By virtue of winning a I-AA national title, the 2002 season became one of the most successful in the 18 years of Gateway football. Western Kentucky became the first school in I-AA history to beat the top three seeds en route to a national title as the Hilltoppers downed top-seeded McNeese State, 34-14, in the 2002 I-AA championship game.

Hilltoppers Have 1-2-3 Punch
Western Kentucky beat No. 3 seed Georgia Southern, No. 2 Western Illinois, and No. 1 McNeese State it its run to the I-AA title game. That’s the first time that’s happened in Division I football championship history (Massachusetts beat 1-2-6 seeds in 1998).

Streakin’
After falling to McNeese State on Sept. 28, Western Kentucky has won 10-straight games. The streak is third-best in league history, trailing 11-game win streaks of Eastern Illinois (1986) and Northern Iowa (1985). It’s the first same-season win streak of nine or more games in the league since UNI won nine in a row in 1996.

Gateway Gets Two, Again
For the eighth-straight season, the Gateway Football Conference had two representatives in the I-AA playoffs. Gateway co-champions Western Illinois (automatic bid) and Western Kentucky both made the field.

Western Illinois Takes I-AA Bid
Western Illinois earned the league’s I-AA automatic playoff bid. The Leathernecks shared the Gateway title with Western Kentucky, but WIU beat WKU, 14-0, in head-to-head action, which is the league’s tiebreaker. The Leathernecks’ No. 2 tournament seed matched the highest for a Gateway team (WIU-1997).

Share and Share Alike
Western Illinois and Western Kentucky shared the Gateway Conference title in 2002 with identical 6-1 league records. It marked only the third time in league history, and first since 1995, in which the league had co-champions.

Tough Schedules
Five Gateway Football Conference schools were among the top 13 in Division I-AA for the toughest schedules in 2002. Western Kentucky had the league’s toughest schedule and ranked No. 2 in the I-AA as the Hilltoppers’ cumulative opposition had a winning percentage of .667. All eight Gateway schools were in the top 32.

Gateway Playoff Success
The Gateway is 21-12 during the past seven years in the I-AA playoffs, and the league has had two playoff teams every year since 1995. Including this year, a GFC team has reached the semifinals in six of the past seven years, including two national titles (Youngstown State-1997; Western Kentucky-2002).

I-A Wins
Western Illinois knocked off Northern Illinois, 29-26 on Sept. 21, giving coach Don Patterson his third I-A win and second-straight over NIU. The Gateway has 23 I-A wins since 1985. In 2002, the GFC was 1-7 vs. I-A schools.

Strength in Numbers
The Gateway is 25-13 against non-conference competition in 2002 and has had a winning non-league record 12 times in 18 football seasons, which includes better than .500 marks in seven of the past eight years. Notably, of the 13 non-conference losses in 2002, four were to I-AA ranked teams, seven were against I-A teams, and the two others were to I-AA teams receiving top-25 votes at the time of the game.

Variety is the Spice of Life
Including the 2002 season, the Gateway has had two I-AA playoff teams in each of the past eight seasons. In those eight years, six different members have represented the conference. Notably, in the past four years, five different Gateway teams have represented the GFC in postseason play.

Crowd Control
In 2002, seven Gateway schools were among the Top 50 nationally in I-AA attendance average, while Youngstown State (17,174) was No. 6 nationally to lead the Gateway. The league had a total of 465,337 fans in 49 home dates for an average of 9,497. The total attendance figure is an all-time high, while the league-wide per-game average ranks sixth.

WKU .. Harbaugh Takes Award
Jack Harbaugh was selected National I-AA Coach of the Year by the AFCA. Harbaugh is the fourth Gateway coach to take a national Coach of the Year honor (1995-EIU’s Bob Spoo; 1997-YSU’s Jim Tressel; and 1999-ISU’s Todd Berry).