ALL-TIME SERIES: WIU leads 34-22-4
WIU Homecoming Record: 49-27-5
THE SERIES: Western Illinois and Southern Illinois meet for the 61st time dating back to 1933... The Leathernecks won 18 straight in the series, but since then are now trying to turn around a streak of 12 of 13 defeats - the lone win a last minute victory in Macomb during 2011 Homecoming.
THE COACHES: Western Illinois head coach Bob Nielson is in his third year with the Leathernecks. He owns a 10-17 record at Western and 180-76-1 in his 23rd year as a head coach... Southern Illinois head coach Dale Lennon, in his ninth year at SIU, brings a 49-36 record to this weekend's game and owns a 151-69 record in 19 years as a head coach.
THE RANKINGS: Western enters this week receiving votes in both the STATS FCS (38 points) and Coaches (7 points) 'Top 25' polls... Southern Illinois received nine points in the Coaches' Top 25 poll and 46 points in the STATS FCS poll.
MORE RANKED OPPONENTS: Last year Western played a program-record eight ranked teams in the 12-game schedule... The 2015 season picked up where last year left off, playing #25 Eastern Illinois (33-5 win) and at #1 Coastal Carolina (34-27 defeat)... The future opponents rankings this week includes (highest ranking): Southern Illinois and South Dakota (receive votes), UNI (6th), Illinois State (4th), Youngstown State (10th), North Dakota State (2nd), Indiana State (21st) and South Dakota State (5th).
HOMECOMING 2015: Overall, Western owns a 49-27-5 record on Homecoming... Western had won 7-of-8 but now trying to turn around a streak of having lost 7-of-10... Western's last Homecoming victory was consecutive years in 2010 (Indiana State 40-7) and 2011 (Southern Illinois 27-21)... The Leathernecks are 8-2-3 all-time against Southern at Homecoming.
VALLEY LEADS THE NATION AGAIN: The Missouri Valley Football Conference again led the nation going 16-3 outside of league play vs. FCS competition. The three losses were: North Dakota State at Montana, SIU at Southeast Missouri and Western's loss at #1 Coastal Carolina.
SCOUTING THE SALUKIS: Southern Illinois picked up its first win of the season last weekend defeating No. 10 Liberty at home... It was the home opener for SIU... The Salukis nearly upset a depleted Indiana squad then could not overcome seven turnovers in a loss at Southeast Missouri... The Salukis rank second nationally converting 50 percent on third downs and are number one in passing completion percentage (.729)... SIU's net punting of 40.6 yards per kick ranks fifth in the country, as does the 536.7 yards of total offense... The team stands third in the MVFC and ninth nationally in passing efficiency (166.76)... Quarterback Mark Iannotti leads with 203 rushing yards on 46 attempts. He's completed 69-of-93 passes for 913 yards and six touchdowns to three interceptions... Turnover margin has hurt SIU, sitting minus-8 in margin, ranking 122nd out of 123 FCS teams.
ALL-TIME AT HANSON FIELD: On September 23, 1950, Hanson Field was dedicated and became the home of Leatherneck Football... In the last 65 years, Western has compiled a 230-116-7 record at home. In 50 of those years Western finished at least .500 at home, including a perfect 6-0 record in 2010, 3-3 last season and 1-0 this year.
LED BY UNDERCLASSMEN: The Leathernecks lost their top seven tacklers from last year and had a few holes to fill on defense along the back seven. Three games into the season, Western's top six tacklers are all freshmen and sophomores, led by middle linebacker Brett Taylor. He recorded a game- and career-high 16 tackles at Illinois (8 coming in the first 20 minutes of the game) and recovered two fumbles. He leads the way with 28... Sophomore safety Aaron Diggs recorded a career-high 10 tackles at Coastal Carolina, and moved to second place with 25 tackles this year... Redshirt-freshman Xavier Rowe (19) is next followed by sophomore David Griffith, who also recorded a career-high in tackles at Illinois 10 to go with an interception and forced fumble, and has 17 this year... Sophomore Adam Brott (17) is tied with Griffith and redshirt-freshman Michael Bishoff (15) is next in tackles.
TAYLOR SECOND IN THE NATION: Following his performance at Illinois, Brett Taylor led the country with two fumble recoveries but since slipped a spot to second place... Both recoveries happened on consecutive drives in the third quarter at Illinois, and was one shy of matching the Missouri Valley Football Conference single-game record.
SENIORS IN THE LINE-UP: Senior defensive lineman Gavin Ricketts is the only one in the group of seniors to play in all 38 of 38 games over the past three years. He leads the defense with 16 career starts... Senior tight end Larry Harris is close with 37 of 38 games played, missing one contest in 2013.
TYING THE CENTURY MARK RECORD: Lance Lenoir picked up his eighth career 100-yard receiving game at Coastal Carolina (116 yards), and moved into a tie for the WIU all-time record with Terriun Crump and Reggie Gray... Lenoir moved up to sixth all-time with 1,759 yards in 27 games.
LENOIR 100-YARD GAMES
195 - Illinois State (career-high 12 rec, 2TD/2014)
132 - at Youngstown State (8 rec, 2TD/2014)
124 - Eastern Illinois (10 rec, TD/2015)
116 - at Coastal Carolina (10 rec/2015)
115 - at Southern Illinois (7 rec/2014)
115 - at Northwestern (11 rec/2014)
105 - Northern Iowa (5 rec/2014)
105 - at Illinois State (7 rec, 2TD/2013)
WATCH NORVELL: Junior quarterback Trenton Norvell also joined the preseason recognition list, as he was one of 30 selected nationally to the College Football Performance Awards Player of the Year watch list... Norvell, an Honorable Mention All-MVFC pick last fall, threw for 2,891 yards and 24 touchdowns... He's coming off a career-best performance at top-ranked Coastal Carolina in which he completed 31 passes for 370 yards, both numbers setting a personal-best.
IN THE CAREER TOP 10 THROWING: Now 27 games into his Western Illinois career, Trenton Norvell stands among the leaders in several WIU career 'Top 10' categories:
• 5th in career completions (471)
• 3rd in attempts (858)
• 6th in passing yards (5,618)
• 4th in passing touchdowns (43)
• 5th in total offense (5,784)
• tied 7th in rushing TDs by a quarterback (4)
He owns four career 300-yard passing games, two of those coming in consecutive weeks last year (310 yards vs. Illinois State and Northern Iowa), and the personal-best performance at Coastal Carolina (370 yards).
NORVELL 300-YARD PASSING GAMES
370 - at Coastal Carolina (31-48, 2 TD/0 INT - 2015)
320 - Valparaiso (20-28, 4 TD/0 INT - 2014)
310 - Northern Iowa (20-42, 2 TD/2 INT - 2014)
310 - Illinois State (21-35, 2 TD/1 INT- 2014)
BORSELLINO JOINS THE 1,000 CLUB: Western saw three receivers surpass 1,000 career yards during the 2014 season... During the season-finale against Indiana State, Joey Borsellino reached the milestone, now with 1,162 yards in 27 games as a Leatherneck moving up to 24th place all-time.
WATSON IMPACT: Senior running back Nikko Watson made an immediate impact to the WIU rushing game in his return to action at Coastal Carolina... Having missed the last 14 games, Watson gained 156 yards on 29 attempts (one shy of his personal-high) and scored twice... The yardage was the second-best performance in his career and Watson tied a career-high in touchdown runs... He owns a 4.3 career yard per carry average, rushing for 1,804 yards on 422 attempts and 11 touchdowns... Watson was forced into action late in his true-freshman year due to injuries and gained 485 yards over the final four games of the season, earning a spot on the Missouri Valley Football Conference All-Newcomer team... Watson needs 340 yards to tie for 10th place on the all-time yardage list.
WATSON REACHES THE CENTURY MARK: Nikko Watson ranks eighth all-time in Western history with his seven 100-yard rushing games, following his 2015 debut of 156 yards at Coastal Carolina... Watson ranks fifth on the WIU list for most rushing yards in a quarter when he gained 115 versus South Dakota State in 2011.
WATSON 100-YARD RUSHING GAMES
170 - South Dakota State (29 carries/2011)
156 - at Coastal Carolina (29 carries/2015)
149 - at Youngstown State (30 carries/2011)
126 - at South Dakota (21 carries/2012)
109 - Butler (25 carries/2012)
108 - Hampton (27 carries/2013)
106 - North Dakota State (16 carries/2011)
WATSON GETS THE FOUR-PEAT: In his fourth season-opening appearance, Nikko Watson again gained 100-plus yards on the ground... In his Leatherneck debut at Youngstown State in 2011, Watson tallied 149 yards on a career-high 30 carries... In the 2012 season-opener, he recorded 109 yards versus Butler on 25 attempts... Watson tallied 108 yards on 27 tries versus Hampton to open the 2013 season... This year he gained 156 yards at Coastal Carolina... Watson is believed to be the only Leatherneck in history to accomplish that four-peat.
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