It is getting better.

The SIUC football team outplayed Division 1-A Arkansas State for much of the game Saturday, but costly mistakes allowed the Indians to squeak by the Salukis 14-9 in Jonesboro, Ark.

Eleven Saluki penalties combined with two blocked Mark Gagliano punts contributed to Arkansas State’s 14 first-half points.

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SIUC controlled the second half, scoring nine points, but the Indians were able to hold the ball for the last 6:49 of the contest to steal the win.

Saluki head coach Shawn Watson said he was frustrated because his squad played good enough to get a victory.

It’s a tough loss because we played well enough to win this ball game in terms of effort, he said. We were hurt in the first half in terms of silly penalties and our special teams really hurt us.

Their points were set up off of special teams and that really hurt us.

The two blocked punts gave Arkansas State great field position and the Indians were able to take advantage for two touchdowns. Both snaps were high, but Watson said only one was a bad snap the other was the lack of protection.

On the first one, yes, the second one I think there was a protection error on what would have been the left side, he said.

The Salukis also had a punt blocked in their first game against Southeast Missouri State.

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SIUC committed 11 penalties in the game, including several that came on third down, giving the Indians automatic first downs.

They (penalties) still come at the wrong time, he said. I’m really getting fed up with it, because those things are the hidden yardage things that take you out of ball games.

And if you eliminate the penalties and play better on special teams you win this game, because we played well enough to win this ball game.

Watson was impressed by SIUC’s defense, which didn’t give up a point in the second half.

Defense did a great job, he said. The kids really played very, very well.

They really did a nice job of stymieing them (Arkansas St).

Trailing 14-0 at halftime, the Dawgs started rolling in the second half with Ryan Given connecting on a 21-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

Then, quarterback Danny Smith, with running backs Karlton Carpenter and Coe Bonner, drove the Salukis 80 yards on 14 plays capped by a Bonner one-yard dive.

Arkansas State stopped the Salukis’ momentum, holding the ball for the rest of the game including coming up with several third down conversions.

The Dawgs offense was sparked by Carpenter, who rushed for 82 yards, and caught five passes for 46 yards.

After a shaky first half, Danny Smith settled down and completed 13 of 26 passes for 140 yards. Watson said he though Smith did a decent job at the quarterback position.

I thought he did a nice job at running just the base offense, he said. We didn’t ask him to get real cute on anything. We just asked him to go out there and lead them and we had a lot less confusion this week he did a nice job.

The Salukis will try and stop their two-game losing skid when the Dawgs take on Nicholls State Saturday at McAndrew Stadium. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m.