Another challenge awaits the Dawgs.

The Football Salukis will look to rebound from their 13-0 loss at Northern Iowa when the Dawgs take on high-flying Western Illinois in Macomb Saturday.

SIUC (2-2,4-4) is currently third in the Gateway Conference and is looking for its first conference victory on the road.

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Saluki head coach Shawn Watson said this game is another step in improving as a ball club.

I’d like to prove that we can win on the road against a conference team, he said. That is definitely a building block for this season.

The Dawgs will have a new quarterback at the helm this week when sophomore Chris Schullian takes over for sophomore Danny Smith.

Smith suffered a concussion in last’s week loss to the Panthers, and as a precaution Watson said Smith would only play in case of an emergency.

So far in limited action this season Schullian has completed 3-of-7 passes.

With Smith sidelined, the running game will be extra important against the Leathernecks this week.

They know we are going to walk into the game and rush it first and pass it second, Watson said. Last week what hurt us was not being able to run-action pass, so it didn’t help for us to full-sprint run-action pass, which has helped us in the past.

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I hope to be able to do a little more of that in the last three games.

Western Illinois (1-3, 3-4) is coming off a 13-6 loss against cellar-dwelling Southwest Missouri State last weekend.

The Leathernecks are scoring 27 points a game, second in the league, but are having trouble finding a way to win.

WIU has found it hard stopping conference foes defensively, being out scored 103-52 in league play.

What the Leathernecks do have is the passing combination of sophomore quarterback Jeff Hecklinski and senior receiver Gunnard Twyner.

Hecklinski is the second in total offense plying 152 yards per game, while Twyner leads the Gateway in receptions with five catches a game and he is second in receiving yards, averaging 77 yards per contest.

Overall, the Leathernecks are second in the conference, gaining a total of 226 yards through the air.

The Salukis, who faced Northern Iowa star receiver Dedric Ward a week ago, will try to collar Twyner Saturday. Ward lit up the Dawgs last week for over 200 yards receiver.

He’s (Twyner) a very good receiver a little bit different receiver than Dedric, Watson said. But, I think he is one of the top receivers in the league.

I think this kid here at Western is as good as receiver as there is in the league. I don’t know if he has the overall speed that Dedric does, but he’s a good route runner, gets great separation out of his break and has great hands he has excellent hands.

While WIU is proficient at throwing the football, the Leatherneck running game is the worst in the league, averaging just 107 yards per contest.

Watson said WIU’s lack of a true running game helps in the Dawg’s defensive preparation.

It helps to know that a team has to really on a dimension, he said. Because, then you can focus in and concentrate on stopping that one dimension.

They’re throwing an average of well over 30 times a game. I think some of that’s due to injuries on the o-line and at tailback.

Kick-off is at 1:30 p.m. at Hanson Field Saturday.