THE SERIES: Western Illinois leads the all-time series 24-15 over Indiana State, including a 15-4 edge at Hanson Field.
THE COACHES: Western Illinois head coach Charlie Fisher is in his first year at WIU. He is 3-1 with the Leathernecks and 39-18 overall in six years as a head coach... Mike Sanford owns a 17-25 record in his fourth year at Indiana State and 33-68 overall in nine years as a head coach.
THE RANKINGS: Western Illinois ranks 13th in the STATS FCS 'Top 25' poll, 14th in HERO Sports and 14th in FCS Coaches... Indiana State received 64 votes (34th) in the STATS FCS 'Top 25' poll.
WELCOME HOME: Western Illinois returns to Hanson Field this weekend for Homecoming 2016 against Indiana State. The Leathernecks improved to 50-27-5 all-time following last year's win over Southern Illinois. The last time WIU faced the Sycamores on Homecoming was 2010 (40-7 win) and owns a 6-1 record versus ISU.
FISHER'S START: Over the past 60 years, Charlie Fisher became the eighth head coach in Western history to win his debut. The Leathernecks' captured a 38-21 season-opening win at in-state rival Eastern Illinois... Fisher joined Don Patterson (1999 at Northern Illinois, 27-21) and Bill Shanahan (1976 at South Dakota State, 28-21) as the only coach to win his debut when playing on the road in that same span... Having started his first year as a Leatherneck 3-0, Fisher joined three others to start their WIU career at least 3-0: Patterson (1999, 3-0, 7-4), Shanahan (1976, 4-0, 7-3) and Wes Stevens (1954, 4-0-2, 6-1-3).
ANOTHER UPPER DIVISION WIN: WIU head coach Charlie Fisher notched his third victory versus an upper-division program following Western's win at Northern Illinois. While at Division II West Georgia he secured a 15-14 win over then-FCS Georgia Southern in 1994 and Jacksonville State in 1996.
CHALK UP THE FBS VICTORY: Western Illinois ended a 15-game losing streak against FBS programs following its 28-23 victory at Northern Illinois... The Fighting Leathernecks improved to 7-29 overall versus the FBS with all victories against Mid-American Conference programs... Western's previous FBS win came at Eastern Michigan in September 2003.
LOOKING FOR BACK-TO-BACK: One of the Leathernecks' goals during the off-season is to accomplish something only done two other times in program history... Coming off a 2015 FCS Playoff appearance, if Western returns to the postseason, this year's team will match the consecutive years streak from 1996-98 and again from 2002-03.
ALL-TIME AT HANSON FIELD: On September 23, 1950, Hanson Field was dedicated and became the home of Leatherneck Football... In the last 66 years, Western has compiled a 234-117-7 record at home. In 51 of those years Western finished at least .500 at home, including a perfect 6-0 record in 2010... The 4-1 record in 2015 was the best since that 2010 squad.
LENOIR'S HIGH FIVE: Lance Lenoir captured his fifth career WIU record when he caught a pass during Western's opening drive at Northern Illinois, and took sole possession of the record at South Dakota State, making a reception in 34 consecutive games.
LENOIR AMONG ACTIVE NCAA LEADERS: Lance Lenoir so far this year is ranked among the NCAA FCS career active leaders, including:
3rd in Total Receptions - 224
4th in Total Yards - 3,116
Tied 3rd in Receiving Touchdowns - 23
BORSELLINO REACHES 'TOP 5': Joey Borsellino continues his climb up the all-time yardage leaderboard... Borsellino became the sixth player in WIU history to surpass 2,000 career receiving yards with his game-high 148 yards at Northern Illinois, and overtook fifth place following the South Dakota State game... Borsellino moved into a tie for eighth place all-time with his fifth 100-yard receiving game.
UNDEFEATED NON-CONFERENCE SLATE: The Leathernecks accomplished a feat last done in 2002 (4-0), going undefeated against non-conference teams during the regular season... Western during that 2002 stretch also defeated Northern Illinois... Two of Western's wins this year came on the road (Eastern Illinois, Northern Illinois).
CURRENT SAGARIN RANKINGS: According to the current Sagarin rankings of all Division I football programs, Western Illinois stands 14th among the FCS teams (fourth-highest in MVFC) and 113th of 253 teams... Western is ranked ahead of 29 FBS programs.
   Among the conference ranking leaders, the Missouri Valley Football Conference once again stands as the top-ranked FCS league in 16th place. The MVFC (56.71) ranked ahead of: Conference USA East Division (17th/56.37), Sun Belt (18th/56.07), MAC-East (19th/53.91) and Conference USA West Division (53.91). The next closest FCS Conference is the Colonial Athletic Conference (21st/47.55).
TWO MAJOR TURNAROUND STATISTICS FROM 2015: Western ended last year minus four minutes in the time of possession battle, losing the head-to-head statistic nine of the 13 games... This year the Leathernecks rank fourth in the Missouri Valley Football Conference and 12th nationally averaging 33:54 minutes per game... Last year, Western averaged 30.6 yards of net punting. So far in 2016, the Leathernecks have allowed 4.88 yards on punt returns to score 39.32 yards of net punting, good for 17th in the country.
LEATHERNECK NOTES:
• Steve McShane's 70-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter at Eastern Illinois was the longest by a Leatherneck dating back to 2000. In that game, Frisman Jackson set a WIU quarterback record for longest rush with his 77-yard run at Southern Illinois... Three games later Stacey Smith broke off a 71-yard run to set a season-high.
• Steve McShane's second half against Eastern Illinois put him in the record book. His 168 rushing yards in a half was the fourth-most in program history while his 110 yards in a quarter (fourth) ranked him sixth.
• Currently the MVFC rushing leader and fifth nationally, Steve McShane is trying to become the first Leatherneck to lead the Missouri Valley Football Conference in rushing since Herb Donaldson in 2008.
• Brett Taylor currently leads the MVFC in tackles per game at 9.8 (28th nationally). The last Leatherneck to lead the conference was All-American Kyle Glazier in 2010 (12.85), who finished second in the Buck Buchanan Award voting that year.
• Brett Taylor needs just 31 solo tackles to tie for 10th place on the WIU career 'Top 10'.
• Khalen Saunders on two occasions in his career recorded 2.0 tackles for a loss. Both times came against South Dakota State.
• Sophomore Pete Swenson recorded his 10th career tackle for a loss. His 5.0 career sacks are the most among active Leathernecks.
• In just 14 career games, Sean McGuire is tied for eighth all-time for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (4)... He is just two away from a tie for fourth place... Every other quarterback on the list has a minimum 20 games played.
• Two members of the football team are dual-sport athletes for the Leathernecks. Steve McShane (2016 baseball - 33 GP/22 starts) and Justin Fitzpatrick (25 GP/19 starts), who both played football as a true-freshman last year, are also on the baseball team... Both started games last year for baseball head coach Ryan Brownlee.
• The Leathernecks have forced at least one turnover in 35 of the last 40 contests... Seven times in the last 12 games Western recorded two or more takeaways.
• The Leathernecks have a four-game losing streak when opening MVFC play on the road (2016 at South Dakota State; 2014 at Southern Illinois; 2012 at UNI; 2008 at South Dakota State)... When playing its first home MVFC game of the season, Western has won six times in the last nine seasons.
SCOUTING THE SYCAMORES: Indiana State is coming off a 45-24 Homecoming loss to Missouri State last weekend... The then 24th-ranked Sycamores were tied at the half, but committed four of their five turnovers during the fourth quarter... ISU ranks eighth nationally with 115 first downs... The 5.40 penalties per game ranks as 20th-best... Indiana State has recovered six fumbles, good for 12th in the country... The 289 passing yards per game also ranks among the 'Top 20' (19th place)... Jerry Nunez has not missed a field goal this year and his 1.4 made per game ranks him eighth... Isaac Harker stands 15th in the country in passing yards per game... Robert Tonyan is 11th in the country with five TD receptions... Roland Genesy's five rushing TDs tie him for second in the MVFC and 18th nationally... Jameer Thurman is third in the MVFC with 1.4 tackles per loss per game.
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