The SIUC football team returns home Saturday to face intrastate rival Illinois State after a tough 52-3 loss last week at the hands of Indiana State.

The Salukis, 0-1 in the Gateway Conference and 2-3 on the year, lead this heated series 28-26-3, but this will be a different football team than the Dawgs have faced in the past.

The Redbirds, 1-0 in the league and 2-3 overall, come into this game with two new coordinators and different offensive and defensive schemes than win ISU beat the Salukis 38-17 a year ago.

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The SIUC offense will see a different defensive system this year, as the Redbirds have a new coordinator in Jim Hilles.

He’s brought in a different style, which is more of a 50′ defense and they’re doing a lot of things out of it that are really good stuff, Saluki head coach Shawn Watson said. Things that give offenses problems.

Watson said senior Chris Stevens and junior Duane Butler stand out in ISU’s defense. Stevens leads the Redbirds with 42 tackles and Butler had 17 tackles against Southwest Missouri State last Saturday.

Defensively they’re a good football team, he said. There middle linebacker (Chris) Stevens is having a good year.

Duane Butler is a very good safety. He’s along the same lines as Darnell Hendricks, and they use him to make a lot of big plays for their defense. While Illinois State ranks third in the Gateway Conference, SIUC will try to take advantage of a rushing defense that is last in the league giving up 201 yards per game.

The Salukis ground game has struggled averaging only 87 yards in their last four games after rushing for 235 yards in game one against Southeast Missouri State, Aug 31.

The ISU offense attack will also be different than it has been in the past under new coordinator Paul Chryst, as the Redbirds are opening up the attack through the air.

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They’re throwing the ball a lot more than their running it, which is kind of odd to see because they have been so efficient at running, he said. They’re a little bit different football team than what we saw last year.

There going to run the ball only as a second option, as opposed to passing.

Defense will be the key for SIUC, as the Dawgs are ranked last in the Gateway in total yards giving up 347 yards per game.

Watson said the Dawgs’ defensive woes are due to the unit being banged-up, which means the Dawgs have to run a high risk defense to get in the backfield.

If you live by the blitz, you die by the blitz. You get some, you lose some, he said. We’re playing at about 80 percent because we’re beat up and sometimes what you try to do things that will give you an opportunity to be successful.

We haven’t gotten the penetration we have weeks before because we’re beat up. That’s when you have to go to the blitz because you have to have penetration to stop the run game and that’s when they pop some stuff on us.

Like the Salukis, who went to quarterback Danny Smith earlier in the season, after freshman Reggie Kennedy’s shaky performances the Redbirds also switched signal-callers. Junior Lester Anderson has been replaced by junior-transfer Bill Hagman.

I think in the Hofstra game they had problems throwing the ball and they made a quarterback switch, Watson said. The Hagman kid came in and he moved the football team, so that’s why he’s playing for them now.

Hagman completed 32-of-55 passes for 346 yards and a touchdown so far this season.

Kickoff at McAndrew Stadium is 1:30 p.m. Saturday.