Going into Saturday’s game against Indiana, the Saluki football team was a 19-point underdog in the Las Vegas spread.

The Salukis covered the spread, breaking offensive records en route to a 47-48 defeat.

SIU debuted a new uptempo spread option offense Saturday, and first impressions appear to indicate a bright future for the offense. 

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Senior quarterback Mark Iannotti had a performance for the ages, putting up 411 yards through the air with four touchdowns and 116 yards on the ground with another touchdown for a total of 527 all-purpose yards, which blew away Kory Faulkner’s old record of 419 set in 2013. 

This performance was the first 400-100 yard game in Saluki history. The team has never had anyone put up a 300-100 game before.

The ball distribution within the offense was impressive. SIU had a total of nine different players rush the ball for a total of 248 yards and 10 different receivers accumulate the 411 receiving yards.

This type of ball distribution can make opposing defenses go crazy by never knowing where the ball may go. 

These numbers may be a little skewed since Indiana suspended two defensive starters just before kickoff, but the fact that SIU could gain a total of 659 total yards against a Big 10 opponent shows Saluki offense may be better than expected this year.

It was not perfect though. The offense needs to work on ball security.

Iannotti and sophomore running back Cameron Walter both fumbled in opposing territory, killing what likely would have been scoring drives. 

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When you face tough opponents like the Salukis will most of this year, fumbles like those can and will affect the outcome of the game. 

The other side of the ball was not as bright. 

The inexperience of the Saluki defense, especially at the cornerback and linebacker positions, was a glaring weakness of this year’s team; the Hoosiers amassed 352 yards of total offense — 219 through the air — in the second half after earning 243 in the first half. 

It was clear that Indiana targeted young cornerback sophomore Ryan Neal, a converted safety, and redshirt freshman Jefferson Vea in the second half by passing the ball 20 times, almost double their first half total. 

The safeties were a bright spot for the Salukis as sophomore Kenny James led the team with nine tackles.

Senior safeties D.J. Cameron and Anthony Thompson were important in the Saluki secondary, both earning five tackles with two and one pass breakups, respectively.

This defense will grow together, but with the gauntlet of games coming up, they better do it fast or the Salukis may have to chase down a lot of opponents this season.

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