Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football Salukis Ready For Northern Illinois
09/09/2004 | 12:00:00 | Football
Sept. 9, 2004
By Scott Mees
www.SIUSalukis.com
SIU, the No. 1 team in both I-AA polls, will meet its toughest opponent of the 2004 campaign Saturday at 3 p.m., when it locks paws with the Northern Illinois Huskies at Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium.
The Huskies, helmed by ninth-year head coach Joe Novak, lost a heartbreaker last week at I-A's No. 23 Maryland, 23-20, with backup sophomore quarterback Phil Horvath playing most of the game.
Horvath, replacing injured starter Josh Haldi, completed 19-of-36 passes for 236 yards against last season's top-rated pass defense team in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"I think coach Novak is pretty pleased with the way that youngster played," said SIU head coach Jerry Kill. "I think he stepped up in a huge situation and played very well for them."
Kill said most of his players have experienced the sort of hostile environment they are likely to face at Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium Saturday.
"The best thing is that this team went through it at
The Huskies consistently play quality Division I-A football teams and were ranked in both I-A football polls for much of the 2003 season.
"We are not playing
NIU competes in the Mid-American Conference West, and its stadium holds a capacity of 28,000 people. The university expects about 25,000 for the game. There could be a decent number of walk-up ticket sales considering the amount of SIU alumni in the Chicagoland and surrounding areas.
"They are going to be ready to play," Kill said. "They will be highly motivated, and they certainly don't want to lose to a I-AA team."
Even with a 39-point thrashing of
"We just need to be a better football team than we were last week," Kill said. "I just want to see us improve, and not go the other direction."
"If we get up there and get physically manhandled, I can live with that," Kill said. "But if we get up there and make mental mistakes, jump off sides and don't tackle, then I won't handle that very well."
The Salukis will continue to run the ball with seniors Brandon Jacobs and Terry Jackson. Both men are former I-A football players who have played in this kind of atmosphere before. Sophomore Arkee Whitlock ran for over 100 yards against SEMO, and will continue to help carry the load.
"Arkee got hot the other night and we kept him in there a while," Kill said.
Luckily, for SIU, it has a handful of valuable running backs, who may all need to chip in Saturday if the Salukis are going to pull off an upset.
"We have got to stay healthy to have a good football team," Kill said. "We are just going to line up and play like we have the last 12 or 13 games around here, and see what happens."
The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Chicago at 3 p.m., but delayed on Fox Sports Midwest until 6 p.m. Another replay of the contest will air on FSN Midwest on Sunday morning at 2 a.m.
