Just this year the league had to join forces with the Big South as membership was becoming an issue. On the other side of the coin, if you’re the OVC you’re thrilled to welcome another team to the ranks. Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Western Illinois is seeking its first winning season since 2017. If that is indeed a glimpse of the future, it has to be a welcome sight for fans in Macomb.
#Who selects 9aa missouri valley football conference team series#
In 2017, WIU blasted Tennessee Tech 41-14 on the road after beating Eastern Illinois both times in a home-and-home series spanning the two years prior. In recent years, the Leathernecks have battled their future conference mates and have shown they could hang around in that league. You'd have to believe the opportunity to be competitive will come much quicker in their home and recent evidence may even suggest as such. For starters, opponents like NDSU and SDSU won’t dot the schedule every fall and, while the Ohio Valley still has plenty of solid teams, none are on the same plane as the upper crust of the MVC. Transitioning to OVC play, however, seems as though it can only serve as a positive for WIU. It’s been rough and the Missouri Valley era has been largely one to forget. Northern Iowa has bested WIU 11 times in the last 15 meetings.
In their conference series with NDSU dating back 15 years, the Bison hold a 9-2 advantage. In the last 13 tries against South Dakota State, for instance, Western Illinois has won just one game over the Jackrabbits. In a league with some of the sport's top heavyweights, the program has faced an uphill battle to gain any sort of prolonged success. Since 2008, WIU has compiled a 59-109 overall record and reached the FCS playoffs just three times. It’s no secret that the Leathernecks have struggled during their time in the MVC. In fact, it’s a move that should be seen as good news to everyone involved. doesn’t leave many problems in its wake for anyone in the FCS landscape. While most of the school's athletic teams will be saying goodbye to the Summit League, the football program is leaving the Missouri Valley Conference. One such move came to light last month when Western Illinois announced that it would be joining the Ohio Valley Conference in all sports starting in 2024. Realignment news hasn’t been quite as prevalent in the FCS this offseason as it was last summer but there’s still been a few noteworthy happenings.
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