Saluki Football at Missouri State notes & links

Southern Illinois (1-6, 0-4 MVFC) at Missouri State (4-3, 2-2 MVFC)
Date & Time	Oct. 27, 2018 \| 2 p.m. CT
Location	Springfield, Missouri • Robert W. Plaster Stadium (17,500)
TV/Video Stream	ESPN+
Live Stats	Provided by MSU
Radio	Saluki Radio Network with Mike Reis (play-by-play), Gene Green (analysis), Connor James (analysis)
Radio Stream	TuneIn (free)
Southern Illinois	Game Notes \| Stats \| Media Guide
Missouri State	Game Notes \| Stats \| Media Guide
MVFC	Weekly Notes \| Stats
All-Time Series	Series: Tied, 20-20 (H: 11-9, A: 8-11, N: 1-0)
Social Media	@SIU_Football \| @SIUSalukis \| Saluki Football

Series versus Missouri State
Southern Illinois has won 11 of the last 15 meetings between the schools, but Missouri State has won the last two. The last five meetings between the teams have all been shoot-outs, with SIU averaging 39 points per game and the Bears averaging 32 points per contest.

QB Matt DeSomer moves to starting role
QB Matt DeSomer (6-0, 215, Sr.) has moved into the starting spot for the Salukis. He has played quarterback, wide receiver, safety and special teams during his 37-game career at SIU. He is 0-3 as a starting quarterback, including starts this season at Youngstown State and versus Indiana State. His career stats include 785 rushing yards, 590 passing yards, 110 receiving yards, eight rushing touchdowns, four passing touchdowns and seven tackles.

Salukis on record pace for first downs
SIU's offense averages 26.0 first downs per game, which is on pace to break the school record of 24.8 first downs set by the 2015 team. Southern recorded 70 first downs in Weeks 3-4. The 37 versus SEMO was a school record and the 33 versus South Dakota ranked fourth all-time.

RB D.J. Davis — MVFC All-Purpose Yardage leader
RB D.J. Davis (5-8, 168, Jr.) is a prolific rusher, receiver and return man, who leads the league in All-Purpose yardage per game (155.9). He is sixth all-time at SIU with 3,692 career all-purpose yards (1,305 rushing, 687 receiving, 1,683 return). He opened the season with four-straight 100-yard rushing games and has five on the season. The last Saluki with five 100-yard games in a season was Malcolm Agnew in 2014.

WR Raphael Leonard — MVFC Receptions leader
WR Raphael Leonard (6-2, 193, Sr.) leads the MVFC with 38 receptions and has already surpassed last year's season total of 34 catches. He has caught at least one pass in all 18 games he has played at Southern. Prior to SIU, Leonard played at East Mississippi Community College in 2016, where he was part of Season 2 of the popular Netflix documentary Last Chance U.

S Jeremy Chinn has created 12 turnovers in the last 19 games
In the last 19 games, S Jeremy Chinn (6-2, 211, Jr.) has six interceptions and six forced fumbles. A preseason All-MVFC pick, he is tied for second all-time at Southern in forced fumbles (6), trailing only Tyler Williamson (8, 2012-14). Chinn has started 24-straight games at safety for SIU — the longest active starting streak on the team.

Dawg Bites

QB Matt DeSomer posted career highs in rushing (145 yards) and passing (165 yards) last week versus Indiana State.
QB Matt DeSomer has rushed for 100 yards twice this year and three times in his career, tying the school record for career 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback, set by Fred Gibson in 1987-88.
SIU's quarterbacks are the team's No. 2 and No. 3 leading rushers — Matt DeSomer (254) and Sam Straub (148). They have accounted for 27 percent of the team's rushing yardage.
LB Bryce Notree (6-2, 235, So.) leads the team with 58 tackles, including 49 stops in the last five games. He had 11 as a freshman last year. Notree also has 5.0 TFL, 2.0 sacks, and an interception.
SIU's defense ranks 15th in the nation in sacks per game (2.86). The team's 20 sacks is on pace to top last year's mark of 23 sacks.
CB Madre Harper has climbed to third on the team in tackles (35). The Oklahoma State transfer has started the last three games. He also has two pass breakups and a forced fumble
K Nico Gualdoni (6-0, 227, So.) is 9-for-11 on field goals in his career, with a career long of 39 yards. He is (9-for-10) inside of 40 yards. Last Saturday, he had his first miss inside 40.
The Salukis committed 12 turnovers in their first four games, but only three in their last three. They are now -4 in the turnover battle for the season.

DE Anthony Knighton — team sacks leader
DE Anthony Knighton (6-4, 253, So.) leads the team in sacks (5.5) and is the active team leader in career sacks (12.0) and tackles for loss (19.0). He has started all 18 games in his career and also has two forced fumbles, five pass breakups and one blocked kick. In 2017, he was runner-up for MVFC Freshman of the Year after recording 6.5 sacks.

WR Landon Lenoir with breakout season
Entering the year with nine catches, slot receiver Landon Lenoir (5-11, 190, So.) has already caught 31 passes this season, is second on the team in catches and has caught at least two balls in every game. Lenoir has two relatives currently in the NFL. Brother Lance Lenoir (age 23), who holds the Western Illinois school record for career touchdown catches (28), is currently a member the Dallas Cowboys. Cousin Laquon Treadwell (age 23) is a wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings.

Dawg Bites II

With 752 rushing yards this year, D.J. Davis has more yards on the ground than any SIU running back since Malcolm Agnew had 820 yards in 2014. The last 1,000-yard rusher at Southern was Jewel Hampton, who had 1,121 yards in 2011.
D.J. Davis is the school record holder in career kickoff return yards with 1,683. He has the second-longest kickoff return in school history — 98 yards versus Murray State as a freshman in 2016.
The Salukis blocked two field goal attempts last week versus Indiana State — one by S Jeremy Chinn and one by CB Terrance Henley. The last time SIU blocked two field goals in a game was in 2007 at Arkansas Pine Bluff. CB Craig Turner blocked them both.
RB Jonathan Mixon (5-11, 230, Sr.) is the team's active scoring leader with 17 career touchdowns (102 points). He has missed three games this year due to injury and parts of two others.
SIU led at halftime of its first five games and out-scored its opponents by 30 points in the first half. In the last two weeks, SIU has been out-scored in the first half, 38-7.

Only one senior on defensive two-deep
Of the 22 players on the current defensive two-deep, only one player is a senior (backup LB Withney Simon). There are eight juniors, seven sophomores and six freshmen.

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Players Mentioned

Jeremy Chinn

D.J. Davis

Matt DeSomer

Nico Gualdoni

Madre Harper

Terrance Henley

Anthony Knighton

Landon Lenoir

Raphael Leonard

Jonathan Mixon

Bryce Notree

Withney Simon

Sam Straub

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