2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

American college football season

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 ->

2017 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

* v
* t
* e

| Conf |  |  | Overall

|
|
|
|

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.

On December 22, Fisher resigned to become the wide receivers coach at Arizona State.[1] He finished at Western Illinois with a two-year record of 14–9.

## Schedule

[edit]

Date| Time| Opponent| Rank| Site| TV| Result| Attendance

|
|
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|
|
|

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

[edit]

### At Tennessee Tech

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 25 Leathernecks | 3  | 7  | 24  | 7 | 41
Golden Eagles  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 14 | 14

See also: 2017 Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles football team

### At Northern Arizona

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 22 Leathernecks | 7  | 10  | 14  | 7 | 38
Lumberjacks  | 0  | 7  | 6  | 7 | 20

See also: 2017 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team

### At Coastal Carolina

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 19 Leathernecks | 7  | 14  | 21  | 10 | 52
Chanticleers  | 10  | 0  | 0  | 0 | 10

See also: 2017 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team

### South Dakota

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 10 Coyotes | 7  | 17  | 14  | 0 | 38
No. 13 Leathernecks  | 0  | 6  | 14  | 13 | 33

See also: 2017 South Dakota Coyotes football team

### At Northern Iowa

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 15 Leathernecks | 3  | 2  | 13  | 20 | 38
Panthers  | 0  | 14  | 0  | 15 | 29

See also: 2017 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

### Missouri State

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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Bears  | 14  | 7  | 3  | 6 | 30
No. 14 Leathernecks | 7  | 6  | 15  | 21 | 49

See also: 2017 Missouri State Bears football team

### At North Dakota State

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 10 Leathernecks  | 9  | 3  | 0  | 0 | 12
No. 2 Bison | 3  | 7  | 14  | 0 | 24

See also: 2017 North Dakota State Bison football team

### South Dakota State

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 11 Jackrabbits | 10  | 14  | 21  | 7 | 52
No. 12 Leathernecks  | 10  | 7  | 0  | 7 | 24

See also: 2017 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

### At Illinois State

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 15 Leathernecks | 0  | 0  | 17  | 14 | 31
No. 12 Redbirds  | 7  | 7  | 0  | 0 | 14

See also: 2017 Illinois State Redbirds football team

### At Indiana State

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 11 Leathernecks | 3  | 28  | 7  | 7 | 45
Sycamores  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 0 | 0

See also: 2017 Indiana State Sycamores football team

### Southern Illinois

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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Salukis  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 14 | 14
No. 9 Leathernecks | 0  | 14  | 7  | 7 | 28

See also: 2017 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

## FCS Playoffs

[edit]

### At Weber State–First Round

[edit]

| 1  | 2  | 3  | 4 | Total

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No. 9 Leathernecks  | 3  | 3  | 6  | 7 | 19
No. 11 Wildcats | 0  | 14  | 0  | 7 | 21

See also: 2017 Weber State Wildcats football team

## Ranking movements

[edit]

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

## References

[edit]

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

* 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
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* 1963
* 1964
* 1965
* 1966
* 1967
* 1968
* 1969
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
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* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979
* 1980
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* 1982
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* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024

* 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
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Conf]: Conference record
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[No.]: Number