2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

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.

2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
ConferenceMissouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATSNo. 13
FCS CoachesNo. 12
Record8–4 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach
Co-offensive coordinatorDoug Malone (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinatorJared Elliott (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorTony Grantham (1st season)
Home stadiumHanson Field
Seasons
← 2016
2018 →
2017 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
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

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

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DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 316:00 p.m.at Tennessee Tech*No. 25OVCDNW 41–147,886
September 96:00 p.m.at Northern Arizona*No. 22Pluto TVW 38–209,053
September 235:30 p.m.at Coastal Carolina*No. 19ESPN3W 52–1014,996
September 303:00 p.m.No. 10 South Dakota No. 13ESPN3L 33–385,631
October 74:00 p.m.at Northern IowaNo. 15ESPN3W 38–2912,642
October 143:00 p.m.Missouri StateNo. 14
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
ESPN3W 49–303,217
October 212:30 p.m.at No. 2 North Dakota StateNo. 10ESPN3L 12–2418,630
October 281:00 p.m.No. 11 South Dakota StateNo. 12
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
ESPN3L 24–522,247
November 412:00 p.m.at No. 12 Illinois StateNo. 15ESPN3W 31–1413,192
November 1112:00 p.m.at Indiana StateNo. 11ESPN3W 45–03,173
November 181:00 p.m.Southern IllinoisNo. 9
  • Hanson Field
  • Macomb, IL
ESPN3W 28–142,812
November 253:00 p.m.at No. 11 Weber State*No. 9ESPN3L 19–216,876
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

Game summaries

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At Tennessee Tech

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

At Northern Arizona

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

At Coastal Carolina

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

South Dakota

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

At Northern Iowa

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

Missouri State

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

At North Dakota State

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

South Dakota State

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

At Illinois State

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

At Indiana State

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

Southern Illinois

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

FCS Playoffs

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At Weber State–First Round

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

Ranking movements

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Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre123456789101112Final
STATS FCS25222019131514101215119913
CoachesRVRV222116181712141813101012

References

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