The Saluki football team played Gateway Conference power Northern Iowa tough at the UNI Dome, but SIUC eventually fell to the Panthers 13-0 Saturday.

After losing the battle for the top spot in the league, SIUC falls to 2-2 in the Gateway and 4-4 overall, while UNI remains undefeated in the conference at 4-0 and improves to 5-2 on the season.

The Dawgs held the Panthers to their Gateway low of 13 points but could only muster 37 yards in the air with Danny Smith getting knocked with a concussion late in the fourth quarter.

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SIUC head coach Shawn Watson said Smith just didn’t have time to complete his passes.

It’s disheartening on one side because we played well at times, but we couldn’t really get anything going on offense, he said. We were able to rush the ball real well, but we could not throw the football.

That wasn’t due to the quarterback. He just got beat to heck. We had some big-time pressure off the ends and no one in the conference had been able to block those ends.

While the Panthers outscored the Dawgs, 13-0 the offensive production was one-sided with UNI racking up 445 total yards while holding the Dawgs to 157 yards.

A large proportion of Northern Iowa’s offense came from wideout Dedric Ward, who set a new the league record for pass receiving and caught nine passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns to propel the Panthers to the victory.

Watson said it was Ward and the UNI defensive unit that really did in the Salukis.

Dedric Ward did a marvelous job coming up with big plays, he said. Basically, Dedric Ward and those two outside linebackers are the difference in the ball game.

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Ward scored his first touchdown with 10:45 left in the first half when UNI quarterback Chris Berg hit the junior wideout with a 12-yard strike. The combo connected earlier on a 68-yard pass to set that score up.

The Panthers put the game away in the third quarter when Berg and Ward hooked up again on a 20-yard pitch and catch.

Watson said Ward has a good chance to play at the National Football League level.

He’s a big-time player, he said. I think he will play at that level there’s no doubt about it.

Whether he is going to come or not, I don’t know, but he’s got the talent.

The Dawgs defense played well throughout the game, but Watson said if both sides of the ball could have came up with some big plays, the game could have been different.

I believe in our people and I think our people are good football players, and I thought we could get out there and block I’m talking about the two ends, he said. I thought we could cover Dedric Ward. Dedric Ward made some plays that basically our guys were there and had they turned around, its an interception going the other way.

SIUC was able to gain 120 yards on the ground, led by Karlton Carpenter who carried the ball 18 times for 78 yards.

Watson said even though the Salukis lost, their gutsy performance against the Panthers, and play overall throughout the season, has the program going in the right direction.

We’ve made big strides in our program and I think people can see that, he said. We’re well on our way to building something that can be really special, and we’re looking at having a good season still yet.