By ISU Sports Information
NORMAL – On November 4, longtime in-state foes Illinois State and Western Illinois will meet for the 100th time in the longstanding series between the two Missouri Valley Football Conference programs. To commemorate the milestone, the Redbirds and Fighting Leathernecks will help count down to the game with a joint series of social media posts from the two schools.
Beginning Friday, the two teams will alternate weeks hosting content on their various social media accounts. The posts will highlight memorable moments, photos, and video from the series that began on Nov. 25, 1904. Fans will also have an opportunity to share their favorite moments from the series, vote on polls and submit pictures for giveaways from both programs. Illinois State football can be found on Twitter at @RedbirdFB and Western Illinois can be found at @WIUFootball.
All of the content will serve as a precursor to the 100th game, when a special pre-game video will highlight the best moments and players from the series and honorary captains will join both teams at the coin toss prior to the game.
Western Illinois leads the all-time series 50-46-3, with the Redbirds winning the last seven games overall dating back to 2011. That winning streak is the longest in the series for ISU, which had a six-game winning streak from 1943-48. The series with the Fighting Leathernecks is the second to reach the 100-game plateau, trailing only the 105 games played between the Redbirds and Eastern Illinois. The two teams have also played consecutively in each of the past 43 seasons.
“The game against Western Illinois is one that we look forward to every year and is always competitive,” ISU head coach Brock Spack said. “We’ve been fortunate to have some success against them recently in the series, but they had a great run in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. That’s what a rivalry series is all about and makes college football fun. The 100th game on Nov. 4 should be no different and fans in attendance should see another great game in the long-standing series.”
The 43 consecutive years playing the game is the longest current streak for Western Illinois against any opponent. WIU’s eight consecutive wins in the series from 1956-63 is the third-longest winning streak against any opponent all-time. Two of Western’s ‘Top 10’ home attendance games have been versus ISU – 1971 (4th) and 2012 (9th) and eight of the games since 1981 have been decided by less than a touchdown.
“It is indeed an honor to be part of the tradition rich game between Western Illinois and Illinois State,” WIU head coach Charlie Fisher said. “So many great players and coaches have competed in this game over the years. Two proud programs that will tee it up for the 44th straight year! This is a very special game for sure.”
