Salukis at Murray State preview: SIU looks to maintain dominance over Racers
MURRAY, Ky. — Saturday will mark the sixth time Southern Illinois has played Murray State during head coach Nick Hill’s tenure. None of the previous meetings have been especially close, with SIU winning by an average margin of 35 points. The game is the conference opener for both the Salukis (2-2) and Racers (1-3).
Last year’s game, which was also played at Murray, was the closest of the bunch, with Southern claiming a 27-7 victory in a cold, driving rain storm. In that contest, Saluki quarterback DJ Williams accounted for three touchdowns — two rushing and one passing. Running back Ed Robinson rushed for 109 yards, and the defense forced three turnovers, including a pair of interceptions by safety Cejai Parson.
Two years ago, SIU beat Murray State, 62-0, in Carbondale. In his first and only career start, quarterback Michael Lindauer, who is now the team’s quarterbacks coach, passed for a school-record seven touchdowns. Lindauer began the season as a graduate assistant coach for the Salukis, but returned to play after three quarterbacks, including Williams, suffered season-ending injuries.
SIU vs. Murray State under Nick Hill
2016 (Home): Southern Illinois 50, Murray State 17
2018 (Away): Southern Illinois 49, Murray State 10
2023 (Away): Southern Illinois 27, Murray State 6
2024 (Home): Southern Illinois 62, Murray State 0
2025 (Away): Southern Illinois 27, Murray State 7
Game Facts
Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
Kickoff: 6 PM CT
Location: Murray, KY
Facility: Roy Stewart Stadium (16,800)
Radio: WCIL (101.5 FM), Varsity Network App
TV: ESPN+
Series: SIU leads, 13-10-2
Spread: SIU -17.5
Weather at Kickoff: Low 70s, Partly Cloudy, 7 MPH NE
First and Ten
Saturday will be the 26th meeting between the schools. The series began in 1927, but the teams have met just nine times since 2000. SIU has won the last six.
DJ Williams began his career at Murray State, where he was the OVC Freshman of the Year in 2021.
The last time SIU lost to Murray State was in 2002, 42-24, when Jerry Kill was head coach. The game was marred by frequent unsportmanlike conduct penalties and personal fouls against Murray State. MSU was penalized 19 times for 161 yards. Saluki star running back Tom Koutsos broke his wrist during the game. The nature of the game led to a 16-year series hiatus.
After losing at Illinois last week, the Salukis held steady at No. 24 in the Stats Perform FCS poll and dropped one spot to No. 26 in the AFCA poll.
SIU leads the Valley and ranks fourth in the nation in interceptions with six. CB Sebastian Vargas Escobar leads the team with two picks. He has three interceptions in his last five games dating back to the 2025 season. Murray State’s quarterbacks have thrown four interceptions.
SIU’s defense has 10.0 sacks on the season, while Murray State’s offense has allowed only 3.0 sacks so far.
Murray State Notebook
Murray State played two FBS teams in non-conference, falling at MTSU, 38-14, in Week 2 and losing last week at Oklahoma State, 59-0. The game at MTSU was delayed for 4 hours and 15 minutes due to storms.
Murray’s lone win came in Week 3 versus non-scholarship FCS Valparaiso, 27-18.
VMI transfer QB Collin Shannon was injured versus Valpo and replaced by last year’s starter, Jim Ogle. It was Ogle who started in Week 4 versus OSU.
RB Tyrell Campbell leads the team in rushing with 213 yards (7.1 avg), including 117 yards against Valpo, but the Ontario native did not play in last week’s game.
S Dylan Rowsey is on the preseason Buck Buchanan Award Preseason watch list, an award that goes to the nation’s top defensive back in the FCS. He leads the Racers with 28 tackles.
The Racers have converted just 28 percent of their third-down opportunities, but they are 6-of-8 (75 percent) on fourth down.
Murray State’s defense has been effective on third down, allowing just a 32 percent conversion rate.
P Victor Kyatt ranks second in the nation in punting (48.8 yards per punt).
Southern Illinois Notebook
In his third season at SIU, DJ Williams has a 10-8 career record as a starter for the Salukis. He ranks second in the Valley in rushing touchdowns (4) this season. Williams has 54 career touchdowns — 28 passing and 26 rushing. Last season, he set the school record with 40 touchdowns.
DE Ibrahim Sanogo leads the conference and ranks fourth in the nation with 4.5 sacks.
WR Kyle Thomas ranks third in the conference in receiving yards (288). He had his first-career 100-yard receiving game in Week 3 vs. SEMO with 144 yards. He leads the team with three TD catches.
LB Ben Fiegel is tied with LB Andrew Behm for second in the conference in tackles per game (8.0). Behm led Southern with eight tackles last week, giving him 100 for his career at SIU.
Eight players made their Saluki debuts last week at Illinois: TE Patrick Carr, OT Tristan Cooke-Dennis, CB Randy Flint, DE Brennan King, LB Cole Lalama, RB Jayden McCaster, DE Caleb Saner and DT Gavin Tinch.
RG Derek Harden Jr. missed last week’s game due to injury. He leads the team with 33-career starts. Harden Jr. was replaced in the lineup by Jacob Katausaks. In Week 2, Katauskas showed his versatility by starting for injured left tackle LT Blaine Halley.
Quoting Murray State head coach Jody Wright
On the Salukis:
“Yeah, it's a definitely a rival game. I have a lot of respect for SIU. I think coach Hill is a great head coach. He's an offensive mastermind. They put up points every year. He does a great job, him and his staff, of finding mismatches and they are really good schemes that are tough to prepare for. We're going to have to play our best football.”
“I thought they should have been a playoff team last year. I think they didn't want to put seven teams in our conference in the playoffs. I think SIU's a top 10 team in the country. They lost to West Florida. DJ got hurt, the quarterback, DJ Williams, who's one of the best players in the country. He's back now playing well. If he doesn't get hurt, they win that game. I think they’re a playoff team that's got a chance to win the national championship just like a lot of teams in this conference.”
“Williams can beat you with his arm. He can beat you with his legs and beat you with his brain. They do a good job with their RPOs and he does a good job reading defenders. He throws a good deep ball, and if you put guys out there on islands, they they got some guys that can really run and take advantage of personnel matchups.”
On the loss at Oklahoma State:
“We were without our starting tight end, starting quarterback, starting running back, but we didn't play our best football. We did have some good spurts of football and some things to learn and grow from, but the speed of the game, yes, hopefully it'll help because Southern Illinois has got some fast receivers that are playmakers and they got an elite quarterback.”
Quoting Southern Illinois Coach Nick Hill
On the Racers:
“Jody is doing a great job at Murray State. I like Jody a lot, enjoy getting to know him in the off-season and at meetings.”
“There's a lot of consistency from last year's team and that's what it takes to keep improving. There's still a lot of new players, but a lot of familiar faces. The coordinators remained the same.”
“They’ve had to play two FBS schools. Last week was a challenging game against Oklahoma State, a team that just beat Oregon. You have to go out there and have the ultimate respect for the team that you're playing. You have to have extreme focus on what we're doing and how we go execute. These are Division I college football teams and they're going to do things well. Everybody has a little bit different scheme. They're going to play their best game and we have to go down there and do that ourselves.”
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