If defense wins championships, SIU football’s title hopes have looked bleak in the past month.

Although the Salukis are near the middle of the pack in the Football Championship Subdivision in most defensive categories, their defense has let them down in the last three games. It is no coincidence that SIU rode a three-game losing streak into its bye week.

The Salukis’ bye week came later this year than that of most other teams. Coach Dale Lennon said he believed the long season contributed to the team’s recent shortcomings.

“This game is very demanding,” Lennon said. “The week-to-week grind, the preparation that goes into it can be very challenging, especially when you’ve hit a couple bumps along the road. This gives us a chance to re-energize more than anything else.”

SIU used its off week to rest its starters and focus on basic elements of the game. Senior cornerback Courtney Richmond said the bye week helped the defense immensely.

“With the bye week, we’ve been working on technique, so I think you’ll see great improvement out of the defense this week,” Richmond said. “Just even looking at our last practice, we had a lot of energy. Guys feel good. We’re running around good. I feel like it benefitted us a lot just to get healthy because it’s so late in the season.”

The Salukis rank No. 42 out of 121 schools in the FCS in scoring defense, allowing 23.4 points per game. Through the first six games this season, SIU allowed 11.78 points per game. In the last three games, it has allowed an average of 35 points.

The Salukis have been scored on in each of the last 12 quarters.

SIU is No. 63 in the nation in total defense at 382.4 yards allowed per game. In the last three games, the Salukis have allowed an average of 488 yards.

The Salukis’ last three games have been against nationally-ranked teams in No. 1 North Dakota State, No. 19 Youngstown State and No. 24 Indiana State. SIU entered the game at North Dakota State ranked No. 12 and fell to No. 25 after losing to Indiana State.

The Saluki defense had its worst game of the season in the loss to Indiana State. The defense allowed season highs of 41 points and 573 yards, and 220 yards on the ground to the No. 116 ranked rushing team in the nation.

Secondary coach David Elson said SIU’s defensive struggles stemmed from poor fundamentals.

“A big part of it was tackling,” Elson said. “We didn’t tackle well, and their backs ran really hard. We struggled to get them down on the first contact.”

The Salukis will travel to Missouri State this weekend, where they will need to find a way to shut down the Bears’ trio of running backs and dual-threat quarterback Kierra Harris.

Senior linebacker Tyler Williamson said the Salukis’ focus would be on containing Harris.

“The last few weeks, we’ve given up some big plays, so we’ve got to eliminate the big play,” Williamson said. “Missouri State has a quarterback who can run, so we want to keep him in the pocket and keep him as inactive as possible.”

Elson said the Saluki defense would be ready to prove itself this weekend.

“I think our guys are motivated by the fact that we haven’t played well lately,” Elson said. “I expect them to come out with a chip on their shoulder.

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @tdonleyde