SIU football held its Annual Spring Scrimmage on Saturday, giving fans a taste of the 2016 football season.

The final score was 43-35, in favor of the offense.

This was the third scrimmage for the Dawgs and the team won’t see action again until September.

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Here are the takeways from the game:

Quarterback battle becoming more defined

Sophomore Sam Straub started the scrimmage on the first drive and played the majority of the game, including all but two of the second half possessions.

Straub had a rough day, though, completing less than half of his passes. He was 9 for 25 for 81 yards.

He took some hard hits, including one at the knees that left him limping for the next few minutes, and a sack and fumble on the final play of the game.

Senior Josh Straughan scored the first touchdown of the scrimmage, and completed 70-yard and 95-yard drives. He was 12 for 18 for 91 yards and a touchdown. 

Sophomore Matt DeSomer and redshirt freshman Tanner Hearn only had a couple of drives each and only DeSomer had one that scored.

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DeSomer carried the ball five times for 36 yards and completed two passes for 28 yards on a drive in the second half, capping it off with a five-yard rushing touchdown.

Defense looked good

Kraig Paulson’s 4-3 defense had a strong showing, as most of the first-team defensive drives resulted in three-and-outs by the offense.

The defense registered four sacks in the scrimmage, led by senior defensive end Deondre Barnett’s 1.5 sacks.

Senior linebacker Chase Allen was all over the field making plays, as well as leading the defense in a middle linebacker spot that he fits well in. 

Senior defensive back Tareq Abulebbeh played most of the second half snaps in spite of his ongoing recovery from a lower leg injury.

He made two key plays, stopping Hearn after a nine-yard scramble and defending a 20-yard pass targeted for sixth-year senior wide receiver Israel Lamprakes.

Drops plagued the offense

The offense struggled to get things going outside of a handful of big drives. 

Lamprakes played with the first-team offense, but only recorded one catch for seven yards. 

Junior wide receiver Connor Iwema had back-to-back drops to stall a drive, but later recovered with a tough catch in tight coverage for a first down. 

In spite of the drops, the Salukis finished the day with no turnovers.

Running attack inconsistency

Sophomore running back Daquan Isom had more than 100 yards rushing in the scrimmage, including a 50-yarder he broke out on the second drive of the game.

Isom also had a five-yard touchdown to cap off a 95-yard drive with Straughan.

Outside of Isom and a single drive from DeSomer, the Salukis couldn’t find any consistency in the running game.

Jacob Gaertner can be reached at [email protected] or at 618-536-3304.