Saluki football continues rolling, dominates Racers Spt_murraycap_jd_9/15

Heading into Saturday night’s football game, most of the talk revolved around Murray State’s defense.

It was a defense that allowed just 45 yards of total offense to Valparaiso two weeks ago.

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It was a defense had allowed just 117 rushing yards in two games.

And it was a defense that was manhandled as SIU rolled 32-7 to silence any critics who said last weekend’s victory over Southeast Missouri State was a fluke.

In Saturday’s contest, Muhammad Abdulqaadir alone exceeded the number of rushing yards allowed by the Racers, running for 126 yards on 19 carries. As a team, SIU put up 245 yards on 54 attempts.

Fellow senior Tom Koutsos was second on the team in rushing, racking up 44 yards on 10 carries. He also scored two touchdowns in the game, giving him 140 points in his career, which set a new school record.

Following the game, Koutsos downplayed the mark and said the number he wanted to look at was three, as in how many wins the No. 21 Salukis (3-0) now have. The win also snapped a three-game losing streak to Murray State (1-2).

“Forget about all the records,” Koutsos said. “We’re starting to win here, and it just feels good to go out and be 3-0.”

The last time SIU won its first three games was 1999. SIU now has an off-week before facing Division II St. Joseph’s. Should the team win that game, it will have its first 4-0 start since 1991 when the Dawgs won their first five games of the season.

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While Koutsos and the rest of the Salukis’ running attack was alive and well during the win, Murray State’s ground game was essentially impotent.

The Racers, who ran for 344 yards against SIU last year, managed just 81 yards on 40 attempts Saturday. For the season, SIU is allowing opposing offenses to run for just 1.9 yards a carry.

“They whipped us up front on both sides of the ball, and we weren’t able to really do anything all night,” Murray State head coach Joe Pannunzio said in a press release.

As dominant as the SIU defense was throughout the game, it was even more so when it mattered most.

Early in the game, the Salukis had their second goal line stand in two weeks, which set the tone for the remainder of the game. Murray State would go for it on fourth down three more times on the night, failing each time.

The key to that success was the defensive line owning the line of scrimmage. The Salukis had strong play from numerous players including Chris Sutherlin, Linton Brown, Billy Beard and Lionel Williams.

Sutherlin, who had two sacks on the night, nailed Murray State quarterback Stewart Childress in the end zone for a safety, giving SIU a 16-0 lead with just four more minutes remaining in the first half.

“Linebackers were flowing to the ball and not getting touched, so I mean that just speaks for the defensive line right there,” senior linebacker Eric Egan said. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to them.”

The one touchdown the Salukis surrendered came when All-American safety Alexis Moreland, who led the team with 10 tackles in the game, was on the sidelines with a bruised shoulder.

With Moreland off the field, Murray State marched down and scored on a pass from Childress to Deandre Green to cut the halftime deficit to 16-7.

In the locker room, SIU head coach Jerry Kill told his players that the opening drive of the second half was going to be the biggest one of the season and if they did not get some points the game could slip out of their grasp.

On the drive, the Salukis came out of the locker room and took advantage of one of five Murray State personal fouls and a 23-yard third-down conversion by Abdulqaadir to eventually score a touchdown that Kill called a backbreaker.

“When you got a team on its heels you got to drive the stake, finish it right there,” Koutsos said of the four-minute scoring drive. “Don’t give them the chance to get back in the game, and Coach Kill stressed that in the locker room.”

Another thing Kill stressed to his team was playing with class.

In last season’s meeting, Murray State racked up 19 penalties for 161 yards. This time, the Racers were only penalized seven times for 89 yards, but five of them were personal fouls and came at key moments for SIU to keep crucial drives alive.

One example was on a third-down play late in the third quarter. SIU fullback Brandon Robinson was on his knees after having dropped a pass, and a Murray State defender flew in the dove into Robinson’s lower back. The flag was thrown and the Salukis eventually scored a touchdown to go up 29-7.

“We knew from last year those guys were going to come up and take a few cheap shots,” Koutsos said.

Kill repeatedly told his players all week in practice not to let them get caught up in Murray State’s antics and to just come out and win the right way.

“Make sure we go out with first class,” Robinson said of Kill’s preaching. “Just beat them and shake their hands.”

Reporter Jens Deju can be reached at [email protected]