Monday notebook: Split-second decision paid off for Salukis in win over Northern Iowa
CARBONDALE, Ill. — SIU head coach Nick Hill raved about Miles Marshall’s performance in Saturday’s dramatic, 20-17 win over Northern Iowa.
That might sound odd, since a quick scan of the final stats shows the fifth-year tight end didn’t catch a pass during the game, nor did he make a big play on special teams.
Why, then, did Hill single him out for high praise?
It was Marshall’s quick-thinking that sprang running back Quade Chatmon for the game’s biggest run, setting up Weston Schofield’s walk-off 31-yard kick.
With the clock ticking under a minute to play, the Salukis had the ball at the UNI 34, four yards shy of a first down, but more importantly, they were not within Schofield’s field-goal range. The freshman kicker’s longest attempt this season is 36 yards. Hill really wanted to get the ball inside the UNI 20 so that the game-winner wouldn’t be a season-long attempt for Schofield.
Marshall was lined up next to right tackle Coleon Smith, and just before the snap, he spotted potential disaster. Marshall’s assignment on the play was to block UNI defensive end CJ Wade, but then he saw safety Calvin Jaworski heading directly to the gap where the play was designed to go, between tight end and right tackle.
“It’s a funky look and they would have had us,” Hill said. “We ran that play last year and they brought a similar look and got us, because we blocked it wrong.”
Hill said Marshall “recognized it in real-time and blocked the right guy (Jaworski).”
The play resulted in a 15-yard gain for Chatmon down to the UNI 19 and allowed the Salukis to milk the remaining clock and position the ball for Schofield’s game-winner.
“Miles had two guys he could’ve blocked on that play, but he made a split-second decision, the right decision, and Quade was able to bend the run back,” Hill explained.
Hill continued, “I immediately found Miles after UNI called timeout and told him that's a big-time play that nobody will talk about. It happened so fast and he recognized the moving parts. It was just a huge, huge play for us.”
Here’s a detailed look at Southern’s performance from Saturday, plus our weekly StrongDawgs MVFC Power Ratings with a breakdown of each team's playoff chances heading into the final month of the season.
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