Saluki defense striving to play its best football in November

CARBONDALE, Ill. — As the calendar turns to the month of November, SIU defensive coordinator Lee Pronschinske said the defense is striving to play its best football down the stretch.

The No. 16-ranked Salukis (5-3, 2-2) are coming off a game against Northern Iowa in which they allowed a season-low (versus Division I teams) 247 yards. The defense forced eight punts, recorded 4.0 sacks and an interception, and gave up only two third-down conversions.

The unit welcomed back linebacker Chris Presto, who had eight tackles, after missing the previous game versus North Dakota. The defense still played without injured starting linebacker Andrew Behm and safety Cejai Parson, two key pieces.

This week’s challenge is Murray State (0-8, 0-4), which has the fourth-best passing offense in the conference, averaging 227.1 yards per game, and features the conference’s second-leading wide receiver, Darius Cannon (52 catches).

StrongDawgs Conversation with Lee Pronschinske

SD: You held Northern Iowa’s running backs to 20 yards rushing. How’d you feel about the run defense?

LP: Against the true run game, I liked the way we attacked our run fits. I thought our guys were violent at the point of attack across the board, whether it was block destruction or the way we finished on the ball carrier. Against the QB scramble, we gave up 122 yards, so that's obviously an area that we need to continue to improve, making sure the quarterback doesn’t escape the pocket.

SD: Likewise, you had success against the pass. How pleased were you with the pressure you were able to bring?

LP: We actually brought pressure the least amount that we have in a conference game this season, and we had four sacks, a fifth one that was negated by a penalty, and a couple QB hits where he does get the ball out. It's a little bit of a luck of the draw, but we matched up pressure with pass plays more often.

I think the big piece was forcing them into 3rd-and-long situations. That allowed us to pin our ears back and make the four-man rush effective. I thought the guys did a really good job with their cover-downs all day, communicating at a high level. For example, there was an early 3rd-and-medium with really good communication between Jeremiah (McClendon) and Jagger (Williams) to switch off routes and get a big pass break-up and force a punt.

CB Jeremiah McClendon had 5 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1 interception and 2 pass breakups vs. UNI.

SD: Is there an FCS cornerback playing better football right now than Jeremiah McClendon?

LP: I’m completely biased, but I would have a hard time believing that someone is. When you combine his ability to be a lockdown cover corner, adding into a run fit, showing his ability to blitz off the edge, he's playing at an extremely high level. No one in the building is surprised. He closed last year at an extremely high level. I think back to that Missouri State game and how dynamic he was. It's the result of all his hard work over spring ball, summer, fall camp, and now putting his talent on display this fall.

SD: I thought the stop following the blocked punt was huge from a momentum standpoint heading into halftime up, 24-3.

LP: Sudden change is an area we didn't do a great job with the last two weeks. If we allowed a touchdown off that blocked punt, then UNI gets the ball at the start of the second half, and if stuff doesn't go well, then all of a sudden it's a 24-14 game. The guys did a great job of situational football in the low-red zone. UNI had some strong tendencies down there and our guys relied on their training and executed.

SD: How good was it to have Chris Presto back?

LP: Obviously, we're a different defense when Chris Presto’s out there. He'd shrug that off like it's not a big deal, but he gives us a high level of play in all three phases of defense. On Saturday, he covered down, showed the ability to rush the passer, and then just his relentless pursuit of the football. His open-field tackling versus some really good athletes is something that really makes this defense go.

LB Chris Presto led the defense with eight tackles vs. UNI.

SD: What were the keys to holding UNI to 2-of-12 on third-down conversions?

LP: I think it was the result of us playing well on first and second down. The average third-down distance was 3rd-and-8.4. Four of those were 13-plus, so you can make teams one-dimensional. We did a really good job playing coverage behind a four-man rush and found some moments to bring pressure and force the ball out early.

SD: Last week, the big question was, can your defense get its swagger back? How do you feel they answered that?

LP: Yeah, I think they did. The big thing we've talked about recently is, let's just get hot. Let's see what happens when this group strings together really good plays that turn into good drives, that turn into good quarters, big halves, great games of defense. Let’s play our best football in November. I think these guys are cherishing the opportunity to put our brand of football on tape, so when opposing teams, coaches, fans turn on our tape, our identity sticks out.

SD: This week’s Big Question — what must you do to put together another dominant defensive performance?

LP: On Sunday, we talked about ways to continue to improve our process. You can always have a better week of preparation, no matter how well or how badly you played the week before. We talked about the way we practice, the way we attack walkthroughs, the way we watch film, the way we handle ourselves in the locker room. We talked about eliminating outside noise and distractions that are a part of playing football in November. Let’s just do a great job of focusing on the opportunity at hand, because Murray State has a lot of explosive talent on offense.