Tight end Aiden Quinn (41) celebrates his first career touchdown catch in SIU’s 33-20 win against Missouri State. (Photo by SIUSalukis.com)
By Dan Verdun
Though the calendar read the end of September, the fourth was with Southern Illinois Saturday in Carbondale.
The No. 10 Salukis (4-0, 1-0) used key fourth-down plays to outlast Missouri State, 33-20, in their Missouri Valley Football Conference opening win.
“Winning is tough in college football. Winning in the Missouri Valley is even tougher,” SIU head coach Nick Hill said. “I’m proud of our guys . . . (It) wasn’t the cleanest game, that’s a credit to Missouri State.”
SIU running back Justin Strong scored on a 3-yard touchdown run on a fourth-down play. The play was set up when receiver Vinson Davis III motioned left, shifting the Missouri State defense.
Strong raced into the end zone off solid blocking by the offensive line.
“It was like a flood. I just went scraping off of their (blockers’) backs and went right in,” Strong said.
In the third quarter, SIU converted its third fourth down of the game as Nic Baker found Zach Gibson for a 17-yard gain to the Missouri State 19.
“Zach Gibson had some big-time catches,” Hill said. “He’s stayed the course, he’s practiced hard, and when his time was called today, he came up big.”
One play later, Baker found a wide-open Aiden Quinn for the tight end’s first career touchdown. The extra point gave the Salukis a 30-20 lead.
Missouri State showed signs of life under backup quarterback Jordan Pachot, who came on in relief of injured starter Jacob Clark, a transfer from the University of Minnesota.
Though rattled at times, the Salukis registered six sacks and recovered one fumble. Southern held Missouri State to just 31 yards rushing.
Linebacker Branson Combs led the defense with 11 tackles.
“We really take pride in stopping the run,” Combs said. “We get a scouting report, and the first page of that thing is stop the run. That’s something we’re big on in the linebacker room. If you can stop the run, you can get to longer down-and-distances, and that’s where we create the sacks and guys can come off the line.”
Hill said, “Us answering with the touchdown to get it back to a 10-point lead was really big, and then our defense closed it out again.
“That’s another game that they got us the ball back and allowed us to go out there in victory formation and take a knee.”
SIU gained 407 yards in total offense and did not turn the ball over. Though just 4-for-12 on third downs, the Salukis were 3-for-3 on fourth down.
Southern lost running backs Ro Elliott and Jaelin Benefield to injuries during the game. Receiver D’Ante’ Cox did not play due to a knee injury.
Missouri State fell to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the MVFC.
Southern leads the all-time series with Missouri State, 24-22.
Game changers
0:53, 2nd quarter: SIU’s Zach Burrola sacked Missouri State’s Pachot for a 9-yard loss back to the SIU 11, forcing the Bears to settle for a field goal.
0:07, 2nd quarter: Baker tucked the ball and picked up 28 yards to the Missouri State 19-yard line. This set up a 36-yard field goal by Thomas Burks for a 23-13 SIU halftime lead.
13:37, 4th quarter: Linebacker Colin Bohanek forced and recovered a fumble at the Missouri State 39-yard line on a sack. SIU followed by eating up five minutes and 41 seconds on the clock and got another Burks’ field goal, boosting the lead to 33-20.
What it means
The Salukis not only begin their conference schedule with a win; Southern reaches its first 4-0 start since 2007. That squad was coached by Jerry Kill and quarterbacked by Hill.
Baker needs 122 yards to pass Joel Sambursky and become the all-time SIU passing leader.
Top Dawgs
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the top three Southern Illinois players in the game:
Baker, QB: The senior completed 26-of-35 passes for 285 yards and one touchdown.
Elliott, RB: The Indianapolis native led the Salukis with 103 yards on nine carries before leaving with a turf toe injury, according to Hill. He opened the scoring with a 64-yard touchdown dash on just the third SIU play of the game. Elliott also had a 5-yard TD run.
Davis III, WR: The Charleston Southern transfer led SIU with nine catches for 84 yards.
What’s next?
The Salukis travel to Youngstown State for an Oct. 7 conference game.
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.
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