2002 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

The 2002 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team represented Western Illinois University as a member of the Gateway Football Conference during the 2002 NCAA Division I-AA football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Don Patterson and played their home games at Hanson Field. The Leathernecks finished the season with an 11–2 record overall and a 6–1 record in conference play, making them conference co-champions. The team received an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship playoffs, where they defeated Eastern Illinois in the first round and lost to Western Kentucky in the quarterfinal.^[1] The team was ranked No. 5 in The Sports Network's postseason ranking of Division I-AA.^[2]

2002 Western Illinois Leathernecks football
Gateway co-champion
NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal, L 28–31 vs. Western Kentucky
Conference	Gateway Football Conference
Ranking
Sports Network	No. 5
Record	11–2 (6–1 Gateway)
Head coach	Don Patterson (4th season)
Home stadium	Hanson Field
Seasons ← 2001 2003 →

2002 Gateway Football Conference standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 Western Kentucky +^		6	–	1					12	–	3
No. 5 Western Illinois +^		6	–	1					11	–	2
Youngstown State		4	–	3					7	–	4
Illinois State		4	–	3					6	–	5
Indiana State		3	–	4					5	–	7
Northern Iowa		2	–	5					5	–	6
Southern Illinois		2	–	5					4	–	8
Southwest Missouri State		1	–	6					4	–	7
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – NCAA Division I-AA playoff participant Rankings from The Sports Network poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
August 29	Drake*		Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 64–7	10,830	[3]
September 14	at No. 21 Western Kentucky		Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY	W 14–0	6,000	[4]
September 21	at Northern Illinois*	No. 20	Huskie Stadium DeKalb, IL	W 29–26	23,598	[5]
September 28	Sam Houston State*	No. 12	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 41–13	15,318	[6]
October 5	at Southern Illinois	No. 8	McAndrew Stadium Carbondale, IL	L 52–54	10,283	[7]
October 12	Illinois State	No. 13	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 22–17	10,113	[8]
October 19	Indiana State	No. 10	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 52–21	8,562	[9]
October 26	No. 23 Youngstown State	No. 9	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	W 19–0	14,186	[10]
November 2	at Southwest Missouri State	No. 8	Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	W 28–23	1,885	[11]
November 9	at Northern Iowa	No. 8	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	W 35–12	9,443	[12]
November 16	at Southern Utah*	No. 5	Eccles Coliseum Cedar City, UT	W 38–28	1,913	[13]
November 30	No. 10 Eastern Illinois*	No. 3	Hanson Field Macomb, IL (NCAA Division I-AA First Round)	W 48–9	2,429	[14]
December 6	No. 15 Western Kentucky	No. 3	Hanson Field Macomb, IL (NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal)	L 28–31		[15]
*Non-conference game Rankings from The Sports Network Poll released prior to the game