1998 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

The 1998 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 1998 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by ninth-year head coach Randy Ball and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with an 11–3 record overall and a 5–1 record in conference play, making them conference champions. The team received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they defeated Montana and Florida A&M before losing to Georgia Southern in the semifinals.^[1] The team was ranked No. 4 in The Sports Network's postseason ranking of Division I-AA.^[2]

1998 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
Gateway champion
NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal, L 14–42 vs. Georgia Southern
Conference	Gateway Football Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 4
Record	11–3 (5–1 Gateway)
Head coach	Randy Ball (9th season)
Home stadium	Hanson Field
Seasons ← 1997 1999 →

1998 Gateway Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 4 Western Illinois $^		5	–	1					11	–	3
No. 16 Illinois State ^		4	–	2					8	–	4
Northern Iowa		3	–	3					7	–	4
Youngstown State		3	–	3					6	–	5
Southwest Missouri State		3	–	3					5	–	6
Indiana State		2	–	4					5	–	6
Southern Illinois		1	–	5					3	–	8
$ – Conference champion ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 3	St. Cloud State*	No. 8	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 23–7	7,417	[3]
September 12	at Central Michigan*	No. 11	Kelly/Shorts Stadium Mount Pleasant, MI	L 14–35	26,412	[4]
September 19	at Elon*	No. 17	Burlington Memorial Stadium Burlington, NC	W 17–7	6,241	[5]
September 26	Southern Utah*	No. 14	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 31–3		[6]
October 3	No. 1 Youngstown State	No. 11	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 14–0	10,304	[7]
October 10	at Southwest Missouri State	No. 5	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	W 20–13	12,377	[8]
October 17	at Southern Illinois	No. 5	McAndrew Stadium Carbondale, IL	W 13–3	12,600	[9]
October 24	No. 18 Illinois State	No. 3	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 37–10	16,741	[10]
October 31	at Buffalo*	No. 3	UB Stadium Amherst, NY	W 41–6	18,648	[11]
November 7	Indiana State	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	W 26–9	7,994	[12]
November 14	at Northern Iowa	No. 2	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	L 6–10	12,118	[13]
November 28	No. 14 Montana*	No. 4	Hanson Field Macomb, IL (NCAA Division I-AA First Round)	W 52–9	3,614	[14]
December 5	No. 3 Florida A&M*	No. 4	Hanson Field Macomb, IL (NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal)	W 24–21	7,400	[15]
December 12	at No. 1 Georgia Southern*	No. 4	Paulson Stadium Statesboro, GA (NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal)	L 14–42	11,140	[16]
*Non-conference game Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game