THE SERIES: Western Illinois leads the all-time series 50-45-3, however, the Leathernecks will look to end a six-game losing streak to the Redbirds. WIU's season came to an end last year at ISU in the Second Round of the FCS Playoffs. In the last three games, Western held a second half lead against the Redbirds but eventually lost.
THE COACHES: Western Illinois head coach Charlie Fisher is in his first year at WIU. He is 6-2 with the Leathernecks and 42-19 overall in six years as a head coach... Brock Spack owns a 60-34 record in eight years at Illinois State and overall as a head coach.
THE RANKINGS: Western Illinois ranks 11th in HERO Sports, 12th in the STATS FCS 'Top 25' poll, and 14th in FCS Coaches... Illinois State received seven points (42nd) in the STATS FCS 'Top 25' poll and one point (42nd) in the FCS Coaches poll.
THE NEW MVFC LEADER: Senior Lance Lenoir already has re-written the WIU receiving record book, and added a MVFC record to his resume. During the second half at South Dakota he became the MVFC all-time leader in catches (255).
   Lenoir jumped up two spots to fourth all-time in receiving yards, in a chase with South Dakota State junior wideout Jake Wieneke for that record. Lenoir is one of eight all-time in MVFC history with 3,000 receiving yards, currently at 3,634... UNI's Dedric Ward holds the record at 3,876 yards then followed by Wieneke (3,785) and former UNI standout Eddie Berlin (3,735).
LENOIR AMONG ACTIVE NCAA LEADERS: Lance Lenoir so far this year is ranked among the NCAA FCS career active leaders, including: 2nd in Total Receptions (255); 3rd in Receiving Yards (3,634); tied 4th in Receiving Touchdowns (26).
CENTURY MARK AND STATE OF ILLINOIS: Lance Lenoir has three of his 14 career 100-yard games versus Illinois State, two have come versus Southern Illinois and seven against teams from the state of Illinois... Eight times in his career, Lenoir has finished with 10 or more receptions in a game.
COMEBACK KIDS: Western won its fourth game this year in a game decided in the final minute of play, with three of those occuring on the road. (held onto lead at Northern Illinois, rallied versus Indiana State, regained lead at Missouri State, rallied at South Dakota). The Leathernecks improved to 2-2 this year when trailing after the third quarter. In the previous three years, Western was just 1-16 when trailing after the third.
DOWN 17, NO PROBLEM: For the second time in his first 12 starts, Sean McGuire helped lead Western Illinois to a come-from-behind win when trailing by 17 points in the second half... In his first start last year at Indiana State, McGuire helped Western to an overtime win after trailing by 17 in the third quarter... At South Dakota, the Leathernecks found themselves down by 17 at the half then rallied for the one point win... The two games returning from a 17-point deficit tie as the second-biggest comeback in program history.
SECOND HALF STAND: The last half of the last two games, Western Illinois has played some of its best football of the season... The Leathernecks allowed just 133 yards of total offense to North Dakota State while holding the Bison scoreless after allowing 21 points in the opening half... USD was limited to 207 yards of offense during the final 30 minutes (320 in the first half) and just three points after scoring 31 in the opening half.
RALLY TIME: Western Illinois over the past 12 games that Sean McGuire has started, the Leathernecks have staged comeback wins in the fourth quarter or overtime victories five times...
• Western rallied from down 17 at Indiana State in 2015 to win in 37-30 overtime.
• The next start (2015 regular season finale) Western won in double-overtime versus South Dakota State (30-24).
• Down by eight at the start of the fourth quarter, Western rallied for a Homecoming victory over Indiana State (36-35).
• After falling behind by four points at Missouri State, the offense marched down the field and scored the game-winning touchdown with :43 seconds left to win.
• Down 17 in the second half, Western scored the go-ahead touchdown with 32 seconds left to win at South Dakota.
NATIONAL STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Western ranks among the 'Top 15' in the latest NCAA FCS rankings:
Time of Possession (8th/MVFC-leading 33:31)
4th Down Conversion Defense (8th/MVFC-leading .286)
Blocked Kicks (14th/MVFC-leading 3)
Western also stands among the 'Top 30' in several other categories: 17th in Redzone Defense (.741), 14th in fumbles lost (3), 29th in net punting (37.6), 22nd in passing offense (259.3), 23rd in punt return defense (4.9), 19th in sacks allowed (1.13), and 21st in tackles for a loss allowed (4.75).
• Brett Taylor ranks FIRST nationally in solo tackles (7.9 p/g) and fifth nationally in total tackles (11.3 p/g).
• Lance Lenoir, Jr. enters this week fifth nationally in receiving yards per game (116.4) and eighth in receptions per game (7.3). His 122.4 all-purpose yards per game leads the MVFC and ranks 36th nationally.
• Steve McShane stands 17th in rushing yards per game (MVFC-leading 97.5), 18th in rushing TDs (MVFC-leading 8) and 47th in all-purpose yards (115.8).
• Sean McGuire is 42nd in passing TDs (12) and 17th in passing yards per game (253.5). His 19.9 pass completions per game ranks 25th nationally, and he enters this weekend 42nd in points responsible for per game (12.3).
• Nathan Knuffman stands 43rd nationally averaging 40.5 yards per punt.
LEATHERNECK NOTES:
• Currently the MVFC rushing leader and 17th nationally, Steve McShane is trying to become the first Leatherneck to lead the Missouri Valley Football Conference in rushing since Herb Donaldson in 2008. He has accounted for five of the team's six runs of 20-plus yards.
• Brett Taylor currently ranks second in the MVFC in tackles per game at 11.3 (fifth 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. His 7.9 solo tackles per game not only leads the MVFC but the nation as well. No Leatherneck has ever finished first in the conference in that category.
• Brett Taylor has three games this year of 10-plus solo tackles.
• With his fifth career fumble recovery, Brett Taylor moved into a tie for fifth place all-time.
• In 18 career games, Sean McGuire is tied for fourth all-time for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (6)... He is just two away from third place... Every other quarterback on the list has a minimum 20 games played.
• Sean McGuire surpassed 3,000 career passing yards (3,187). In six of his 12 starts, McGuire has thrown for 300-plus passing yards.
• The Leathernecks have forced at least one turnover in 39 of the last 44 contests... Nine times in the last 15 games Western recorded two or more takeaways.
• Sophomore linebacker Michael Bishoff made his first appearance of 2016 in the South Dakota game. He made three tackles at USD, including a key third down stop just shy of the marker that eventually led to a turnover on downs. Bishoff had been out since the opening scrimmage of fall camp when he suffered a foot injury.
NO KICKOFF RETURNS HERE: Junior Luke Otto leads the MVFC and ranks second nationally with 26 touchbacks on his kickoffs, with a season-high five coming against Indiana State and Missouri State... In fact, in his last 24 kickoffs, Otto and Western have accounted for 16 touchbacks.
SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS: Illinois State is coming off a 38-21 upset win at home over No. 7 ranked South Dakota State... The Redbirds jumped out to a 14-0 lead and led 28-14 at the half... A 10-point fourth quarter sealed the win, despite SDSU gaining 513 yards of total offense to just 347 for the Redbirds... SDSU fared better than the host Redbirds in third down conversions, going 11-of-19 compared to 5-of-13 for ISU... The Redbirds picked off three passes in the win... Jamal Towns rushed for 136 yards and a TD while Jake Kolbe threw for 138 yards and two scores - both to wide receiver Anthony Warrum... DraShane Glass had 11 tackles and an interception while Alec Kocour had nine tackles... ISU's redzone defense leads the MVFC and ranks ninth nationally (.680)... The 22.8 points allowed per game ranks 29th and the team is 20th nationally with a MVFC-leading 111.69 passing efficiency defense.
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