Offense fires on all cylinders at SEMO, as Salukis play complementary football
- Tom Weber
- Sep 21
- 3 min read
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Every time SEMO scored during a frantic, third-quarter comeback bid, the Southern Illinois offense answered with a touchdown on its next drive. The demoralizing result for the Redhawks — SIU increased its 31-7 halftime lead to an insurmountable 52-24 advantage.
A week ago at UT Martin, it was the Saluki defense that picked up the slack when the offense struggled. Last night, the reverse was true. SIU head coach Nick Hill called it complementary football.
“Last week, we hit a little lull offensively, turned the ball over, punted, and our defense kept getting us the ball back,” Hill said. “This week, we needed to match those (SEMO) scores, or the game could have gotten close. We just kept matching their scores, and then we held them to a field goal, we scored a touchdown, and that's where we took real control of the game.”
It’s getting harder to find superlatives to describe quarterback DJ Williams’ play. He leads the conference and ranks second in the FCS in Points Responsible For with 96. He’s seventh nationally in passing touchdowns (9) and third in rushing TDs (7). It’s time to add him to the Payton Award Watch List.
Southern’s offense was relentless, averaging a staggering 10.6 yards per play. Every time SEMO scored and appeared to have momentum, SIU’s offense took the field and silenced the home crowd.
Here’s a closer look…
