Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky, two teams that have been ranked No. 1 in Division I-AA this season, meet Thursday night in a Gateway Conference showdown in Bowling Green, Ky.
After the Salukis lost 61-35 to Illinois State two weeks ago, Western Kentucky succeeded the Salukis as No. 1.
Both teams won without much trouble last week. SIU (5-2, 3-1) beat winless Indiana State 42-20. Arkee Whitlock rushed for 140 yards and Joel Sambursky passed for 220 to climb to seventh in Gateway history with 6,703 career passing yards.
Western Kentucky (6-1, 4-0) beat Western Illinois 42-7.
History suggests the Salukis need to win to keep alive their goal of winning a third straight Gateway championship. In the league’s 20 years, no team has won or shared a title when it had two conference losses.