Ranked No. 24 last week, head coach Nick Hill’s Salukis should move up in the FCS polls this week following a road victory at FBS Northern Illinois. (Photo by SIUSalukis.com)
By Dan Verdun
A year ago at this time, the Southern Illinois football coaching staff was headed back to the proverbial drawing board attempting to turn around the fortunes of an 0-2 start.
That was then. This is now.
Saturday’s 14-11 win over FBS Northern Illinois has head coach Nick Hill’s Salukis off to a 2-0 start heading into their non-conference rivalry game with Southeast Missouri this week.
The triumph over NIU marked the second straight season that SIU knocked off an FBS opponent. Last year, it was the Saluki shocker against Northwestern in Evanston.
In 2019, SIU thumped UMass, 45-20.
Southern can now boast of six wins against FBS opponents with Hill having notched three in his seven-year head coaching career.
Moreover, the downstate Du Quoin native quarterbacked SIU to two more – over Indiana in 2006 and NIU in 2007.
“I’m just a small part in all of those wins,” Hill said. “We’ve had really good players, and players win the games. When I was a player, we had good teams. It’s fun to be on teams that believe you can win (against FBS teams).
“You take a bus to an FBS school and don’t feel like you belong or just hope you play it close, you’re not going to win.”
But win indeed did the Salukis in a Mid-American Conference stadium 364 miles from Carbondale.
Prior to packing up and hitting the road, Hill delivered this message to his team.
And it certainly made the five-plus hour bus ride back home more enjoyable.
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
Find us on social media!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PSPigskin
Facebook: Prairie State Pigskin
Prairie State Pigskin 
Leave a comment