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. [...]

The Waiting Game: The Gateway has four post-season eligible teams and won’t find out until the NCAA I-AA football committee makes its selections on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 12 noon CST on ESPNews. No league has ever received four bids into the I-AA field. Title Town In the league’s 19 seasons, UNI has won or shared the title a league-best 11 times. This year marked [...]

UNI led for just :25, but it was the final :25 as the Panthers rallied from a 28-7 halftime deficit and 40-28 fourth-quarter deficit to win 43-40, handing No. 2 Southern Illinois (10-1, 6-1) its only loss of the year. The win gave UNI (9-2, 6-1) a share of the league title and the Gateway’s automatic I-AA playoff berth. Western Kentucky beat Youngstown State, 37-13; [...]

A Southern Illinois victory, coupled with a UNI loss has given the unbeaten Salukis their first Gateway Football Conference title in the league’s 19th season. SIU became the first Gateway team to start a season 10-0 with a 24-17 victory against Youngstown State. Southern Illinois tied for sixth last year in the league race at 2-5 (4-8 overall), and the Salukis were picked sixth in [...]

Southern Illinois is enjoying its best season since becoming a Gateway member 19 years ago, and the Salukis take their perfect 8-0 record to face the defending national champion, Western Kentucky, in Bowling Green. SIU (at No. 3), leads a list of four Gateway teams that are ranked this week, including UNI (6), Western Kentucky (7), and Western Illinois (12).

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This week’s players of the week in the Gateway Football Conference are RB Sha-Ron Edwards and OL Stafford Davis of Illinois State; DE Matt Mitchell of UNI; and KR Reggie Gray of Western Illinois. Offensive RB Sha-Ron Edwards, Illinois State Sr., 6-0, 201, Uniondale, N.Y., Longwood/Central Connecticut State Edwards nearly posted his second straight 200-yard rushing game as the Redbirds won at Youngstown State, 35-25. [...]

This week’s Gateway Players of the Week are DB Benny Sapp and PK Brian Wingert of UNI; RB Muhammad Abdulqaadir of Southern Illinois; and OL Anthony Oakley of Western Kentucky. Offensive RB Muhummad Abdulqaadir, S. Illinois Sr., 5-7, 200, St. Louis (Mo.) Eureka High Abdulqaadir helped the Salukis to an upset of No. 2 Western Illinois as the No. 7 Salukis improved to 7-0 for [...]

This week’s Gateway Players of the Week are QB Russ Michna of Western Illinois; RB Terrance Freeney of UNI; DE Matt Mitchell of UNI; OL Mike Stegeman of Illinois State; and PK Matt Lange of Western Kentucky. Co-Offensive QB Russ Michna, Western Illinois Sr., 6-3, 230, Elk Grove Village (Ill.) Conant Michna threw a school-record five touchdowns in the first half of a 56-0 win [...]

The Gateway Football Conference capped another impressive weekend of I-AA football as the league improved to 20-8 in non-conference play after going 6-1 against non-league foes this week. The Gateway was a perfect 5-0 against the Ohio Valley Conference, improving to 7-0 in the challenge series against the OVC. Illinois State 21, No. 18 Eastern Illinois 14 Eastern Illinois led for three quarters during Saturday’s [...]

Following a decisive 34-12 win over I-A Eastern Michigan on Thursday night, the Western Illinois Leathernecks have jumped from No. 4 to No. 1 in this week’s Sports Network/CSTV I-AA Top 25 poll. Western, which is top-ranked for the first time since The Sports Network poll became an NCAA ranking of record in 1993, earned 41 first-place votes and 2,688 total points in this week’s [...]