Monday notebook: Salukis struggling to “unleash some of the explosiveness” in the offense
CARBONDALE, Ill. — After another sub-par performance by the offense on Saturday, Southern Illinois head coach Nick Hill said during his weekly presser that the team is still searching for ways to “unleash some of the explosiveness” in the offense.
The Salukis (3-5, 1-3) started the season 3-2 and averaged 29 points per game, but they have since lost three-straight games to ranked teams, and the offense has produced just four touchdowns during the losing streak.
On Saturday against Illinois State, Southern totaled only 239 yards of offense, and even that figure was deceptive. On its first seven drives, in the guts of the game, the unit netted 93 yards on 39 plays.
“Offensively, we haven’t played well enough in any way to win these last three games,” Hill said. “At times, our defense has played really good football and played well enough for us to win these games.”
Hill said the offense made things difficult on itself with five pre-snap penalties against the Redbirds, and made it hard on the defense with two fumbles deep in its own territory.
“We’ve put our defense in really tough situations,” he acknowledged. “We haven’t done anything to make the other team feel uncomfortable, like playing with a lead.”
In fact, the last time Southern led during a game was a 10-7 advantage at halftime versus Youngstown State in Week 6.
“Everything is on the table, as far as finding that spark to go and win,” Hill said. “We’re trying to uncover every little way to put these guys in position.”
SIU has played eight-straight weeks without a break, plus training camp, and hosts resurgent Northern Iowa (3-3, 2-1) on Saturday. The Salukis are still a week away from their bye week.
“There have been some excellent individual performances and guys are straining and competing at a high level,” Hill said. “The locker room has stayed together. I still have 100 percent belief in this group to dig deep and play our best football.”
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