The SMS Bears will be looking to move to 4-0 for the first time since 1989, but it will take a win at I-A Tulsa to stay perfect. The Bears are 0-6 all-time against the Golden Hurricane. This season, the Gateway is 0-6 against I-A teams. The Gateway has 24 I-A wins since 1985, which includes at least one I-A win every year since 1995. [...]

This week’s Gateway Players of the Week are QB Yance Vaughan of Illinois State; LB Charles Thompson of Western Kentucky; LB LaDrelle Bryant of Indiana State; and OL Buster Ashley of Western Kentucky. Offensive QB Yance Vaughan, Illinois State Sr., 6-3, 210, Ada (Okla.) High Vaughan rallied the Redbirds from a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter over Eastern Illinois and finished with three [...]

Southwest Missouri State shut out visiting Union College, 45-0, to improve to 3-0 on the season and remain the only unbeaten team in the Gateway Conference. Meanwhile, the league swept the Ohio Valley Conference in three games to improve to 5-0 this season in the challenge series between the two conferences. In all, the league went 5-3 on Saturday, falling twice against top-25 teams. In [...]

Four Gateway Conference are ranked for the second-straight week, including Southern Illinois, UNI, Western Kentucky and Western Illinois. The Salukis, who achieved their first No. 1 ranking as a Gateway member last week, fell one spot to No. 2 after falling 23-22 to I-A Northern Illinois last week. All eight Gateway teams are either ranked or receiving votes, as Illinois State and SMS are among [...]

New Hampshire quarterback Ricky Santos, Towson defensive back Allante Harrison, Norfolk State linebacker Kevin Talley and Indiana State kicker Kyle Hooper have been honored as national I-AA players of the week by The Sports Network, the division’s most widely recognized information service. Santos threw for 385 yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes as New Hampshire upset I-A Rutgers, 35-24. Talley set [...]

Western Kentucky visits Eastern Kentucky this Saturday in the 81st meeting between the two schools. Western leads the series, 44-33-3, which includes a 36-3 Hilltopper win last year. Eastern, though, holds a 20-12-2 advantage in games in Richmond, Ky. The game can be seen on FSN Midwest, FSN South and Fox College Sports (digital). Blake Fulton (play by play), Pat Sperduto (color) and Keeli Davidson [...]

This week’s Players of the Week in the Gateway Football Conference are Travis Glasford of Western Illinois; DB Quincy Wallace of Indiana State; PK Kyle Hooper of Indiana State; and OL Brad Durham of SMS. Offensive RB Travis Glasford, Western Illinois Jr., 5-11, 190, Miami (Fla.) Southridge Glasford rushed for 229 yards and six TDs on 24 carries in under two quarters against Cheyney, setting [...]

Two I-A near-misses were the story in Gateway Conference action on Sept. 11. Illinois State battled No. 22 Minnesota before falling, 37-21, and top-ranked Southern Illinois fell at I-A Northern Illinois, 23-22, as a failed two-point try by the Salukis late in the fourth was the difference. In all, the Gateway went 5-3 on Saturday, including a 2-1 mark against I-AA teams. Elsewhere in the [...]

Southern Illinois has become the fifth No. 1 team in Gateway history, and third different team in the past three years, as the Salukis are the top-ranked team in the Sports Network Top-25 poll, announced Monday. It marks the first time SIU is ranked #1 in the nation since winning the National Championship in 1983. That season, Southern spent six weeks at the top spot. [...]

For the first time in league history, a Gateway Newcomer of the Year is from the University of Northern Iowa; while the league’s Freshman of the Year hails from Western Kentucky University. RB Terrance Freeney becomes the first Panther to win the league’s Newcomer of the Year honor, while QB Justin Haddix is the first Hilltopper to earn the league’s five-year-old Freshman of the Year [...]