By Ryan Keith 20

Western Kentucky senior quarterback Willie Taggart would be a candidate for the Heisman Trophy if the SIUC football team could vote for the award after his offensive performance Saturday.

Taggart slashed and dashed his way to 289 yards rushing in helping Western Kentucky turn a 28-24 halftime lead into a 52-31 win over the Salukis at McAndrew Stadium Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 3,000.

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But Taggart’s rushing yardage, which fell 20 yards short of the NCAA record for most yards by a quarterback, was only the start of the Salukis’ defensive problems. The Hilltoppers rushed for 561 yards, breaking the school record of 554 yards set in a 41-39 over SIUC in 1992.

The loss snapped SIUC’s two-game winning streak and dropped its record to 3-5 on the season. Western Kentucky improved to 7-1 overall.

SIUC football coach Jan Quarless said his team was not ready to stop Taggart and the Hilltoppers’ rushing game.

Obviously, we didn’t stop them at all, Quarless said. You have to slow them down at some point, and we weren’t able to do so.

I’m sure it’s a lack of responsibility. It’s tough to prepare for that offense during the week, and obviously, we didn’t prepare well enough. Whatever that game plan was, I guess you can throw it out the window, and I don’t even know if we should even look at this (game) film.

Sophomore wide receiver Cornell Craig, who caught 10 passes for 177 yards and tied a school record with three touchdowns, said his individual effort turned out to be worthless.

My performance isn’t important right now because we lost, Craig said. If I catch one pass for five yards and we win, my performance is great. My yardage and my catches with a loss doesn’t mean anything.

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The Salukis and Hilltoppers opened the game with an offensive display that looked more like a fast-break basketball game than a grinding, smashmouth football struggle.

SIUC took the opening possession 65 yards in 3 minutes and 32 seconds and scored on a 5-yard pass from quarterback Kent Skornia to Craig for a 7-0 lead. Western Kentucky responded two possessions later with a 60-yard drive and scored on a 1-yard run by Latravis Powell to tie the game 7-7 with 42 seconds left in the opening quarter.

In the second quarter, both teams caught fire offensively, combining for a total of 38 points between them. SIUC scored 17 points on touchdowns by Craig and tight end Mike Green, and added a 30-yard field goal by Matt Simonton with 3:20 left in the half.

But Western Kentucky responded to each Saluki score with a touchdown of its own. The Hilltoppers took a 28-24 lead with 54 seconds left before halftime on a 9-yard run by Taggart, who finished the first half with 180 yards in 10 carries on the ground.

The Salukis had what turned out to be their last scoring chance of the day just seconds before halftime, but a 46-yard touchdown pass from Skornia to Jeraldo Henry was called back on a holding penalty.

Taggart and the Hilltoppers’ offense took their game to another level in the second half, running the I-bone offense and the option to near perfection in outscoring the Salukis 24-7. Western Kentucky scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and controlled the ball for all but 1:31 on the clock.

In the fourth quarter, Western Kentucky added a 41-yard field goal by place-kicker Jeff Poisel and a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Mitchell Randle to seal the win. Craig scored the game’s final points on a 71-yard pass from Skornia with 6:38 left.

Skornia, who completed 22 of 39 pass attempts for 287 yards and four touchdowns, said the Saluki offense could take as much blame for the loss as the defense.

We knew it was going to be a shoot-out from the get-go, Skornia said. They just had more offensive power. Our defense just had an unbelievable job to accomplish.

That quarterback is a great player. Offensively, we just can’t go three (downs) and out when we come out on the field in the second half. We’ve just got to give our defense time to sit on the bench and keep their offense off the field.

The Salukis travel to Macomb for a Gateway Football Conference battle with Western Illinois University at 1 p.m. Saturday.