Southern Illinois University and South Dakota State have only been rivals for two seasons. The program's two head coaches, Dale Lennon and John Stiegelmeier, go back much further.

Lennon, 48, served under Stiegelmeier, 52, as a grad assistant when both were at Northern State University from 1985-86. They then butted heads in the North Central Conference beginning in 1999, when Lennon took over North Dakota and Stiegelmeier was in his second year at SDSU.

Saturday, they'll square off for the Missouri Valley Football Conference's automatic playoff berth and at least a tie for the league title. Third-ranked SIU (7-1, 6-0) takes on No. 9 SDSU (7-1, 6-0) at 1 p.m. in Brookings, S.D.

"He was kind of one of those guys that made me realize that coaching was a profession I wanted to get into," said Lennon, who won five NCC titles before moving down to Carbondale prior to the 2008 season. "He's one of the real good guys in this profession that I look up to, and admire, and does things the right way. He's a good confidant, too."

Stiegelmeier, who has the Jackrabbits ranked the highest they've ever been as a Division I school, said he knows what to expect from the Salukis this weekend.

"Any time you're ranked as high as they are and have the tradition they have and the football staff they have, and the athletes they have, there isn't going to be a flaw," he said. "Coach Lennon and I know each other very well, and I know the type of program he runs. I wouldn't expect anything different. It's fun to compete against a team like that. They force you to be perfect all the time, because of the way they play football."

SIU won the first meeting between the two teams last season, 38-35, on its way to a tie for the MVFC title with Northern Iowa. Saturday will be the Salukis' first-ever game at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.

It will be the first meeting in league history between two squads that are 6-0 in the conference. No one has ever swept the league schedule since the MVFC became a nine-team league last year. Saturday's game will be the latest game to decide the conference title since UNI beat the Salukis on the final weekend of the league schedule, 25-24 in 2005. That forced a three-way tie between SIU, UNI and YSU.

UNI looking for ninth straight against YSU: Northern Iowa will be looking for its ninth straight victory over Youngstown State this weekend.

The 11th-ranked Panthers (5-3, 3-2) have not lost to the Penguins (4-4, 2-3) in the UNI-Dome since 1999, the year YSU lost to Georgia Southern in the national championship game. It is tied for the fifth-longest winning streak over another league team in MVFC history.

Western Illinois' 18-game streak against SIU between 1984-2002 is the league record.

Gibbs rushes for 100 yards again: WIU tailback Dre Gibbs recorded his seventh 100-yard game this season when he rushed for 109 yards on 24 carries against North Dakota State last weekend.

Gibbs, the league's third-leading rusher, earned his fifth straight 100-yard game for the 1-7, 0-5 Leathernecks. WIU finishes the year at Illinois State this weekend, at Northern Iowa and against South Dakota State in Macomb.

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 618-351-5087