Two teams will meet on the gridiron for the 60th time in their storied history this Saturday.

SIU and Western Illinois University will open Missouri Valley Football Conference play at Saluki Stadium. The series has been filled with drama. Of the 59 games to date, 23 have either ended in ties or been decided by eight points or fewer.

The two schools first played in 1933 in Carbondale. The Salukis won the inaugural game 45-0. The following year, they tied at Western.

The series has leaned heavily toward Western Illinois since then. The Leathernecks have a 34-21 record against SIU. The teams have tied four times, but not since 1955.

The series took a 21-year hiatus from 1961 until 1982. SIU left Division I-A to join Division I-AA before the 1982 season, which is now known as the Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The series has been renewed since SIU moved down to the Football Championship Subdivision.

The late 1980s brought some of the series’ most exciting games. The Leathernecks started an 18-game win streak against Salukis in 1984. However, seven points or fewer decided each game between 1985 and 1991.

Fred Gibson, was the Salukis’ starting quarterback from 1987-1990. Every SIU-WIU game Gibson played in came down to the last possession.

“We always felt like we were not just fighting for the Gateway Conference title,” Gibson said. “We were also fighting for the state of Illinois.”

The 1990 game at McAndrew Stadium in Carbondale was one of the closest meetings between the two schools in the past 30 years.

With 4:42 remaining in the first quarter, Gibson connected with Ransom Funches for a 29-yard touchdown pass. The score put the Salukis up 13-3, but the Leathernecks blocked kicker Steve Wedemeier’s extra point attempt and ran it back for two points of their own.

The play turned momentum toward WIU, outscored SIU 19-3 during the second and third quarters.

The Salukis had a chance to tie the game at 24 after a 2-yard touchdown run by Antonio Moore with 6:12 left in the game. However, Gibson’s pass fell incomplete on the two-point conversion.

“The 1990 game for me was probably the hardest,” Gibson said. “It was senior day for me, and we jumped out all over them. They just came back in the second half.”

That game was the seventh-straight Leathernecks win over SIU. The streak would continue until 2002, when the Joel Sambursky-led Salukis knocked off No. 8 Western Illinois in a thriller.

The Salukis emerged victorious on the final play in a game that saw 106 points, 1,038 yards of total offense and almost no defense,.

SIU overcame 123 penalty yards, including a 15-yard penalty caused by a fan blowing a whistle, to find itself in position to upset the Leathernecks. The Salukis took over on their own 20-yard line down 52-48 with 1:11 left in the game.

SIU drove 74 yards on nine plays to set up a do-or-die final play.

Rolling to his right, Sambursky found fullback Brandon Robinson for a 6-yard touchdown pass as time expired. The win snapped Western Illinois’ 18-game winning streak.

“I think that after we beat Western, and the manner in which we did,” Sambursky said. “I think we all finally looked to coach (Jerry) Kill and said, ‘This guy knows what he’s talking about.’ I think that’s why that game is so important. It really didn’t mean a whole heck of a lot, it was just one conference game . . . But when you look back to what it meant to Saluki football in general, it meant everything.”

The win started a nine-game win streak for the Salukis over the Leathernecks.

Western Illinois has only beaten SIU once since 2002, but many games have been hard-fought. The 2007 game is one example.

At Hanson Field in Macomb, No. 19 Western Illinois took a 9-3 lead into the 4th quarter against No. 6 SIU.

With 12 minutes left, the Salukis took over at their own 20-yard line. All-American quarterback Nick Hill marched SIU down the field and scored the game-tying touchdown with 3:42 remaining. Kicker Kyle Dougherty converted the go-ahead extra point shortly after.

With one second remaining in the game, Trevor Moe picked off a Matt Barr pass to seal the victory.

“It was one of those games where we moved the ball the entire game,” said Hill, now the quarterbacks coach at SIU. “We just didn’t make those plays to put points on the board once we got down there.”

SIU won a close one in Macomb last year, edging out the Leathernecks for a 34-28 victory.

“It was a battle,” head coach Dale Lennon said. “If you look at it statistically, they probably should have won the game.”

The Leathernecks outgained the Salukis 460 yards to 278 yards, but SIU took advantage of a blocked field goal that Bryan Presume ran 85 yards for a touchdown.

The current coaching staff for both schools adds to the intrigue of the rivalry. SIU offensive coordinator Bill O’Boyle and inside linebackers coach Todd Auer are alumni of Western Illinois. Leatherneck assistant head coach Steve Crutchley was the running backs coach at SIU from 2008-2012.

“Our game with Western always has a history of going down to the wire,” Lennon said. “That’s just the nature of the rivalry.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @tdonleyde