Penguins help Salukis set plenty of precedents

By Chuck Housteau

YOUNGSTOWN — There were plenty of firsts for the Southern Illinois Salukis in their impressive 33-0 Missouri Valley Football Conference win over Youngstown State Saturday.

The Salukis recorded their first shutout against a league opponent on the road in school history. It also marked YSU’s first home shutout loss since a 27-0 whitewash against Stephen F. Austin in 1995.

“We came in here knowing that we had to stop the bread and butter of the YSU offense and that’s their running game,” Southern Illinois’ first year coach, Dale Lennon, said, “and our guys were really up for the challenge.”

The Salukis defense was more than up for the challenge. They were dominant at times especially against the Penguins running game.

Southern Illinois limited YSU to just 70 rushing yards in 30 carries and 207 total yards.

“We are starting to feel comfortable in our transition season with the new coaching staff and our 4-3 defense,” Lennon said. “Our defense played outstanding today.

“We’ve tried to bring in the type of players who can flourish in this defensive scheme and they are starting to get comfortable and play well.”

The win kept the Salukis (4-2, 3-1) atop the MVC standings with Northern Iowa, a team they defeated earlier this season, 27-24.

“We wanted to stop [YSU’s] run,” Lennon said. “It wasn’t our entire focus but a lot of our schemes are designed to take away the run up the middle.

“Once you do that then you can put pressure on the quarterback on third down and hopefully make some things happen.”

The SIU defense was masterful at making things difficult for YSU freshman quarterback Dailyn Campbell, who was 15-for-29 for 102 yards passing but was sacked four times, hurried many more and threw an interception.

“We did a nice job of mixing up our blitzes and defensive schemes to try to get pressure and confuse their young quarterback,” Lennon said. “We did a lot of zone blitzes and tried to get pressure at the point of attack.”

The win will likely keep the Salukis in the top 15 in the Sports Network and FCS Coaches polls next week.

Southern Illinois has been in the top 20 of those polls for 74 straight weeks.

“We’re excited where were at right now with this team,” Lennon said. “Anytime you can win a game on the road its a good thing is this league.

“That was our main focus in coming in here and now we have to try and go do that again next week at Missouri State.”