Southern Illinois quarterback D.J. Williams lost two second-quarter fumbles Saturday, which Illinois State turned into a pair of touchdowns. (Photo by SIUSalukis.com)
By Barry Bottino
Finding third-down conversions has been a season-long struggle for the Southern Illinois offense.
During Saturday’s Homecoming game at Saluki Stadium against No. 13 Illinois State, finding the end zone became fruitless for SIU for nearly three quarters in a 35-14 loss to the Redbirds.
The loss sent SIU (3-5 overall, 1-3 Missouri Valley Football Conference) to two games below .500 with four games left in the season, severely damaging the Salukis’ playoff hopes.
“That was a tough day on the job,” SIU head coach Nick Hill said. “We have to be better. It’s just not good enough football at a lot of times in the game. … It will take us all to dig ourselves out of this hole.”
Two lost SIU fumbles and a Saluki turnover on downs allowed Illinois State to score 28 second-quarter points and empty out a good portion of the 9,086 fans before the third quarter began.
The fumbles came when SIU quarterback D.J. Williams was sacked on consecutive Southern drives in the second quarter.
Illinois State (5-2, 1-2) took possession on SIU’s 29- and 27-yard lines after the turnovers and scored touchdowns on four-play drives to forge a 28-0 lead.
Illinois State defensive lineman Ben Harman forced one of the fumbles with a sack and recovered both of Williams’ turnovers.
“It seemed like he was probably hurting,” Harman said. “I know he’s struggled with some injuries earlier in the year. We got after him.”
Harman had one of the Redbirds’ five sacks on the day.
The Salukis were 7-for-17 on third-down conversions (41%) Saturday but came into the game ranked eighth in the nine-team MVFC with a 36.3% success rate on third downs.
SIU’s offense scored for the first time with 1 minute, 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter, which was SIU’s ninth possession of the game.
Hill was asked after the game if he considered sitting Williams in favor of another QB at any point in the game.
“D.J. is our quarterback,” he said. “It needs to be on me more than it needs to be on anybody else.”
During SIU’s nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive, Southern (3-5 overall, 1-3 MVFC) finally surpassed 100 total yards for the game.
“We’re just not getting the job done, not finishing drives,” said SIU wide receiver/kick returner Tae Marrero Jr. “Knowing that we put in the work all week and we are just not seeing it shoe on the field, that kind of sucks.”
Southern’s longest drive of the day of 75 yards – culminated with a 29-yard Williams TD pass to Kyle Thomas. The Salukis then scored with 4:40 left in the game when Marrero returned a punt 45 yards for a score.
Game changers
1:04, 2nd quarter: SIU’s Williams loses a fumble on the second consecutive drive, giving the Redbirds the ball back.
0:41, 2nd quarter: ISU receiver Dylan Lord caught a 17-yard TD pass from Beckham Pellant to give ISU a 28-0 lead just before halftime.
1:12, 3rd quarter: The Salukis scored their first points on a 29-yard Williams pass to Thomas.
What it means
The Salukis extend their losing streak to three games in a row and fall to 1-3 in conference play.
Standout Salukis
Prairie State Pigskin chooses the top three Southern Illinois players in the game:
Thomas, WR: The Saluki receiver caught his fifth TD of the season and grabbed a team-high five catches for 61 yards.
Marrero, RS: SIU’s return specialist took a punt back 45 yards for a score and had a combined 162 return yards on punts and kickoffs.
Pierre, DB: The veteran safety tied for the team high with 10 tackles and had a pass breakup.
What’s next?
Northern Iowa visits Carbondale for a 1 p.m. kickoff Oct. 24 against the Salukis.
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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