2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

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.

2018 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference
2018 record5–6 (4–4 MVFC)
Head coach
Co-offensive coordinatorTy Howle (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinatorDavid Rocco (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorTyler Stockton (1st season)
Home stadiumHanson Field
(Capacity: 17,128)
2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 1 North Dakota State $^  8 0     15 0  
No. 3 South Dakota State ^  6 2     10 3  
No. 23 Northern Iowa ^  5 3     7 6  
Indiana State  5 3     7 4  
Western Illinois  4 4     5 6  
Illinois State  3 5     6 5  
Youngstown State  3 5     4 7  
South Dakota  3 5     4 7  
Missouri State  2 6     4 7  
Southern Illinois  1 7     2 9  
  • $ Conference champion
  • ^ FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Leathernecks finished the 2017 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, head coach Charlie 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.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Award Player Position Year
Buck Buchanan Award[2] Khalen Saunders DE SR

Preseason MVFC poll

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Leathernecks predicted to finish in seventh place.[3]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1North Dakota State390 (39)
2South Dakota State270
3Northern Iowa258
4Youngstown State248
5Illinois State248
6South Dakota206
7Western Illinois163
8Southern Illinois139
9Missouri State90
10Indiana State41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams

The Leathernecks placed five at six positions players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.[4]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
August 308:00 p.m.at Montana State*SWXL 23–2618,507
September 86:30 p.m.at Illinois*BTNL 14–3439,252
September 153:00 p.m.No. 15 Montana*ESPN+W 31–274,011
September 293:00 p.m.Youngstown State*
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
ESPN3W 45–384,352
October 62:00 p.m.at No. 15 Illinois StateESPN+L 16–338,516
October 136:00 p.m.No. 1 North Dakota State
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
ESPN+L 7–342,709
October 202:00 p.m.at Missouri StateESPN+W 31–1412,109
October 271:00 p.m.No. 17 Northern Iowa*
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
ESPN+W 37–172,832
November 31:00 p.m.at Southern IllinoisESPN3W 34–314,780
November 101:00 p.m.at South DakotaESPN+L 12–178,761
November 171:00 p.m.Indiana State*
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
ESPN3L 13–155,822
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Game summaries

at Montana State

1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 7 6 7 3 23
Bobcats 3 3 14 6 26

at Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 7 0 7 0 14
Fighting Illini 0 14 10 10 34

Montana

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 15 Grizzlies 18 0 3 6 27
Leathernecks 14 3 0 14 31

Youngstown State

1 2 3 4 Total
Penguins 7 0 10 21 38
Leathernecks 6 10 14 15 45

at Illinois State

1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 6 7 3 0 16
No. 15 Redbirds 2 10 0 21 33

North Dakota State

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 1 Bison 3 14 7 10 34
Leathernecks 0 7 0 0 7

at Missouri State

1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 7 3 7 14 31
Bears 7 0 0 7 14

Northern Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total
No. 17 Panthers 3 7 0 7 17
Leathernecks 0 16 7 14 37

at Southern Illinois

1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 7 7 0 20 34
Salukis 7 10 14 0 31

at South Dakota

1 2 3 4 Total
Leathernecks 3 0 0 9 12
Coyotes 7 0 3 7 17

Indiana State

1 2 3 4 Total
Sycamores 3 6 3 3 15
Leathernecks 3 0 10 0 13

Players drafted into the NFL

RoundPickPlayerPositionNFL Club
384Khalen SaundersDTKansas City Chiefs

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.