Only five teams of the 46 in Missouri Valley Football Conference history that won at least eight games during the regular season failed to make the playoffs.

This weekend, two of the league's three top-25 teams hope to avoid becoming the sixth. With wins at Western Illinois and Illinois State, respectively, No. 12 South Dakota State and No. 9 Northern Iowa would earn their eighth victories of the year. With their fate in the Football Championshp Subdivision selection committee, however, at least one of the coaches is not banking on history.

"The people that I've talked to, and the people that Justin Sell, our athletic director, have talked to, say that if you win, there's a great chance to get in," SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said. "Those last eight bids are subjective. They've got a system. I've read it. To me, we would be in, but we're not guaranteed anything. Most everybody tells us that we'd be in, but we're not promising our team anything."

The Jackrabbits (7-3, 6-1 MVFC) finished third in the league last year with seven regular-season wins, and were left out of the 16-team field. They beat the Leathernecks (1-9, 0-7) 24-22 last season, and trail the all-time series 4-2.

Northern Iowa (7-3, 5-2) has reached the postseason three of the last four years and made it to the semifinals last year. UNI takes on Illinois State (5-5, 4-3) in Normal, where the Redbirds won 38-3 in 2005 for their only win in the series in the last six meetings.

The MVFC has had at least two teams in the 16-team bracket every year since 1995. The league got three teams in in 2006, and a league-record four in 2003.

Top-ranked Southern Illinois University (9-1, 8-0 MVFC) captured the league's automatic bid to the playoffs Nov. 7 when it won at SDSU. The Salukis finish up the regular season Saturday at Southeast Missouri State (2-8, 1-7 Ohio Valley Conference).

The FCS selection show will be on ESPNews at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Salukis are hosting a public event for the unveiling of the bracket at Copper Dragon in Carbondale. Doors open at 1 p.m.

Salem moving up the chart: Speaking of Illinois State, senior wide receiver Eyad Salem now ranks sixth in MVFC history for career receptions after hauling in eight catches against Youngstown State last weekend. Salem has 177 career catches for 2,172 yards. He is 15 receptions away from tying former Redbird Laurent Robinson for fifth place and 71 yards from tying former WIU wideout Gunnard Twyner for 11th place in yardage.

Track crossover: Two of UNI's league track champs had big plays in the Panthers' 34-0 win against WIU.

Defending 100-meter champ Jarred Herring caught a 56-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Missouri Valley Conference long jump champ Quentin Scott scored on a 45-yard interception return in the fourth quarter of UNI's second shutout of the season.

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com

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