Nov. 20, 2010
Final Stats |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 
By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISU | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| SIU | 21 | 0 | 21 | 7 | 49 |
Chris Dieker (5) | |||||
| Team Stat Comparison | |||||
ISU | SIU | ||||
First Downs | 16 | 24 | |||
Net Rushing Yds | 185 | 229 | |||
Rush Att. | 37 | 49 | |||
Avg. Per Rush | 5.0 | 4.7 | |||
Rushing TDs | 2 | 3 | |||
Net Passing Yds | 116 | 279 | |||
Cmp-Att | 11-24 | 15-20 | |||
Int Thrown | 3 | 1 | |||
Avg. Per Cmp | 10.5 | 18.6 | |||
Passing TDs | 1 | 4 | |||
Total Offense | 301 | 508 | |||
| Individual Stat Leaders | |||||
Rushing | |||||
SIU | No | Yds | TDs | Long | |
S. Strother | 16 | 73 | 0 | 18 | |
Ind. St. | No | Yds | TDs | Long | |
D. Gates | 26 | 179 | 2 | 65 | |
Passing | |||||
SIU | C-A-I | Yds | TDs |
||
C. Dieker | 15-19-1 | 279 | 4 |
||
Ind. St. | C-A-I | Yds | TDs |
||
C. Glass | 11-22-2 | 116 | 1 |
||
Receiving | |||||
SIU | No | Yds | TDs | Long | |
K. Harruff | 3 | 81 | 1 | 38 | |
Ind. St. | No | Yds | TDs | Long | |
J. Hilton | 3 | 0 | 16 | ||
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Chris Dieker accounted for six total touchdowns and the Southern Illinois football team had two 21-point quarters as the Salukis beat Indiana State, 49-21, on Saturday's Senior Day at Saluki Stadium.
SIU's eighth consecutive win over the Sycamores gives the Salukis two-straight victories to close out the season. Southern finishes the year with a 5-6 record and 4-4 mark in the MVFC while ISU closes 6-5 overall and 4-4 in the Valley. The Salukis have now outscored Indiana State 407-85 in their last eight meetings.
"That's how you want to send (the senior class) out and you want them feeling good about their last game," head coach Dale Lennon said of getting the senior's one last victory. "The season didn't quite progress the way we wanted it to, but be we did a good job down the final stretch and hopefully that is something we can build off of going into next year."
Dieker set new career-highs in the game with four touchdown passes and 279 passing yards. He finishes his Saluki career ranked third in school history with 5,237 passing yards and 41 touchdown passes.
"I was just out there making plays," Dieker said. "There's nothing more that I wanted than to win this football game. I was going to do everything in my power to win it. Great supporting cast, offensive line, receivers. I could just go on and on."
Southern Illinois had a season-high 508 yards of total offense in the victory. Its defense had three sacks and three interceptions, which is the program's seventh, three-interception game in the last three years.
SIU jumped out to a 21-0 lead, but the Sycamores tied the game up at 21 early in the third quarter. Two big plays from Southern turned the tide for good.
Jeff Evan's 48-yard diving catch on the first play after ISU tied the game led to a Dieker TD run. Then on the Sycamores next possession following that score, Indiana State tried a fake punt but Connor James intercepted the pass and returned it 40 yards to the ISU five. Those third-quarter plays led to Southern scoring 21 points in the quarter.
From there on out, Dieker and the Salukis coasted, making the game look as easy as it was to them in the first quarter.
Senior tight end Kyle Harruff led SIU with three catches for 81 yards and one touchdown. Joe Allaria, Cam Fuller and Philip Schumacher all hauled in TD's from Dieker, who also finished with two rushing touchdowns himself and 41 yards on the ground.
Defensively, senior linebacker Stephen Franklin altered the game on ISU's third play from scrimmage, when he knocked Sycamore quarterback Ronnie Fouch out of the game on a sack.
Safety Brad Briggs led the team with eight tackles. All-world cornerback Korey Lindsey had one of the team's three interceptions and Southern finished with 10 tackles for a loss in the game.
Sycamore running back Darrius Gates finished with 179 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Southern Illinois jumped on the Sycamores right from the get-go, scoring 21 first-quarter points.
Dieker threw a pair of touchdown passes - a seven-yarder to Allaria and a 31-yard pass to Harruff - and Shariff Harris added a one-yard TD run in between those scores.
Indiana State got on the scoreboard for the first time early in the second quarter on a 10-yard run by Gates. His 65-yard run at the end of the first set up the score.
After the rough start, the Sycamores controlled the second quarter and held SIU to just 53 yards of offense after they had 167 in the first 15 minutes.
Coy Glass's 12-yard touchdown pass to Brock Lough 1:06 before halftime cut Southern's lead down to 21-14 at the break.
Indiana State got the ball first in the second half, and thanks to a pair of Saluki penalties that extended the drive, the Sycamores drove down 71 yards on seven plays to tie the game. Gates scored for the second time with a 20-yard touchdown run.
Southern countered quickly, scoring just four plays later on a one-yard Dieker touchdown run. Dieker put the Salukis in scoring position with his 48-yard pass to Jeff Evans to start the drive.
James' interception of Matt Seliger and 40 yard return on a fake punt gave the Salukis the ball at the ISU five-yard line a minute and a half later. SIU capitalized with a Dieker two-yard touchdown pass to Schumacher two plays later for Southern's second touchdown in its last six plays.
Following Lindsey's interception, Dieker hit Fuller on a 29-yard TD strike to push Southern's lead up to 42-21. He then ran for his second touchdown early in the fourth quarter and the Salukis carried their 49-21 lead to the end of the game.
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