2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
NCAA Division I First Round, L 19–21 vs. Weber State
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 13
FCS Coaches	No. 12
Record	8–4 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	Charlie Fisher (2nd season);
Co-offensive coordinators	Doug Malone (2nd season); Jared Elliott (1st season);
Defensive coordinator	Tony Grantham (1st season)
Home stadium	Hanson Field

2017 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings

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

The 2017 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) during the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by Charlie Fisher in his second and final season as head coach, the Leathernecks compiled an overall record of 8–4, with a mark of 5–3 in conference play, placing fourth in the MVFC. Western Illinois received an at-large bid to NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs, where the Leathernecks lost to Weber State in the first round. The team played home games at Hanson Field in Macomb, Illinois.

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

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:00 p.m.	at Tennessee Tech*	No. 25	Tucker Stadium Cookeville, TN	OVCDN	W 41–14	7,886
September 9	6:00 p.m.	at Northern Arizona*	No. 22	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, AZ	Pluto TV	W 38–20	9,053
September 23	5:30 p.m.	at Coastal Carolina*	No. 19	Brooks Stadium Conway, SC	ESPN3	W 52–10	14,996
September 30	3:00 p.m.	No. 10 South Dakota	No. 13	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	L 33–38	5,631
October 7	4:00 p.m.	at Northern Iowa	No. 15	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	W 38–29	12,642
October 14	3:00 p.m.	Missouri State	No. 14	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 49–30	3,217
October 21	2:30 p.m.	at No. 2 North Dakota State	No. 10	Fargodome Fargo, ND	ESPN3	L 12–24	18,630
October 28	1:00 p.m.	No. 11 South Dakota State	No. 12	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	L 24–52	2,247
November 4	12:00 p.m.	at No. 12 Illinois State	No. 15	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	W 31–14	13,192
November 11	12:00 p.m.	at Indiana State	No. 11	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 45–0	3,173
November 18	1:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois	No. 9	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 28–14	2,812
November 25	3:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Weber State*	No. 9	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (NCAA Division I First Round)	ESPN3	L 19–21	6,876
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[2]^[3]

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	25	22	20	19	13	15	14	10	12	15	11	9	9	13
Coaches	RV	RV	22	21	16	18	17	12	14	18	13	10	10	12

Game summaries

At Tennessee Tech

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

At Northern Arizona

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

At Coastal Carolina

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

South Dakota

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

At Northern Iowa

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

Missouri State

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

At North Dakota State

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

South Dakota State

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

At Illinois State

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

At Indiana State

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

Southern Illinois

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

At Weber State—NCAA Division I First Round

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

References

^ "Western Illinois shows a big downside to the early signing period".
^ "Western Illinois Schedule 2017". ESPN. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
^ "2017 Football Schedule". Western Illinois University. Retrieved March 15, 2026.

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

[2] "Western Illinois Schedule 2017". ESPN. Retrieved March 15, 2026.

[3] "2017 Football Schedule". Western Illinois University. Retrieved March 15, 2026.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Western Illinois Leathernecks football
Venues	Hanson Field (1950–present)
Culture & lore	Colonel Rock Rocky "We're Marching On" WIU Marching Leathernecks
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026