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Salukis facing ‘pivotal game’
By JOE SCALZO
In one 16-minute stretch last Saturday, Southern Illinois went from being a confident, surging team to one with a lot of question marks (most notably at quarterback) and almost no margin for error entering conference play.
Funny what blowing an 18-point lead can do.
“Wake-up calls aren’t very fun; I don’t know if there’s ever a good time to have a wake-up call,” said Salukis coach Dale Lennon, whose team led 21-3 late in the third quarter before falling to Southeast Missouri State 24-21 last weekend. “We do need to get better in certain areas and we knew that coming into season. We had a big senior class last year that we had to replace and had to have some players step up and play at a high level right away .
“I think that potential is still there but I really don’t want to be talking about potential going into Week 4.”
That said, Southern Illinois is still the two-time Missouri Valley Football Conference champions, having won a record 14 straight conference games. It begins a new season Saturday when it plays YSU at Stambaugh Stadium.
“This is definitely a very pivotal game for us,” Lennon said.
The Salukis enter the game with a question mark at the most pivotal position. Senior QB Chris Dieker, who broke his collarbone in last year’s win over YSU and missed the last six games, has struggled at times through the first three games. Lennon hasn’t been afraid to give the ball to sophomore QB Paul McIntosh, a transfer from Army who went 5-1 last season after McIntosh went down.
Lennon said he hasn’t decided which player will start against the Penguins. YSU coach Eric Wolford expects to see both.
“They both scare me,” Wolford said. “They both can play. One [Dieker] has got a big-league arm, the other one [McIntosh] can run and throw.”
Senior Lucien Walker has led the running game with 201 yards on 35 carries with three TDs and Joe Allaria (17 catches, 157 yards) leads a strong receiving corps.
“What makes them a good team is the fact that they’re disciplined, they play hard and they fight to the end,” said YSU senior safety Andre Elliott, a three-year starter who has never beaten SIU. “This year we have to do the same things.”
Defensively, Southern Illinois plays a 3-4 front and usually plays a Cover 3 or Cover 4, a zone coverage that relies on a pass rush to be effective. The Salukis thrive off tackles for a loss and pressuring the quarterback.
YSU has emerged as a run-first team the last two weeks but will likely need to hit some plays downfield to pull the upset. The Salukis lost two defensive backs to season-ending knee injuries before the season and preseason All-America safety Mike McElroy was injured against Illinois two weeks ago. All told, Southern Illinois has seen projected starters miss 12 games to injury this fall.
“We need to take advantage of that,” said senior receiver Ely Ducatel.
Although the series is tied 10-10-1, the Salukis have won six of seven against YSU and have the potential to again be the best team in a suddenly wide-open conference.
“At the end of the day,” Wolford said, “They’re still the champs.”