Southern Illinois University
1-1
Northern Illinois
1-1
Football Salukis fall at Northern Illinois, 23-22
09/11/2004 | 12:00:00 | Football
Sept. 11, 2004
By Scott Mees
www.SIUSalukis.com
DEKALB, Ill. - It was an absolute heartbreaker for the Southern Illinois University football team Saturday at Huskie Stadium.
SIU, trailing 23-16 with 2:23 left in the game, charged 78 yards down the field, led by quarterback Joel Sambursky's 19-yard touchdown pass to Brent Little.
With the score 23-22 in favor of Northern Illinois, SIU head coach Jerry Kill elected to go for a 2-point conversion. Sambursky faked a handoff to running back Brandon Jacobs and threw a pass to the right corner of the end zone that simply did not connect with tight end Chris Kupec.
The Northern Illinois Huskies held on to defeat the Salukis 23-22 in front of 28,071 fans, the fourth largest crowd in NIU history.
"If we had ten times to do it again, we'd do the same thing," Sambursky said. "We had a great play called, but we just didn't execute. We were inches away from beating Northern Illinois at their place in front of 30,000 people."
The veteran quarterback performed the two-minute drill to perfection, but the end result took its toll.
"It hurts, man," Sambursky said. "Guys fight and battle like crazy. We are all beat up because it was a war today. For it to come down to the last play, and you just don't execute like you normally do, it hurts a ton."
Numerous personal fouls were called against both teams.
NIU held Jacobs to to 46 yards rushing on 13 carries; Terry Jackson finished with 39 yards on 10 carries. Sambursky completed 16-of-27 passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns.
As for the decision to go for the win in regulation, coach Kill said he talked with his staff about what to do in a spot like that.
"In our situation, our defense played a lot of football plays," Kill said. "In the last drive, we had guys going out who can hardly get back on the field. We had already made the decision."
Northern Illinois, a Division I-A school, has 85 scholarships while SIU has just 63. It was the Huskies' depth that likely kept the Salukis from going to overtime with them.
"I knew there was no way we could take this team to overtime," Kill said. "We had a tired bunch of kids, and I'm not going to take that chance."
The Salukis had all the momentum, outscoring NIU 13-3 in the fourth quarter.
"We had a good play called, and I believe they went goal-line defense," Kill said. "I think we had an extra guy in there that was eligible. We had a guy open, and we just didn't execute the play."
Kill stood firmly on his decision to go for the victory on the road.
"I'd do it again," Kill said. "There's about probably 10,000 Saluki fans that would tell me I'm crazy. The point being is, it was the right call, and there's no question in my mind about it."
The Salukis led 3-0 after one quarter, due to Craig Coffin's career-long 52-yard field goal. The Huskies tied the score, then took a 10-3 lead as Garrett Wolfe caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Phil Horvath with 1:53 remaining in the second quarter.
SIU turned right around and drove 69 yards - but simply ran out of time - and settled for a 40-yard Coffin field goal that made it a 10-6 NIU lead at halftime.
Northern Illinois added a field goal early in the second half, and proceeded to pull a gem out of its bag of tricks.
On first-and-ten, from the NIU 39, Horvath threw a pass - behind the line of scrimmage - to wide receiver Marcus Perez, who fired a strike to a wide-open Dan Sheldon, who took it 61 yards to the end zone. Saluki free safety Alexis Moreland had to come toward the line after the first pass, which left Sheldon wide open to extend the NIU lead to 20-6 with 4:51 remaining in the third.
NIU head coach Joe Novak said his team practiced the play during the week, although it backfired on his team in a game last season.
Coffin added another field goal near the end of the third quarter, as SIU cut the lead to 20-9.
After a 20-yard Sheldon kick return, NIU started from its own 45 and drove all the way inside the Saluki 10, but the SIU defense buckled down and held the Huskies to a field goal.
Sambursky proceeded to take the Salukis 63 yards in 12 plays for a 9-yard TD pass to Kellen Allen. As the drive began, Brandon Jacobs briefly caught fire with an 8-yard run up the middle followed by a 9-yard pass reception, which put SIU at its own 49.
Quorey Payne then ran a slant route and caught an 18-yard pass from Sambursky, which brought SIU to the NIU 33. On fourth down at the NIU 31, Sambursky threw a screen pass to running back Terry Jackson for a 9-yard gain. The Salukis fed Jackson the ball three straight times as the tailback took it inside the 10.
On third-and-goal, from the 9, Sambursky threw to Allen for the TD. The Salukis now trailed 23-16.
After NIU (1-1) moved the ball up the field for more than six minutes, the SIU defense held on strong and forced a punt.
SIU running back Arkee Whitlock, who rushed for 96 yards on 13 carries, started the final drive with a 12-yard run from the Saluki 22. Sambursky completed a pass to Micah Turner for 8 yards, and Whitlock ran for another 6.
At the SIU 49, Sambursky hit Jason Hollingshed for 21 yards, and then Turner for another 11 yards before the 9-yard touchdown to Allen.
"We were very fortunate to win," said Northern Illinois head coach Joe Novak. "Personally, I was more nervous about this game than any in the last four or five years. I knew how good they were, and how they would come in here and play us."
Novak expressed doubt about facing I-AA teams in general.
"I was worried because everybody says you are supposed to beat this football team," Novak said. "We try not to schedule games like this. We've got terrible luck in scheduling these I-AA teams when they're at their best."
NIU running back A.J. Harris rushed for a game-high 144 yards, including 103 in the first half.
The Salukis most likely earned a lot of admirers across the state due to their performance against Northern Illinois.
"I just can't imagine any NIU fan walking away and not having a high respect for the Salukis," Sambursky said.
SIU, with a record of 1-1, will face William Penn Saturday at 6 p.m. in Carbondale.
Team Stats
SIU 3, NIU 0
SIU - Craig Coffin 52 yd field goal 5 plays, 26 yards, TOP 2:35
SIU 3, NIU 3
NIU - NENDICK, Chris 38 yd field goal 4 plays, 4 yards, TOP 1:50
SIU 3, NIU 10
NIU - WOLFE, Garrett 40 yd pass from HORVATH, Phil (NENDICK, Chris kick) 4 plays, 58 yards, TOP 1:45
SIU 6, NIU 10
SIU - Craig Coffin 40 yd field goal 6 plays, 69 yards, TOP 1:42
SIU 6, NIU 13
NIU - NENDICK, Chris 35 yd field goal 4 plays, 6 yards, TOP 0:56
SIU 6, NIU 20
NIU - SHELDON, Dan 61 yd pass from PEREZ, Marcus (NENDICK, Chris kick) 3 plays, 76 yards, TOP 1:08
SIU 9, NIU 20
SIU - Craig Coffin 35 yd field goal 10 plays, 62 yards, TOP 4:32
SIU 9, NIU 23
NIU - NENDICK, Chris 25 yd field goal 5 plays, 47 yards, TOP 0:59
SIU 16, NIU 23
SIU - Kellen Allen 9 yd pass from Joel Sambursky (Craig Coffin kick) 12 plays, 63 yards, TOP 5:02
SIU 22, NIU 23
SIU - Brent Little 19 yd pass from Joel Sambursky (Joel Sambursky passfailed) 7 plays, 78 yards, TOP 1:29