 2016 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2016 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by first-year head coach Charlie Fisher, the Leathernecks compiled an overall record of 6–5 with a mark of 3–5 in conference play, tying for sixth place in the MVFC. Western Illinois played home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois.

The 2017 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by ninth-year head coach Brock Spack, the Redbirds compiled an overall record of 6–5 with a mark of 4–4 in conference play, placing in a three-way tie for fifth in the MVFC. Illinois State played home games at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Illinois.

The 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team represented Indiana State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Curt Mallory and played their home games at Memorial Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 7–4, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for third place. Despite being ranked in the top 25 at the end of the regular season, they were not selected to participate in the FCS Playoffs.

The 2018 North Dakota State Bison football team represents North Dakota State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Chris Klieman, who also coached his final season with the Bison before heading off to take over for the retiring Bill Snyder at Kansas State. The team played their 26th season in the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota as members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They entered the season as defending National Champions and had won six of the last seven FCS titles. In 2018, the Bison finished the regular season 11–0, the first undefeated Bison season since the 2013 campaign, and won their eighth consecutive MVFC title. They received an automatic qualifying bid to the FCS playoff tournament and were seeded as the No. 1 team. The Bison then went 4–0 in the FCS playoffs to finish 15–0 and FCS champions.

The 2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Jared Elliott and played their home games at Hanson Field. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). They finished the season 5–6, 4–4 in MVFC play to finish in fifth place.

The 2015 NCAA Division I Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game that determined a national champion in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision for the 2014 season. It was played at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on January 10, 2015, with kickoff at 1:00 p.m. EST, and was the culminating game of the 2014 FCS Playoffs. With sponsorship by Northwestern Mutual, the game was officially known as the NCAA FCS Championship presented by Northwestern Mutual.

The 2019 Indiana State Sycamores football team represented Indiana State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Curt Mallory and played their home games at Memorial Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 5–7, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in seventh place.

The 2019 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Jared Elliott and played their home games at Hanson Field. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). They finished the season 1–11, 1–7 in MVFC play to finish in a two-way tie for ninth place.

The 2020 South Dakota Coyotes football team represented the University of South Dakota in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Bob Nielson and played their home games in the DakotaDome. They played as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

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 2022 Missouri Valley Football Conference football season was the 37th season of college football play for the Missouri Valley Football Conference and part of the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. This was the MVFC's 3rd straight season with 11 teams, and was the last as the conference added a 12th team for the 2023 season.

References

↑ "Western Illinois shows a big downside to the early signing period".

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[1] "Western Illinois shows a big downside to the early signing period".

[1]

v t e Western Illinois Leathernecks football
Venues	Hanson Field (1950–present)
Culture & lore	Colonel Rock Rocky "We're Marching On" WIU Marching Leathernecks
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

v t e 2017 NCAA Division I FCS playoff participants
Central Arkansas Central Connecticut Elon Furman Jacksonville State James Madison Kennesaw State Lehigh Monmouth New Hampshire Nicholls State North Dakota State Northern Arizona Northern Iowa Sam Houston State Samford San Diego South Dakota South Dakota State Southern Utah Stony Brook Weber State Western Illinois Wofford
Champion – North Dakota State