Salukis hope to play spoiler in season finale

By Thomas Donley

Although the SIU football team was eliminated from playoff contention with its loss to Northern Iowa on Saturday, it still has plenty to play for.

The Salukis needed to beat seven Division I schools to become playoff eligible in the Football Championship Subdivision. The loss to Northern Iowa dropped the Salukis’ record to 6-5, and 5-5 against Division I opponents.

Coach Dale Lennon said SIU would look to put its fingerprints on the Missouri Valley Football Conference standings by playing spoiler against Illinois State on Saturday.

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“Well, this is a big game,” Lennon said. “Number one, a conference champion could be decided in this game, so if you don’t think that doesn’t put some signifiance into it, you don’t think we’re much of a competitor.”

ISU is tied with North Dakota State for first place in the conference at 6-1. A loss by the Redbirds would end their chances of winning the outright MVFC title.

Junior quarterback Mark Iannotti has personal reasons for wanting to beat Illinois State.

Not only is he familiar with many people at Illinois State from his high school days, but he also wants revenge for a 2012 game when Illinois State defeated Iannotti’s former team Eastern Michigan.

“It’s one of my rivals,” Iannotti said. “Back at Eastern Michigan, they came into our house and threw us around a little bit. I definitely have some bad blood with Illinois State and I want to get them back.”

Senior tight end MyCole Pruitt said the Salukis would remain focused on winning Saturday’s game despite being out of playoff contention.

“We’re pretty much just trying to finish strong and finish out this year on a good note,” Pruitt said. “We’ve had a lot of things happen to us over the course of this season. We’re just trying to finish out on a high note.”

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SIU’s season-opening win over Taylor University, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, set the Salukis back by taking a spot on the schedule that could have been filled by a Division I school.

The last time SIU made the playoffs was in 2009. Each year since, the Salukis have been eliminated from playoff eligibility before the final week of the season.

After the Salukis’ loss to Indiana State on Oct. 25, SIU needed to win each of its three remaining games in order to make the playoffs.

The Salukis won their next game at Missouri State but fell to Northern Iowa a week later.

Senior linebacker Tyler Williamson said the pressure of needing to win was nothing new to SIU.

“Obviously we’ve been in the same kind of position the last two years I’ve been here,” Williamson said. “I don’t think it was anything we couldn’t handle. We just didn’t do what we needed to do.”

Lennon said pride was a motivating factor for SIU heading into its last game of the season.

“There’s a big difference between a 7-5 record and a 6-6 record,” Lennon said. “And there’s a lot of momentum that could be built off that. We can still finish in the upper echelon of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which is the best football conference in the country.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @tdonleyde.

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