SIU football’s 39-36 loss to No. 19 Indiana State on Saturday was an ugly game to watch. 

Neither team really wanted to win, and neither kickers did helped.  

In the game, Saluki junior kicker Austin Johnson missed a 38-yard field goal, which would have made up the difference in score. 

Johnson was not alone in his struggles, as ISU junior kicker Eric Heidorn missed a 43-yard kick in the game and has not made a kick longer than 28 yards all season.

The entire Missouri Valley Football Conference is struggling to put three points on the board. The conference as a whole is only hitting 63 percent of field goals so far this season.

Southern Illinois has the second highest field goal percentage in the conference with 69 percent, only behind next week’s opponent Youngstown State’s mark of 85 percent. Even the latter won’t turn the heads of NFL scouts, no matter how bad their kickers are.    

The field goal is Johnson’s fourth missed attempt and the third from less than 40 yards. This is also the second game — the other being the 37-36 loss to Western Illinois — where a missed field goal could change the outcome. 

This year seems eerily reminiscent of last year’s situation with preseason all-conference selection Thomas Kinney’s struggles — converting 53 percent of his kicks.

Sure, he made 75 percent of kicks in his junior year, including a 52-yarder. But those percentages scream acceptance of mediocrity from the conference.

Senior kickoff specialist Chris Adams is the other kicker on SIU’s active roster. Adams was in an open competition with Johnson in preseason camps.

Adams has not attempted field goals since high school, but did convert 11 field goals with a long of 49 yards his junior and senior years.

There may not be an answer to the problem immediately, and Johnson may just be in a slump.

However, SIU coaches need to figure out who they can field as kicker with more success in the meantime.  

Sean Carley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @SCarleyDE