The No. 1 team in the nation is coming to Baton Rouge this weekend.
No, it is not the Oklahoma Sooners, and unfortunately for LSU fans, it is not the Tigers either.
It is the Western Illinois Leathernecks of the Gateway Football Conference. And they are the No. 1 team in Division I-AA.
The Leathernecks play the likes of Southwest Missouri State, Western Kentucky and Youngstown State, but have experienced an unusual amount of success against Division I-A opponents.
WIU has defeated four I-A teams in the last five years and are the only team to accomplish that feat. Last weekend, the Leathernecks defeated I-A foe Eastern Michigan 34-12 in a game that vaulted them into the No. 1 ranking, the first in the school’s history.
“Our players don’t pay too much attention to the polls this time of year,” said WIU coach Don Patterson during his weekly teleconference. “Obviously, it’s great to be ranked No. 1 at any time, but it’s much more important to be up there in December.”
Last weekend, McNeese State held the No. 1 ranking before being pummeled by I-A opponent Kansas State, 55-14.
Patterson said it should be the Leathernecks’ goal to retain their No. 1 ranking, because that means they played well in Baton Rouge.
“We also recognize that our only chance of staying up there is to play well on Saturday,” Patterson said.
Patterson knows WIU is in for a tough fight, as the Tigers are brimming with confidence after a 59-13 pounding of Arizona last weekend.
“We were feeling okay about our chances until we watched the debacle last week between Arizona and LSU,” Patterson said. “I felt they played as well as any team in the nation. We’ve looked at last year’s game films of LSU, and following Saturday’s game, we feel they are underrated by the national voters.”
LSU coach Nick Saban holds mutual respect for WIU, but usually does not compare future opponents to past foes.
“I don’t think its fair of anybody to make comparisons of other teams,” Saban said Wednesday at a press gathering. “They have good players, they play hard and they’re well-coached. And every week I look at the Top 25, somebody in the Top 25 gets beat by somebody they shouldn’t have. We’re concerned about how we play. I’m not concerned about evaluating the other team. Everybody has good players, and if you don’t play well, you put yourself in the position of getting beat.”