The Western Illinois Leathernecks amassed 31 unanswered points in the second half to beat the Illinois State Redbirds 31-14 Saturday (Nov. 4) at Hancock Stadium in the 100th meeting between the two schools. The win was the fifth on the road this season, marking the most road wins by the Leathernecks since 2003."We've been a really good second half team. We have been a really good third quarter team. We had to change the tide quick after we got down, and our guys knew that," head coachsaid. "I told our guys at halftime, 'If you want to win this thing, if you want to want to earn this thing, go out there and fight for it because you are good enough to win it.' All the credit to our players and our staff, we kept our cool and our guys had a desire to win and we did it."Trailing 14-0, the Leathernecks received the ball first in the second half. On the first play of the half,found a hole in the Redbird defense and took the ball 11 yards to the Western 33.then foundon a play action rollout for 37 yards to bring the ball to the Illinois State 30. After losing five yards on a penalty, McGuire hitdown the sideline for a 35-yard touchdown to put Western on the board at 14-7.The Redbirds could not find any room for the rest of the game against a stiff Western defense. The Purple and Gold got the ball back after a Redbird punt and went 89 yards in 11 plays, capping their scoring drive with a one-yardjet sweep.With the score tied up at 14-14, Western forced another Illinois State punt and took the lead 17-14 afterput the ball through the uprights to give the Leathernecks a 17-14 advantage.Down 17-14 on their own 27, Illinois State attempted a fake punt on 4th-and-7, but the try was stuffed byandfor a loss. On the first play of the drive for the Leathernecks, McGuire lobbed the football into the end zone for Ratkovich, who was able to dive and make a spectacular catch for another Leatherneck touchdown to extend the lead to 10."We can't forget about our special teams that stopped the ball on the fake punt," said Fisher. "They were really solid today. We hit our kicks. One guy that does not get enough credit is. He is a weapon beyond weapons."On following kickoff, Glisan was able to strip Markel Smith to force a fumble that he recovered to give the Leathernecks the ball on the Illinois State 20. WIU put the ball in the end zone once more with 9:56 left in the fourth quarter when McShane rushed from one yard out to make it 31 straight unanswered points for the Leathernecks.The teams swapped possessions for the rest of the contest. On the last possession of the game,, who had three sacks, hit Redbirds quarterback Jake Kolbe, causing him to fumble.returned the fumble for 45 yards to the Illinois State 40.Western got an opportunity the score early, as McShane took a McGuire shovel pass down the field for a 28-yard score, but the play was negated by an illegal blocking penalty. The Leathernecks were forced to punt after not being able to pick up a 3rd-and-long.With the Redbirds driving,intercepted a Kolbe pass in the end zone and returned the ball 33 yards to set up the Leathernecks in good field position. Western went three-and-out on the ensuing possession and was forced to punt the ball back to the Redbirds.On the first play of the next series, Illinois State put points on the board as Kolbe found Christian Gibbs down the middle of the field for a 65-yard touchdown pass to take the lead at 7-0.The beginning of the second quarter ended the Leathernecks' possession with a pick of McGuire on the 11th play of the drive. The Redbirds took advantage of the Leatherneck turnover by putting together an 11-play, 6:28 drive that concluded with a Kolbe touchdown pass to Tylor Petkovich to put Illinois State up 14-0.The Leathernecks look to continue their road dominance at Indiana State next weekend (Nov. 11) at noon.-With their 31-14 victory, Western Illinois secured its fifth road win of the season, their most since recording five during the 2003 season.-Western Illinois snapped a seven-game skid to Illinois State, winning its first game against the Redbirds since 2010.-With 94 yards receiving,is now 89 away from the school record for the most receiving yards in a single season.-The Leathernecks' five sacks were their most in a game since coming away with six in the FCS Playoffs at Dayton in 2015.-Western Illinois held an opponent below 100 yards rushing for the third time this season, including two contests with fewer than 50 yards surrendered. Prior to this year, they had not had a game with fewer than 50 rushing yards allowed since 2014.-With two more passing touchdowns,moved into a tie for fourth in school history with 44 in his career. He is one away from tying Matt Barr for third.