As the SIUC football team prepares for its Homecoming matchup against Southwest Missouri State Saturday, the Dawgs have had a history of great games on this weekend.

With a record of 38-33-2 the Salukis have enjoyed success during Homecoming. Over the past 30 years SIUC had some classical battles and upsets.

Four upsets especially highlight the great games that have graced McAndrew Stadium on Homecoming Saturday.

Advertisement

1967- SIUC 16, Tulsa 13

Coming into this battle two national rankings services predicted the Golden Hurricane to beat the Dawgs by at least 52 points. It started to look like the experts were right as Tulsa jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead in the first quarter.

The Salukis answered back with a 72-yard drive that culminated in a Ralph Galloway 32-yard field goal.

From there the Dawgs defense came alive and blew the Golden Hurricane away. Tulsa’s passing attack came into the contest ranked No. 1 in the nation but SIUC held quarterback Greg Barton to just 159 yards in the air.

The entire SIUC defense did the job limiting Tulsa to 264 yards compared to the 485 yards the Golden Hurricane had averaged coming into the game

The Saluki defense also provided offensive support when John Quillen picked off one of his three interceptions in the second half and returned the ball to Tulsa’s seven-yard line. SIUC quickly took advantage when Charlie Pemberton ran the ball in on the next play.

With the Golden Hurricane’s offense stymied, Galloway added two more field goals from 30 and 31 yards out to secure one of the Dawgs biggest upsets ever.

Advertisement*

1971- SIUC 34, Drake 32

The SIUC 1971 campaign had high exceptions of being one of the best in Saluki history. However, the Salukis came into the season’s Homecoming game with two straight losses and hosted a Drake squad that was 5-3.

The year had been unlucky for the Salukis but on this day luck was on SIUC’s side.

The Salukis had built a 27-10 in the third quarter, however Drake was able to cut into the lead at 34-32 and had an opportunity to take the lead late in the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs took over at their own 34-yard line and drove down to the Salukis 13 yard-line. With 40 seconds left on the clock Drake coach Jack Wallace set in field goal unit, but pulled them back out and sent his offense back on the field.

Drake connected on a pass to the Bulldogs Jerry Heston to the four-yard line, but Henston did not get out of bounds. With no timeouts Drake could not get placekicker Bob Smith, who had hit a 45-yard field goal earlier, on the field in time and the Salukis held on to win.

The lost left Drake coach Jack Wallace second guessing at himself after the game.

Jesus! he said throwing hit hat across the room. Why didn’t I give the kids a chance? Why didn’t I go for the field goal?

1973- SIUC 14, Akron 13

On a cold, rainy day the Salukis were able to hold off a last second field goal attempt to seek revenge on Akron, who knock the Dawgs out of the Top-10 two years ago.

This year SIUC was struggling at 1-5 but got on the board early in the first quarter when Saluki running back Larry Perkins dove in from the one-yard line. The Dawgs went on to score again to take a 14-0 lead. The Zips started mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter posting a touchdown with 13:25 left in the game.

After SIUC was forced to punt, Akron scored on the very next play when the Zips’ Eric Schoch hit receiver Mac Thomas for a 53-yard touchdown strike.

SIUC got lucky when Brian Ellis shanked the point-after attempt, which kept the Saluki lead at 14-13.

The Dawgs held the ball until there were only 20 seconds left on the clock, but Akron moved the ball quickly down to the Saluki 21-yard line. That set up a 39-yard field goal attempt by Ellis, but the wind pushed the kick wide and SIUC escaped.

1986- SIUC 27, Northern Iowa 24

This homecoming game will go down as one of the craziest defensive performances ever for the Dawgs.

The 16th-ranked Northern Iowa look to spoil the Salukis Homecoming and advance up the national rankings. Early in the game it appeared the Panthers would do just that connecting on touchdown strikes of 81 and 52 yards.

Trailing 14-0 the Salukis stiffened defensively and kicked their offense into gear.

Pat King ended a 69-yard Dawg drive with a three-yard plunge to make the score 14-7. After that score the defense took over on both end of the spectrum.

SIUC’s defensive unit accounted for 16 points on two interception returns for touchdowns and two safteys.

The big play came with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter when Saluki safety Charles Bell intercepted a Mike Smith pass and scampered 30 yards to put SIUC ahead 25-24 and knock Northern Iowa out of the Top-25 poll.

Overall, the defense game up 425 yards, but had four interceptions, two safteys and eight tackles for losses.