Saluki Football opened up conference play this weekend as the Indiana State Sycamores came to Carbondale looking to spoil SIU’s Family Weekend.

SIU hit the ground running from both sides of the ball from the first whistle. 

A 60-yard rush by Shaun Lester Jr. from the first play from scrimmage set up a touchdown pass to Jay Jones on the Dawgs first possession. Chandler Chapman doubled the Saluki lead the next time the offense had the ball with a 39-yard scamper to the endzone. And a 62-yard rush from DJ Williams helped put the SIU up 21-0 in the first eight minutes of the game.

“Anybody can run the ball, they just never know what to expect with us.” Chapman said.

As for defense, the Dawgs forced two three-and-outs on the first two possessions for ISU. With the ball for their third time, the Sycamores were able to find some rhythm on the ground, rushing for 48 total yards on the drive to punch the ball into the endzone and get on the board. 

It looked like the Sycamore defense has also found their footing, forcing what would have been a three-and-out in their favor, but an aggressive fake punt on 4th-and-10 from SIU’s own 36 resulted in a 28 yard gain for the Dawgs, leading to a field goal from Paul Geelen to put the home team up 24-7.

The Saluki defense stopped the Sycamore offense on the ensuing drive which the offense complemented with a 83-yard touchdown to Vinson Davis III

Davis put together his second straight game with 100+ receiving yards, finishing the contest with seven receptions for 140 yards and the lone touchdown.

ISU found some big plays of their own to get into the endzone for the second time of the night. A 30 yard pass got the Sycamores into Saluki territory and Nick Osho found a hole to break off a 39-yard rush to the endzone.

On the kickoff that followed, Davis shook off some would-be tacklers to set his squad up at their 44, their best starting field positioning of the night so far. Ironically, it ended in a three-and-out, being the first Saluki possession of the game that didn’t result in any points.

SIU forced another Sycamores punt, but on the return, one white jersey was able to rip the ball out of Tae Marrero Jr.’s hands and another pounced on it, giving ISU the ball in Saluki territory. The Dawgs’ defense was able to bounce back from the bad break and force a field goal attempt that sailed wide to the right.

Taking over under two minutes to play in the half, Williams was able to put some short completions together to get into scoring position and inside the last 10 seconds he was able to push his way into the endzone, putting the Salukis up 38-14 at the break.

Williams, coming off a performance against SEMO which earned him FCS National Player of the Week recognition, put together a statline of 226 yards and two touchdowns through the air and 70 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

On the other side of halftime, the Saluki defense stayed hot, forcing another three-and-out, but had to come back onto the field just a play later after a Sycamores recovered another SIU fumble. The defense was able to keep ISU out of the endzone, stuffing the 4th down attempt on the Saluki goalline to get the ball back to the offense.

The Dawgs, unable to make the 99-yard trek across the field, punted the ball back to the Sycamores. The Trees put up the first points of the second half on another long rushing touchdown from Osho, this one from 66 yards out. Chasing 18, they elected to go for two on the point after, but were unsuccessful. ISU also attempted an onside kick to keep possession of the ball, but that too was unsuccessful.

SIU had some trouble stopping the run in the contest, allowing ISU to run for 322 yards, including 211 for Osho alone.

“You don’t want to give up a 200 yard rusher.” Hill said. “There’re issues in all three phases every week that teams will expose. It’s our job to go clean those things up and make sure we’re putting our guys in the best position.”

With a short field ahead of them, the Dawgs got another touchdown from Chapman and were able to tack on another field goal from Geelen following the Saluki defense’s first takeaway of the game on an interception by Donnie Wingate.

After ISU’s next drive ended in a punt, Eddie Robinson got the house call, rumbling 81 yards to stretch the Saluki lead to an insurmountable 35 with 10 minutes left.

As a team, the Salukis gained a total of 430 yards on the ground, barely edging out the previous program record of 423.

“Every coach would tell you, to be a successful run team, it takes everybody.” Hill said. “From the offensive line, the back that’s carrying the ball, the tight-ends that are engaged in most of our run game and then wide receiver.”

The Sycamores put up a touchdown in garbage time as the two teams ran out the clock with the Salukis coming out on top 55-27.

The Salukis (4-1, 1-0 MVFC) will be back in action on the road against the defending national champions, North Dakota State (5-0, 2-0), in Fargo next Saturday, Oct. 11.

Sports Reporter Nick Pfannkuche can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook and X @dailyegyptian.

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