By Ryan Keith 18

SIUC football coach Jan Quarless saw his team’s poor defensive performance against Western Kentucky University Saturday as a result of injured starters and missed assignments.

The Salukis gave up 561 yards to the Hilltoppers in a 52-31 loss at McAndrew Stadium. Western Kentucky quarterback Willie Taggart led the offensive barrage by rushing for 289 yards and three touchdowns.

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But with three defensive starters and several offensive players out of the starting lineup for injuries, Quarless felt his team was at a disadvantage against a powerful offensive squad.

I think it has a tremendous impact, Quarless said. Regardless of the fact that we didn’t slow them down, we had 15 total (offensive) plays (in the second half). We knew what we want to do (offensively), but we weren’t able to do so until the very end.

The Salukis have begun to resemble a M.A.S.H. unit as the 1997 season has worn on. Defensive starters Tavita Tovio, Dan Gutierrez and Luther Claxton missed last week’s matchup with an assortment of injuries. Claxton is doubtful for Saturday’s matchup against Western Illinois University, while Tovio and Gutierrez were scheduled to be ready for practice this week.

Those losses forced Quarless to turn to his group of inexperienced freshman backups. Freshmen Andre Bailey, Aaron Bubin, Dante Stovall, Brian Broussard and Mike Teiber all saw action against the Hilltoppers Saturday.

In that ballgame, we elected to go with three freshmen at both defensive end spots, Quarless said. I don’t regret doing that because we were still having trouble stopping them with the veterans. But we just could not get adapted.

The string of injuries are not just limited to the defensive side of the ball. Offensive lineman Brandon Frick missed his third straight game after knee surgery, while fellow lineman Nate Orsburn went down in Saturday’s game with a knee injury and is out for Saturday’s trip to Macomb.

Wide receiver Reggie Fowler did not dress against Western Kentucky, and fullback Bryan Nolbertowicz played despite suffering a thigh contusion in a 23-10 loss Oct. 18 to the University of South Florida.

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The problem isn’t being resilient; we’re just banged up, Quarless said. I felt we were able to play the first six weeks on our strength and our conditioning. Now it seems we start playing with bumps and bruises.

The only guys that seem to be full of energy are Cornell Craig and Jeraldo (Henry), and one of the reasons is that they’re just not getting banged around as much as a Nolbertowicz or a (Karlton) Carpenter. And the same thing goes for the defense.

Quarless was hesitant to place all of the Salukis’ defensive woes directly on a decimated starting lineup. Missed assignments and poor tackling allowed the Western Kentucky offense to pile up yardage in the second half of Saturday’s game.

Taggart used the option to break open for several long runs that set up Hilltopper scores in the first half. The senior quarterback continued that trend in the second half as he led Western Kentucky on an 8:29 drive to open the second half that put the Hilltoppers up for good.

But Quarless was most disappointed with his team’s inability to execute tackles in the open field. Taggart shook loose from Saluki defenders who had him wrapped up in the backfield for a loss, only to gain big yardage and consume valuable time off the clock.

I think we didn’t play assignment football, Quarless said. I don’t think we’re a good tackling football team. Assignment-wise, we weren’t doing what we were supposed to do.

Our corners were just really uncertain. We just lost total responsibility. They read the option very well. We’ve got to attack him (Taggart) rather than just let him pull it and go.