Dawgs seek revenge against Ark. State

By Gus Bode

The SIUC football team has a chance at redemption this week when the Salukis travel to Division 1-A Arkansas St., Saturday.

The Dawgs are coming off a 35-3 loss against Murray St. last week and lost to Arkansas St. 41-14 a year ago.

Saluki head coach Shawn Watson said Arkansas St. is a better club then when the two teams played last year.

Advertisement

We’re playing an Arkansas St. team that is better than they’ve been in the past, he said. They’ve had a nice win to start the season.

The Indians have been in Division 1-A for four years and Watson said the extra scholarships are improving Arkansas St.

Pretty soon those 85 scholarships are going to start catching up and they’re going to start getting better, which I think is happening, he said. When you play a 1-A team sometimes you get lulled to sleep a little bit because the competition is on a comparative scale.

Watson said Arkansas State’s defense is similar to last year’s.

They look like the about the same football team in terms of defense, he said. I thought their defense was really pretty salty last year and that proved to be the case all season.

Offensively, Watson feels the Indians have skilled people in the backfield and in the receiving corps and have improved overall from a year ago.

They’re better than they were last year, Watson said. They’ve got a tailback(Cory Walker) who is a good football player.

Advertisement*

This wide receiver Derrick Austin is a good receiver. He’ll put the fear of God in you. He can flat run, so he’s a big-time player.

However, Watson said that does not mean his squad cannot beat the Indians.

We always have an opportunity to win football games, and seeing them play, if we do what we’re suppose to do, then will have a chance to win, but we still have work to do.

The defensive side of the ball will be instrumental if the Salukis are going to beat Arkansas St.

We’re awesome at times and not so awesome at other times, Watson said. Defense is without a doubt about attitude, which means attitude for four quarters and we’ve been inconsistent.

We have to become a more steeled and hungry defensive unit,

As the member of the Big West Conference, Arkansas St. went 1-10 last year with that win coming in Carbondale.

This season the Indians beat Utah State and lost at Nevada-Las Vegas to take 1-1 record into Saturday’s game.

The Salukis might be without William Tolen, who separated his shoulder in the Murray State game. With Tolen’s status questionable, true freshman Karlton Carpenter will see more action this week. Carpenter has gained an average of 149.5 all-purpose yards a game to lead the team.

The Saluki running game has been a key to SIUC’s results this season. In the Dawg’s victory against Southeast Missouri State the Salukis ran for 261 yards, but against Murray State the Salukis could only muster 23 net rushing yards.

Kick-off is at 6 p.m. at Indian Stadium, Saturday.

Advertisement