Salukis at Illinois: Big Ten’s 42-game winning streak against the FCS is on the line Saturday
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It’s been a four-year dry spell for the FCS since it last beat a Big Ten opponent. The last program to do it was Southern Illinois on Sept. 17, 2022, when the Salukis beat Northwestern, 31-24.
Since that time, the big boys from the Big Ten are 42-0 versus FCS teams.
Ranked No. 24 in the FCS, the Salukis (2-1) will try to end the Big Ten's winning streak when they play at Illinois on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Fighting Illini (1-1) have never lost to an FCS team, winning all 19 games they’ve played against the subdivision, including a 4-0 mark versus Southern Illinois. The most recent meeting between the teams took place in 2013.
The Athletic published an article this week estimating that $27-$31 million is being spent this season on the average Big Ten roster.
“We understand what we're going up against, but when you get inside the white lines and the ball's kicked off, it's got to be a singular focus of relying on your training and competing as hard as you can,” said SIU head coach Nick Hill. “You can’t focus on the distractions of they have more money, or they've built this roster. They can only put 11 out there at a time, just like us.”
Since 2000, FCS teams have recorded eight wins against the Big Ten. Hill was a part of two of those victories. In addition to the Northwestern win, he quarterbacked SIU to a victory at Indiana in 2006. At the time, it was the first win over a Big Ten school by a Gateway Conference (now Missouri Valley Football Conference) program.
FCS Wins over Big Ten teams since 2000
2006: New Hampshire 34, Northwestern 17
2006: Southern Illinois 31, Indiana 24
2007: Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32
2010: South Dakota 41, Minnesota 38
2011: North Dakota State 37, Minnesota 24
2016: North Dakota State 23, Iowa 21
2016: Illinois State 9, Northwestern 7
2022: Southern Illinois 31, Northwestern 24
Game Facts
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Kickoff: 1 PM CT
Location: Champaign, IL
Facility: Memorial Stadium (60,670)
Radio: WCIL, 101.5 FM
TV: Peacock
Series: Illinois leads, 4-0
Spread: Illinois -39.5
Weather at Kickoff: Low 80s, Cloudy, 6 MPH S
First and Ten
Illinois has won all four previous meetings versus SIU (1985, 1990, 2010, 2013) by an average margin of 19 points.
The closest game was a 28-25 Illinois win on Sept. 14, 1985. The Salukis had a 17-6 lead in the third quarter of that game, before the Fighting Illini reeled off three-straight touchdowns. Byron Mitchell rushed for 129 yards and Kevin Brown threw two touchdown passes for SIU.
The 2013 matchup was also a close call, as Southern rallied from a 22-point deficit, before falling, 42-34. On their final possession, the Salukis had a 1st-and-goal opportunity with a chance to tie the game but were unable to take advantage. Kory Faulkner passed for 312 yards and three touchdowns, and the defense held Illinois to 49 rushing yards in the contest.
The Salukis are 2-8 versus Big Ten teams. The wins came at Indiana (2006) and Northwestern (2022).
Since becoming a I-AA/FCS member in 1982, SIU is 6-38 versus FBS teams, including a 2-20 mark against Power 4 opponents.
Illinois has never lost to an FCS opponent (19-0).
In the last five seasons, there have been only two FCS wins over Power Four teams: Southern Illinois over Northwestern (2022) and Sacramento State over Stanford (2023).
Illinois Notebook
QB Katin Houser ranks seventh in the nation in ESPN's QBR metric (90.2) and ranks among the nation's top quarterbacks in passing touchdowns (14th, 6) and completion percentage (28th, 71.2).
WR Collin Dixon is tied for the Big Ten lead in receiving touchdowns (5).
WR Hudson Clement has caught a pass in 29-straight games, the sixth-longest active streak in the nation.
The Illinois offensive line has yet to allow a sack this season.
Illinois' defense is run by first-year defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck, the former Montana and UNLV head coach.
S Matthew Bailey is the only player in the nation returning after leading his team in tackles in 2024 and 2025. Bailey is Illinois' leading tackler this season with 12.
llinois set the program record for the most wins over a two-year period with 19 from 2024-25.
Illinois had back-to-back 9+-win seasons for the first time in program history with 10 wins in 2024 and nine in 2025.
Southern Illinois Notebook
Of SIU’s six all-time wins against FBS teams, Nick Hill has played a key role in five of them. He quarterbacked the team to wins over Indiana (2006) and Northern Illinois (2007) and coached the team to victories over UMass (2019), Northwestern (2022) and Northern Illinois (2023).
Two weeks ago at Samford, Hill posted career win No. 56 last week to pass Jerry Kill into second place in Southern’s head coaching record book.
After missing the Samford game with a knee injury, QB DJ Williams returned to lead SIU to a 34-20 win over SEMO. He accounted for all five of the team’s touchdowns, rushing for four and throwing a TD pass to WR Kyle Thomas.
Williams started every game in 2025 and has a 10-7 career record as a starter for the Salukis.
Williams has 53 career touchdowns — 27 passing and 26 rushing.
Thomas had his first-career 100-yard receiving game last week with 144 yards. He leads the team with three TD catches.
RB Chandler Chapman leads the conference and ranks 12th in the nation in rushing yards per game (92.7).
LB Ben Fiegel is tied with LB Andrew Behm for the team in tackles (26). They are tied for second in the MVFC with 8.5 tackles per game.
DE Ibrahim Sanogo leads the team with 3.5 sacks. The Salukis have recorded 8.0 sacks to date.
The Salukis are +2 this season in turnover margin.
LB David Obadein made his first-career start for the Salukis last week, filling in for the injured Chris Presto and recorded three tackles and an interception.
SIU’s defense ranks 19th in rushing yards allowed per game (113.3), 22nd in total yards allowed (323.3), sixth in interceptions (5) and sixth in tackles for loss per game (8.0).
Quoting Illinois head coach Bret Bielema
On last week’s loss to Duke:
“We know that we got to make a step forward this week, and a big one. People always have opinions on things that come to light after a little bit of adversity, but I really do believe you build yourself on moments of adversity more than success. So I think it's really important for our guys to feel that.”
On Saluki Football:
“I have a lot of respect for Nick and what he's accomplished in his career. I did bring it to our players' attention. These guys, as recent as 2022 beat Northwestern, beat Northern Illinois, but the first Southern Illinois program signature win was 2006 to beat Indiana and that was Nick as the quarterback. I think he threw four touchdowns in that game. So a guy that's very entrenched in the history of Southern Illinois, married to a Saluki, so he's kind of got that in his blood.”
On playing an in-state FCS opponent
“Let's give everybody a shot. It's kind of cool to stay in the state. A lot of times those rosters are heavy in-state kids. We even have a guy starting for them (Kellen Francis) that played for us. Keep it in-state and help that language of Illinois football.”
Quoting Southern Illinois Coach Nick Hill
His message to the team this week:
“You don't have to play a perfect game. That's not going to happen, so we don't need to set that expectation. It’s the same things that we talk about every week. That means taking care of the football, not turning the ball over, not letting that crowd get excited for mistakes that we make. Make them work for everything, because they're going to make mistakes, too.”
On the significance of the game:
“It’s a great opportunity for us to compete on a big stage. It’s not just another game, but neither was last week with the War For the Wheel. Each game has its own storylines, but it doesn't change how we prepare for it. What's the plan to win? Let's go practice the best that we can to go give ourselves a chance to do that.”
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