Salukis beat WIU, 44-34, with furious second-half rally

Saturday, November 19

Carbondale, Ill.

2:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

4-7 , 2-6

Western Illinois

6-5 , 3-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Western Illinois

Southern Illinois

11/19/2016 | 8:50:00 | Football

Box Score

By: John Lock, SIUSalukis.com

Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2

CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Saluki Football team erased a 17-point deficit en route to a 44-34 win over No. 23 Western Illinois on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at Saluki Stadium. The Salukis closed the game on a 30-3 scoring run and earned a signature win over a nationally ranked team fighting for a playoff berth.

"What a game. What a way to end the season," SIU head coach Nick Hill said. "It's one thing to talk about--going out the right way, sending your seniors out, a momentum builder for your program, all that kind of stuff. It's easy to talk about it, but it's tougher to go out and do. It's tough to believe when you're down 17 points."

After trailing 31-14 in the second half, the Salukis ended the game on a 30-3 scoring run and outscored the Leathernecks (6-5, 3-5 MVFC) 20-3 in the fourth quarter. The win marked the biggest deficit overcome for the program since Nick Hill led SIU to a win over Northern Illinois in 2007. The win came in the final game of Hill's first season. The inaugural season didn't end in the playoff berth for SIU, which ended the season 4-7 overall and 2-6 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, but the season ended in a win for 18 seniors who helped set the foundation for lasting success under Coach Hill.

"We've talked a lot about legacy and what these seniors legacies are," Hill said. "What their legacy is going to be is a group of guys that bought into the culture of what we're trying to do here and came to work every single day. Down the stretch, even down 17 in their last game, they found a way to will it and flip the momentum back and get a huge win."

SIU jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter before the Leathernecks stormed back in the second quarter. SIU turned it over four times in the second and early third quarter, and Western took advantage and scored 28 unanswered points to take its 31-14 lead. From there, it seemed as if Western Illinois might run away from SIU; the Leathernecks were probably assured of a playoff berth with the win and SIU didn't have a postseason opportunity to play for. But SIU started battling back immediately.

It started with a great full-team sequence. Punter Nicholas Neidig pinned WIU inside its own 20-yard line. The defense forced a 3-and-out, and the offense took advantage of a short field with a 7-play touchdown drive. The defense only allowed three points the rest of the way, and the offense scored touchdowns on four of its last five possessions. Fittingly, senior receivers Billy Reed and Israel Lamprakes led the offensive charge, catching the two touchdown passes that together gave the Salukis the lead.

"Everyone who is going to be here next year saw it; they saw what we're capable of," said the sixth-year senior, Lamprakes. "And just to end it that way, it is more than just tonight. This is going to go for the next few years. Everything is changing; and unfortunately, it didn't change fast enough, but it is changing. And that is all I've ever wanted. And it is happening. It's a blessing. It's a beautiful thing, and I'm just thankful."

Also fittingly, the future of the program gave a glimpse of things to come. Sophomore quarterback Sam Straub, who threw three interceptions during the stretch when Western Illinois took the lead, dominated the end of the game. He ended up with a program-record 450 passing yards and four touchdowns.

"Football is all about dealing with adversity and how you respond to things when they don't go the right way," Straub said. "That's kind of been my mentality since I started playing. You have to move on, especially when you know you got a bunch of guys who believe no matter what happens. It makes things a lot easier."

Straub broke the school record of 436 passing yards set by Hill at Northern Iowa in 2007. He hit Lamprakes for 203 yards--second-most in school history--and Reed for 138 more, the fourth time ever SIU has had two 100-yard receivers and the first time since Hill's record-setting day in 2007.

"I know when I set the record, it was at Northern Iowa and I threw three picks and we didn't win," Hill said. "We had a chance to go win it at the end and we didn't get it done. (Straub) threw three picks, set the school (passing) record, and we won. So he had a better night than I did."

SIU won two of its last three games to close the season and finished 4-2 at Saluki Stadium in 2016.

"That's the last feeling, that's the last game that we've had," Hill said. "That's the thing that we believe in and they remember. Using the confidence in recruiting. Coach Griffin and the staff has done a great job recruiting. We had a lot of great recruits here, even Week 11 when we're 3-7, here today. We have to use this momentum when we're recruiting. We have a lot of work to do too in the off season. We won four games we have to remember that there's a reason that we lost some of those games. We're young but we'll get older with more experience next year. That doesn't just equal wins, you have to earn it."

NOTES

With the win, SIU has beaten a ranked team for 15 consecutive seasons ... SIU quarterback Sam Straub set a program record with 450 yards passing ... Seniors Israel Lamprakes (203 yards) and Billy Reed (138 yards) combined for 341 yards receiving ... Lamprakes's 203 yards receiving marked the second-most in program history, behind Cornell Craig's 219 yards against Illinois State in 1997 ... SIU beat Western Illinois for the 13th time in the last 15 meetings ... The 17-point comeback marked the largest deficit overcome for a win since a 21-point comeback over Northern Illinois in 2007 (now head coach Nick Hill was the quarterback for SIU in that game) ... SIU set program records for passing attempts, completions and yards in a season