Southern Illinois University
4-0
St. Joseph's (Ind.) College
1-3
Football Crushes St. Joseph's, 75-0
09/27/2003 | 12:00:00 | Football
Sept. 27, 2003
CARBONDALE - The defense was outstanding once again.
Ditto for the running game.
But it was the Southern Illinois University football team's passing game that stole the show Saturday night in a 75-0 thrashing of Division II St. Joseph's College.
Quarterback Joel Sambursky threw for a season-high 218 yards and three touchdowns on 16-for-19 passing to lead the 13th-ranked Salukis past the Pumas.
SIU improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1991 and proved that it can get it done through the air just in time for next weekend's Gateway Conference opener against Indiana State.
"I think we're going to have to be more balanced in the Gateway to be successful," Sambursky said. " And I think tonight we worked on that."
"I did like the way we threw the football," SIU head coach Jerry Kill said. "And we went into (the game with) a plan. We wanted to make sure we threw the football and let people know we can throw that thing. And Joel can throw that thing. I thought he had a very proficient game, and I thought he did very well."
Sambursky hooked up with four different receivers on the night, as SIU had its most balanced offensive attack of the season. The Salukis came into the game ranked fourth in the nation in rushing offense, but are ranked 107th in passing. Sambursky thinks those stats are deceiving.
"We haven't really struggled throwing the ball," Sambursky said. "We haven't really needed to throw the ball. When we have thrown the ball we've been relatively successful.
"Coach Kill knows I can throw the ball, and I know we've got receivers that can catch the ball. That's not an issue. It's just that we've got some incredible running backs, and why would we not give them the ball?"
Courtney Abbott led all Saluki receivers with 78 yards on three receptions, while Brent Little had four catches for 44 yards and two touchdowns.
Little had 120 all-purpose yards, including 86 in the first two minutes of the game.
Little started the contest off with bang with a 76-yard kickoff return . That set up his first touchdown reception moments later, a leaping grab on a 10-yard strike from Sambursky that gave the Salukis a quick lead.
"Brent did an incredible job again tonight," Sambursky said. "That catch was awesome. That catch was amazing. But I see it almost every day in practice."
Senior tailback Tom Koutsos led the Salukis' running attack, finishing with 85 yards rushing and two touchdown runs on just nine carries -- putting him at the 4,000-yard mark for his career.
Muhammad Abdulqaadir had another big game for SIU, as the senior Walter Payton Award candidate finished with 84 yards rushing and a touchdown run. His numbers would have been much better had he not had touchdown runs of 20 and 15 yards called back due to holding penalties.
Abdulqaadir third trip of the endzone -- a four-yard run late in the first half -- finally proved to be the real deal.
"When I finally did score, I don't know if you saw me, but I ran up to the endzone official and I told him 'it's about time you gave me one," Abdulqaadir said. "I don't know what was going on because I can't see what penalties were actually called, so I can't sit here and criticize or bad-mouth them."
The Salukis finished with 541 yards of total offense and gave up just 69 yards to the Pumas in recording their first shutout of the season. SIU has given up just 28 points this season.
Sambursky was pulled early in the third quarter -- along with most of SIU's other starters -- giving way to Curtis Holley, who had 50 yards on six carries and completed his only pass.
St. Joseph's (1-3) never threatened to score, failing to get past SIU's 20-yard-line and recording just five first downs.
In addition to showing off the passing game, the Salukis were able to play every single non-redshirt player in the game, which is huge heading into a brutal conference schedule.
SIU has been able to get its younger players on the field to get valuable experience in each game this season.
It also gave SIU a chance to shake off some rust from a bye week.
"I'm glad we played (this one) before we played the next one, that's for sure," Kill said. "I think that we weren't as sharp as we certainly would have liked to of been. I think defensively we played pretty hard and pretty clean. Offensively, we had too many penalties and I thought it really hurt us. And some of them were foolish penalties."
The Salukis head into next Saturday's matchup with Indiana State riding high. They have outscored their first three opponents 199-28. Any way you look at it -- that's pretty darn good.
But they will have a foe in the Sycamores that are off to a good start as well. Despite being picked to finish last in the Gateway, Indiana State is 3-2, coming off an impressive win over Eastern Illinois.
"That's a big win,'' Abdulqaadir said of the Sycamores beating EIU. "We know that Indiana State is probably going to be tougher than they've been in the past."
The Sycamores also have history on their side; they've beaten SIU nine straight times, including a season-ending loss last year.
But SIU has had a trend of breaking losing streaks recently. They broke an 18-game losing streak to Western Illinois last year and stopped four-game skids against Southeast Missouri State and Murray State this season.
"We are looking to come out and make history every week," Abdulqaadir said. "I'm looking forward to the game because I didn't get to play them last year. And that was a game that I thought we should have won."
The game will be the first of a seemingly never-ending set of tests for the Salukis throughout the rest of the season. And Abdulqaadir has been trying to keep his team focussed on the task ahead -- instead of the successful non-conference start.
"We haven't even started conference yet," Abdulqaadir said. "People have to understand that this is where the real football has got to be played.
"This is the SEC of I-AA. We have the best teams in the country in this conference right here."
Team Stats
SJU 0, SIU 7
SIU - Brent Little 10 yd pass from Joel Sambursky (Craig Coffin kick) 4 plays, 22 yards, TOP 1:16
SJU 0, SIU 10
SIU - Craig Coffin 22 yd field goal 9 plays, 87 yards, TOP 4:01
SJU 0, SIU 17
SIU - Tom Koutsos 3 yd run (Craig Coffin kick), 4 plays, 47 yards, TOP 1:15
SJU 0, SIU 24
SIU - Chris Kupec 4 yd pass from Joel Sambursky (Craig Coffin kick) 9 plays, 48 yards, TOP 3:28
SJU 0, SIU 31
SIU - Brent Little 4 yd pass from Joel Sambursky (Craig Coffin kick) 6 plays, 88 yards, TOP 2:22
SJU 0, SIU 38
SIU - Mo Abdulqaadir 1 yd run (Craig Coffin kick), 4 plays, 19 yards, TOP 1:26
SJU 0, SIU 45
SIU - Tom Koutsos 4 yd run (Craig Coffin kick), 2 plays, 9 yards, TOP 0:11
SJU 0, SIU 51
SIU - Curtis Holley 7 yd run (Courtney Abbott rushfailed), 3 plays, 29 yards, TOP 1:07
SJU 0, SIU 58
SIU - Charles Wheeler 6 yd run (Craig Coffin kick), 9 plays, 51 yards, TOP 4:26
SJU 0, SIU 65
SIU - J.T. Wise 1 yd run (Craig Coffin kick), 4 plays, 35 yards, TOP 1:46
SJU 0, SIU 72
SIU - S. Haywood 1 yd run (Craig Coffin kick), 2 plays, 17 yards, TOP 0:36
SJU 0, SIU 75
SIU - Craig Coffin 30 yd field goal 6 plays, 18 yards, TOP 3:13