FAYETTEVILLE - Western Illinois linebacker Jason Williams doesn't view the Leathernecks'opener Saturday at Arkansas as a mismatch of his Missouri Valley Conference team against an SEC squad.

"Honestly, we don't see it as a David vs. Goliath thing," said Williams, a senior All-American. "We approach it the same way we approach every game.

" We're never going to underestimate our opponent, but we're not going to underestimate ourselves, either.

" We're not just going there to show up and say we played Arkansas. If you're any type of competitor, you're playing to win any time you step on the field."

Western Illinois, a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA ) team, is 6-18 all-time against Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly DIA ) opponents, but the victories are against Northern Illinois, Ball State and Eastern Michigan.

The Leathernecks are 0-8 against teams from Bowl Championship Series conferences and in their only previous game against an SEC team lost at LSU 35-7 in 2003.

In Western Illinois' most recent games against BCS conference teams, it lost 34-10 at Wisconsin in 2006 and 21-0 at Illinois last season.

"That helps you get used to the crowd noise," Williams said of the road games against Big Ten teams. "Until we went to Wisconsin, I had no idea a crowd could get that loud and affect the game."

Williams is among 20 returning starters for the Leathernecks, including special teams, and 44 lettermen. The team, 6-5 last season, is ranked among the top 25 in three FCS polls, including No. 15 by The Sporting News.

Senior All-America running back Herb Donaldson, who has rushed for 2, 962 career yards, is among nine returning starters on offense for the Leathernecks.

Donaldson, who has 222 career tackles, leads a defense with nine returning starters.

Senior All-America placekicker Taylor Rowan is perfect on 117 career extra-point attempts and hit 19 of 31 fieldgoal attempts last season, including 6 of 8 from beyond 50 yards.

"We have so many veterans, I don't think we'll be intimidated [by Arkansas' crowd ]," Williams said. "It's up to us to keep the younger guys focused."

It's uncommon for a FCS team to beat a BCS conference team, but it has happened six times in the previous three years, most notably when Appalachian State won at No. 5 Michigan 34-32 to open last season.

"It gives all the [FCS ] schools hope," said Mark Hendrickson, Western Illinois' offensive coordinator and acting head coach. "So when you prepare, you have that hope and you have those dreams that things will go well.

" And yet the reality of it is, you know it will be a real challenge and there will be a lot of tough situations to overcome on that given day when we're playing Arkansas in their stadium."

Hendrickson is serving as the Leathernecks' head coach while Don Patterson recovers from tonsillar cancer.

Hendrickson will continue to call plays for the offense, but will do so from the sideline rather than the press box, which has been his spot the previous nine seasons.

"We're going to give it all we've got and see what happens," Hendrickson said. "It will be an exciting game for our players to be in such an environment.

"[The Razorbacks ] will have a great deal of team speed and that's always a big issue."

Another issue facing Western Illinois is the unknown regarding a new coaching staff at Arkansas led by Bobby Petrino.

"You've got to do your research and try to prepare and game plan as best you can," said Leathernecks defensive backs coach Monte Henderson, a Conway native and former Arkansas graduate assistant. "Hopefully, you've done a good enough job that when you get to the game, your guys aren't looking like chickens with their heads cut off."