Indiana State last hurdle to outright title for Salukis

“They can beat our butt Saturday if we’re not ready to play.” – coach Kill

In many ways, SIU is not playing Indiana State for the Gateway Conference title.

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The Salukis, realistically, are far too talented to lose to the Sycamores if they prepare as they have in the past for teams like Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky.

To seal the school’s first outright Gateway title, the Salukis only have to worry about one team – and it’s not Indiana State.

“If anybody on this team gets complacent, and they’re not going to come out this weekend and play, we could lose this game,” said SIU safety Alexis Moreland. “This is the Gateway, and you have to go play every Saturday.”

Moreland remembers last year, when a last-second loss to Northern Iowa ended up derailing a promising season, and he said his team is going to great lengths to avoid a similar result this time.

SIU head coach Jerry Kill would plan speeches about not overlooking opponents and finishing off the season strong, but he doesn’t need to.

The players are making the speeches for him.

“I honestly think we’re at a point in the program where coach doesn’t have to do that,” said SIU quarterback Joel Sambursky, who is almost a coach in his own right. “I think we have enough respect for our opponents, and we’ve been around long enough that coach Kill doesn’t have to give speeches about overlooking anybody.”

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SIU getting complacent is probably the best chance Indiana State has to win Saturday, although they may have an ace in the hole with their passing game.

Moreland said the team can and will pass the ball, and the All-American safety expects to be tested all day. But only one quarterback, Northern Iowa’s Tom Petrie, has successfully thrown the ball against the Salukis. Indiana State quarterback Phillip Johnson is no Petrie, and he has precious little to work with.

The Sycamores are last in the Gateway Conference in scoring offense, rushing offense, total offense and pass efficiency in addition to giving up the most penalty yards in the conference.

They are second to last in scoring defense, pass defense, total defense, sacks, third-down conversions and kickoff coverage.

Indiana State is also coming off a 58-6 loss to Northern Iowa.

“It gets hard right now, you’re basically playing for your hearts’ desire,” Indiana State head coach Tim McGuire told the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. “You have to believe you can play in an environment where no one gives you a chance.”

Not only are the Sycamores facing a No. 1 team, they are facing a Saluki squad with everything to play for.

At stake Saturday are at least two home playoff games, the No. 1 ranking, the Gateway Championship and defense of the Salukis top spot in the Gridiron Power Index, a primary factor in determining seeding for the playoffs.

Sambursky said the team has plenty of incentives to win, and knows a loss would be crippling to the Salukis. He doesn’t even want to think about the possibility of a loss.”

“It would be horrible and I don’t really feel like talking about it,” Sambursky said, half laughing. “I don’t want to think about it, but it would be bad.”

SIU knows plenty about the role of spoiler, scoring upsets against Northern Iowa and Western Illinois when it was considered a lesser team in 2002.

In football, anybody can beat anybody, and Kill has experienced that from the spoiler perspective.

“We did it because we were prepared and they probably didn’t prepare as hard,” Kill said about the upsets of 2002. “It’s all about preparation, and they can beat our butt Saturday if we’re not ready to play.”

There is also the eerie fact that the 1983 Salukis, the only SIU football team to win a national championship, lost to a 2-8 team the last game of its regular season.

That team lost its No. 1 ranking, which is something Kill is hoping to avoid. For the first time since September, Kill is talking about the importance of rankings.

“I told you I don’t talk about rankings until the end of the year,” Kill said. “Well, it’s the end of the year, and now it means something.

“I just can’t believe our football team won’t come out and play their guts out on Saturday.”