Football Loses at Indiana State, 20-14

Saturday, October 27

Terre Haute, Ind.

2:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

1-6 , 1-3

Indiana St.

3-5 , 2-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Southern Illinois	0	7	0	7	14
Indiana State	14	0	6	0	20

10/27/2001 | 12:00:00 | Football

Box Score

Oct. 27, 2001

Final Stats

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Six turnovers were too much for Southern Illinois to overcome and Indiana State's rushing attack chewed up big yardage on a cold, windy day at Memorial Stadium as the Sycamores beat the Salukis, 20-14.

Soso Dede carried 22 times for 146 yards as ISU outgained the Salukis on the ground, 261-129.

"I'm frustrated for the kids because we're working hard and not getting rewarded for it," Southern Illinois head coach Jerry Kill said. "But we haven't played well enough to win, and we're making way too many mistakes."

Indiana State scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter to jump out to a 14-0 lead. Dede ran it in from 19 yards out for the first score and added another TD on an 11-yard gallop with 2:23 remaining in the first.

Midway through the second quarter, the Salukis cut the deficit to 14-7 as the offense drove 80 yards in 12 plays. The drive was capped off by a three-yard touchdown run by Madei Williams.

The key play in the drive was a 13-yard bootleg carry by Williams on fourth and two from the Indiana State 39.

But the SIU offense could not maintain its momentum. Turnovers stymied several promising Saluki drives as they coughed up three fumbles and three interceptions on the afternoon.

In the second half, Mike Megyesi kicked a 36-yard field goal with 9:17 left in the third quarter to put ISU up 17-7. He added a 37-yard field goal on the Sycamores' next drive to build ISU's lead to 20-7 with 1:54 remaining in the third.

With eight minutes left in the game, a blocked punt by linebacker Cortez McBerry gave the Salukis the ball at ISU's 21 yardline.

After a sack and an incompletion, quarterback Kevin Kobe completed a 23-yard pass to Jason Hollingshed that gave SIU the ball at the ISU 3. Tom Koutsos then carried it in from the three for a touchdown, to cut the deficit to 20-14.

On ISU's next drive, Saluki defensive back Derrick Corker picked off a Julian Reese pass at the Sycamore 38 and returned it to the 22 with 5:37 remaining in the game.

On SIU's first play after the interception, running back Brandon Robinson found a huge hole around the right side and appeared headed for the endzone, but he was hit from the side by Clythel Branson and fumbled it into the endzone where ISU recovered for a touchback.

"The game didn't come down to that play," Kill said. "Indiana State controlled us up front. We got beat up front on the line of scrimmage."

SIU had one more possession with less than a minute remaining, but Kobe was intercepted in SIU territory to seal the Sycamore win.