Southern Illinois can’t overcome deep, first-half hole in 38-19 loss to North Dakota

FINAL STATS

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois dug too deep a hole during a disastrous first half, in a 38-19 loss to North Dakota at wind-whipped Saluki Stadium on Saturday.

Here are just a few of the things that went wrong in the first half for the No. 12-ranked Salukis (4-3, 1-2) — a fumble at the UND 4, a penalty that reversed a fourth-down stop, an interception that led to a quick score. Throw in a shanked punt, with the wind, and there was plenty of blame to go around when the scoreboard showed a 28-0 deficit at halftime.

“We all share in it — coaching, offense, defense, special teams — they outplayed us in all four of those categories,” SIU head coach Nick Hill said. “North Dakota has a good football team. I don't think it was reflective of our team, but we are what you put out there on Saturdays, and today it was not good enough.”

With their fourth-straight win, all in convincing fashion, the No. 9-ranked Fighting Hawks (5-2, 3-0) made a statement that they should be considered among the elite teams in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They were impressive in every phase.

For the first time this season, SIU’s high-scoring offense came up empty on its opening drive, going 3-and-out. In fact, it didn’t score, at all, until the third quarter.

“We should never be shut out, ever, in the first half, or in any half of a game,” said quarterback DJ Williams. “It starts with me as the head of the ship. I have to make sure I'm more detailed and that we’re executing the game plan.”

Williams had a solid day statistically, completing 29-of-46 passes for 258 yards and a touchdown, though he did throw an interception late in the first half that led to a UND touchdown with just 13 seconds left.

“We take pride in having a great plan for situational football,” Hill said. “We just can't turn it over before half and have it lead to points.”

For the third-straight week, Southern’s run defense was gashed. Playing without starting linebackers Andrew Behm and Chris Presto, SIU’s defense allowed 318 rushing yards, giving up big chunks at inopportune times. For example, on UND’s opening drive, it was faced with 3rd-and-8 at SIU’s 28, when Sawyer Seidl ripped-off a 28-yard TD run up the middle.

“We got exposed out there defensively, and we’re going to have to own it, look in the mirror,” said defensive tackle Peyton Reeves. “This is who we are right now. We're 4-3, that's just the reality of it.”

Even normally reliable punter Paul Geelen had an off-day, hitting an 18-yard punt out of bounds, when he had a chance to pin UND deep in its own territory in the second quarter.

“Clearly, we did not perform to our standard, and that goes for all three phases — offense, defense and special teams,” Geelen said. “I want to take accountability for what happened on special teams.”

Hill pointed out that there were, “glimpses of us being a really good team,” and that is true.

In the second half, Southern’s defense forced a quick 3-and-out. Then the offense marched 67 yards for a touchdown on a drive that included a pretty, 43-yard Williams pass to Fabian McCray and ended with a four-yard TD run by Chandler Chapman on fourth down.

After its lead was trimmed to 28-7, North Dakota went right back to the ground game, with a grinding 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that featured nine-straight runs and 12 in all.

Southern’s offense bounced back with a 12-play, 65-yard TD drive to make the score 35-13 early in the fourth quarter.

In what felt like a last-gasp chance for Southern to make it a game, Geelen recovered his own onside kick, however the offense gained three yards in four plays to hand the ball back to North Dakota.

“Our job is to go score, and if we're not doing that, the defense has to find ways to get stops,” Hill said.

Neither happened frequently enough on Saturday, so SIU finds itself at a crossroads with five games left in the season and a playoff berth still there for the taking.

“We need to understand that we're fighting for our playoff lives now,” Williams said. “We put ourselves behind an 8-ball by losing two conference games back-to-back. We have to play with our hair on fire every week.”

His head coach agreed.

“Our season's on the line, and there's nothing wrong with saying that,” Hill said.

Photos by Camryn Lincoln