Western Illinois Leathernecks
OVCMacomb, ILHanson Field
2026: 3–4 (1–1 OVC). Last: lost at Southeast Missouri State 40–30. Next: UT Martin, Saturday, Oct 24, 4 p.m. ET.
- W 65–14Northwestern (IA)
- L 10–41Illinois State
- L 9–36at Wisconsin
- W 59–2Morehead State
- L 20–23at North Alabama
- W 28–21Tennessee State
- L 30–40at Southeast Missouri State
- Oct 24UT Martin
- Oct 31at Charleston Southern
- Nov 7at Eastern Illinois
- Nov 14Gardner-Webb
- Nov 21at Lindenwood
Western Illinois has played football since 1902 and is officially 556–533–37; 314 of its 1,126 games are in our file. They have won seven Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles (the last in 1969), plus four Gateway Football Conference titles, one Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference title, one Mid-Continent Conference title, counting shared titles. Since 1962, the NFL Draft has taken 12 players from here in its first seven rounds, 1 of them in the first round. The AFL draft also took one player from here. The most-played rival is Illinois State: 35 meetings, Illinois State leads 21–14. This season, they’re 3–4.
Résumé
- All-time record
- 556–533–37 official; 117–197 on file; how we count
- Postseason
- 0–0 bowls, title games, playoff
- AP No. 1 finishes
- 0
- Weeks at No. 1
- 0 of 0 ranked
- Elo now
- 1243
- Computer rankings
- Massey No. 62 · Composite No. 58 in FCS, Oct 17; down 9 since Oct 11. From Massey Ratings
- Conference titles
- 13 last in 2002
- Bowl record
- 2–1 official, bowls only
- Seasons
- 53 since 1973, 314 games
Identity
- Fight song
- We’re Marching On
- Band
- WIU Marching Leathernecks since 1904, 160 members
2026 season 3–4
RosterFull 2026 season| Date | Opponent | Result | Elo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 27 | vsNorthwestern (IA) | W 65–14 | 59% |
| Sep 5 | vs Illinois State | L 10–41 | 28% |
| Sep 12 | at Wisconsin | L 9–36 | 16% |
| Sep 19 | vs Morehead State | W 59–2 | 57% |
| Sep 26 | at North Alabama | L 20–23 | 45% |
| Oct 3 | vs Tennessee State | W 28–21 | 65% |
| Oct 17 | at Southeast Missouri State | L 30–40 | 38% |
| Oct 24 | vs UT Martin | Preview | 46% |
| Oct 31 | at Charleston Southern | Preview | 38% |
| Nov 7 | at Eastern Illinois | Preview | 48% |
| Nov 14 | vs Gardner-Webb | Preview | 56% |
| Nov 21 | at Lindenwood | Preview | 40% |
Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.
This season, game by game
Players
The 2026 rosterThe moneyOn the 2026 team
- Kennedy McGill1,491 passing yards, 9 TD (leads Western Illinois in passing yards)
- Elijah Jackson-Anderson270 rushing yards, 2 TD (leads Western Illinois in receiving yards)
- Nick Reinicke55 tackles, 2 sacks (leads Western Illinois in tackles)
- LeBron Morgan48 tackles, 2 sacks
- Justin Buckner43 tackles, 3 sacks (leads Western Illinois in sacks)
- Jacob Kruger26 tackles, 3 INT (leads Western Illinois in interceptions)
Program strength since 1973
Best seasons everHead coaches
| Coach | Years | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Hendrickson | 2008–2009 | 5–10 |
| Don Patterson | 2008–2009 | 2–5 |
Most-played series
All rivalries- Illinois State
14–21 in 35
- 2016 L 26–31
- 2017 W 31–14
- 2018 L 16–33
- 2019 L 14–28
- 2020 L 18–26
- 2021 W 38–31
- 2022 L 13–20
- 2023 L 18–34
- 2024 L 34–51
- 2026 L 10–41
Lost the last four.
- Indiana State
13–11 in 24
- 2013 W 21–14
- 2014 W 34–20
- 2015 W 37–30
- 2016 W 36–35
- 2017 W 45–0
- 2018 L 13–15
- 2019 L 10–20
- 2021 L 27–37
- 2022 L 0–21
- 2023 L 6–27
Lost the last five.
- Southern Illinois
6–18 in 24
- 2013 L 28–34
- 2014 L 17–34
- 2015 W 37–36
- 2016 L 34–44
- 2017 W 28–14
- 2018 W 34–31
- 2019 L 21–45
- 2021 L 30–31
- 2022 L 7–30
- 2023 L 0–63
Lost the last four.
| Opponent | Games | WIU record |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois State | 35 | 14–21 |
| Indiana State | 24 | 13–11 |
| Southern Illinois | 24 | 6–18 |
| Northern Iowa | 21 | 5–16 |
| Missouri State | 18 | 7–11 |
| Youngstown State | 18 | 6–12 |
| South Dakota State | 14 | 2–12 |
| North Dakota State | 13 | 2–11 |
Every opponent (73)
Every program Western Illinois has played, A to Z, with Western Illinois’s record against it. Each links to the series, game by game.
- App State 0–1
- Arkansas 0–1
- Ball State 1–2
- Butler 1–0
- Central Michigan 0–2
- Charleston Southern 1–1
- Cheyney 1–0
- Coastal Carolina 2–1
- Colorado State 0–1
- Dayton 1–0
- Drake 3–2
- Eastern Illinois 2–2
- Eastern Michigan 2–1
- Eastern Washington 0–2
- Fresno State 0–1
- Gardner-Webb 2–0
- Hampton 1–1
- Hawai’i 1–0
- Illinois 0–4
- Illinois State 14–21
- Indiana 0–1
- Indiana State 13–11
- Indianapolis 1–0
- Iowa State 0–1
- Iowa Wesleyan 1–0
- Jacksonville 1–0
- Kansas State 0–2
- Kentucky Wesleyan 1–0
- Lindenwood 1–2
- Louisiana Tech 0–1
- LSU 0–1
- Marshall 0–1
- McKendree 1–0
- Minnesota 0–2
- Missouri 0–2
- Missouri State 7–11
- Montana 1–1
- Montana State 0–2
- Morehead State 2–0
- Nebraska 0–1
- New Mexico State 0–2
- North Alabama 0–2
- North Dakota 0–3
- North Dakota State 2–11
- Northern Arizona 2–0
- Northern Colorado 2–0
- Northern Illinois 6–6
- Northern Iowa 5–16
- Northwestern 0–2
- Northwestern (IA) 1–0
- Purdue 0–1
- Quincy 3–0
- Sam Houston 2–1
- South Dakota 6–4
- South Dakota State 2–12
- South Florida 0–1
- Southeast Missouri State 0–3
- Southern Illinois 6–18
- Southern Utah 0–2
- St. Francis (IL) 1–0
- Stephen F. Austin 2–2
- Tennessee State 2–1
- Tennessee Tech 2–2
- Toledo 0–1
- UNLV 0–1
- UT Martin 1–3
- Valparaiso 3–0
- Wayne State (NE) 1–0
- Weber State 0–1
- Western Kentucky 1–3
- Western Michigan 0–1
- Wisconsin 0–4
- Youngstown State 6–12
Conference titles
13, counting shared titles- Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference 1
- 1988
- Mid-Continent Conference 1
- 1981 (shared)
- Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 7
- 1939, 1942, 1949, 1958, 1959, 1964 (shared), 1969
As the program counts them in its Wikipedia article, shared titles included, and listed under each conference’s current name (a Western Conference title of the 1900s counts as a Big Ten title); season pages use the name the conference had that year. A title the article files under a conference the team wasn’t in that season is listed under the one it was. Division titles include years the team tied for its division.
Conferences
- Independent 1902–1913
- Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 1914–1917 and 1919–1949
- Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference 1950–1969
- Independent 1970–1977
- Mid-Continent Conference 1981–1984
- Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference 1985–1991
- Gateway Football Conference 1992–2007
- MVFC 2008–2023
- Big South-OVC 2024
- OVC-Big South 2025
- OVC since 2026
- 1985Joined the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference from the Mid-Continent Conference in football. Source
- 2024Joined the Big South-OVC from the MVFC in football, announced May 12, 2023. Source
- 2026Joined the OVC from the OVC-Big South in football, announced June 18, 2026. Source
Western Illinois’s football conferences by season, from CollegeFootballData.com’s memberships (renamed conferences keep the name of the time). The moves and their announcement dates from Wikipedia’s lists of NCAA Division I conference changes; the year is the first season in the new conference. Conference realignment: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
In the draft
By college- NFL picks, rounds 1–7
- 12 since 1962
- First-round picks
- 1
- AFL picks
- 1 1962
| 1962 | Leroy Jackson B | No. 11, Cleveland Browns |
The school
Western Illinois University- Enrollment
- 6,332 4,525 undergraduates, fall 2024
- Where
- Macomb, Illinois
- Public or private
- Public
- Founded
- 1899
- Graduates’ median earnings
- $54,163 10 years after starting
Enrollment, place and Carnegie research tier from the National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS, public domain). Earnings from the US Department of Education’s College Scorecard (CC BY 4.0): the median for students who received federal aid and were working, not in school. Founding year from Wikidata. Every school’s in the data.
Season by season
National champions| Season | Record | Conf. | AP pre | AP final | Coach | Elo | SP+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3–4 | 1–1 | 1243 | ||||
| 2025 | 4–8 | 3–5 | 1180 | ||||
| 2024 | 4–8 | 3–5 | 1160 | ||||
| 2023 | 0–11 | 0–8 | 1016 | ||||
| 2022 | 0–11 | 0–8 | 1068 | ||||
| 2021 | 2–9 | 2–6 | 1158 | ||||
| 2020 | 1–5 | 1157 | |||||
| 2019 | 1–11 | 1–7 | 1163 | ||||
| 2018 | 5–6 | 4–4 | 1392 | ||||
| 2017 | 8–4 | 5–3 | 1454 | ||||
| 2016 | 6–5 | 3–5 | 1338 | ||||
| 2015 | 7–6 | 5–3 | 1395 | ||||
| 2014 | 5–7 | 3–5 | 1286 | ||||
| 2013 | 4–8 | 2–6 | 1183 | ||||
| 2012 | 3–8 | 1–7 | 1137 | ||||
| 2011 | 2–9 | 1–7 | 1189 | ||||
| 2010 | 8–5 | 5–3 | 1361 | ||||
| 2009 | 1–10 | 0–8 | Don Patterson, Mark Hendrickson | 1178 | |||
| 2008 | 6–5 | 4–4 | Mark Hendrickson, Don Patterson | 1356 | |||
| 2007 | 6–5 | 2–3 | 1360 | ||||
| 2006 | 5–6 | 2–3 | 1329 | ||||
| 2005 | 5–6 | 2–3 | 1306 | ||||
| 2004 | 4–7 | 2–3 | 1254 | ||||
| 2003 | 8–3 | 3–2 | 1420 | ||||
| 2002 | 1–0 | 1323 |
Every season back to 1973 (28 more)
| Season | Record | Conf. | AP pre | AP final | Coach | Elo | SP+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 0–1 | 1300 | |||||
| 2000 | 1–1 | 1321 | |||||
| 1999 | 1–0 | 1308 | |||||
| 1998 | 0–1 | 1272 | |||||
| 1997 | 0–1 | 1289 | |||||
| 1996 | 1–0 | 1320 | |||||
| 1995 | 0–1 | 1270 | |||||
| 1994 | 0–1 | 1268 | |||||
| 1993 | 0–1 | 1265 | |||||
| 1991 | 0–1 | 1259 | |||||
| 1990 | 0–1 | 1265 | |||||
| 1989 | 0–1 | 1284 | |||||
| 1988 | 0–1 | 1286 | |||||
| 1987 | 0–2 | 1297 | |||||
| 1986 | 1–1 | 1323 | |||||
| 1985 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1318 | ||||
| 1984 | 4–0 | 1377 | |||||
| 1983 | 1–2 | 1225 | |||||
| 1982 | 1–2 | 1210 | |||||
| 1981 | 0–3 | 1143 | |||||
| 1980 | 1–1 | 1175 | |||||
| 1979 | 0–2 | 1136 | |||||
| 1978 | 1–2 | 1172 | |||||
| 1977 | 0–1 | 1180 | |||||
| 1976 | 1–0 | 1218 | |||||
| 1975 | 2–1 | 1225 | |||||
| 1974 | 1–0 | 1228 | |||||
| 1973 | 1–0 | 1181 |
Officially 556–533–37 since 1902 (per Wikipedia, rechecked weekly); game by game here, 117–197 (314 of its 1,126 games are on file). Our file starts in 1973; the program began in 1902. Some games are missing from our source.
No season on file for 1992: the program may not have played, or our source may be missing it.
Records are computed from every game on file at CollegeFootballData.com, whose coverage of the earliest seasons can be incomplete. Elo is this site’s own rating; see how it works on the records page.