Salukis chasing playoffs with renewed urgency after consecutive losses
- Tom Weber
- Oct 21
- 3 min read
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois quarterback DJ Williams sounded the alarm after Saturday’s loss to North Dakota. He said the Salukis are “fighting for our playoff lives” and need to “play with our hair on fire every week” in the remaining five games.
After a 4-1 start that saw SIU climb to No. 8 in the national rankings, the Dawgs have dropped two-straight games by decisive margins. In the two losses, they were minus-5 in turnovers and gave up more than 500 rushing yards. The offense didn’t score in the first half on Saturday.
According to the players, the setbacks have only strengthened the bonds within the team.
“We talk about foxholes a lot here,” said sophomore linebacker Ben Fiegel, who has 31 tackles since stepping in for injured MLB Andrew Behm in Week 5. “I still have the same guys in my foxhole with me. There’s no sense of panic. It's more a sense of energy that gets added. It's a good feeling to know that, just because we're fighting for our playoff hopes, nothing changes.”
A renewed display of urgency was evident in this morning’s practice, based on the speed and intensity of the workout.
“Today was probably one of our best Tuesday practices we've had all season,” said defensive end Donnie Wingate. “We were kind of overthinking some stuff last game, and we want to be a defense that flys around and really executes our base calls, trusting the guys around us. That's what we've really emphasized.”
Wide receiver Fabian McCray, who is coming off a career-high six catches for 97 yards vs. UND, said they are still the same explosive offense that put up record-setting numbers in the first half of the season.
“The score doesn’t show how those last two games went,” he explained. “You see the glimpses of what could have been, where a couple plays from each game changed the outcome. Everybody is focused on playing together as a team, playing for the man next to you and being detailed in our execution.”
A resurgent offense needs to be spearheaded by the offensive line, according to senior right guard Derek Harden Jr.
“We’ve been talking as an O-line group that our season is really life or death right now,” he said. “We're not gonna let these past two games diminish our confidence. We’re going to focus on playing clean football, and we really do have to practice and play with our hair on fire.”
Wingate said the defense is focused on getting its swagger back versus Northern Iowa on Saturday.
“We’ve watched the tape, we've put in a good game plan this week,” Wingate said. “Our mindset is that we’re gonna dominate. I have no doubt in my mind, and every guy around me, that we're gonna go out there and execute on Saturday.”
Attention-to-detail remains the catch-phrase, especially on defense with so many younger players stepping into the playing rotation.
“We're doing more walkthroughs, making sure we know where we’re supposed to be,” Fiegel said. “Once we get these details cleaned up, it's gonna spark from there and it's gonna be a scary group.”
McCray said the team is leaving nothing to chance.
“It starts when you wake up and come to practice, seeing what you can do better, staying after practice, staying an extra 20 or 30 minutes watching film after position meetings,” McCray said. “All the small things, because like DJ said, we’re basically playing for our playoff lives.”
Comments