Southern Illinois University
2-8 , 1-6
South Dakota St.
7-2 , 5-2
South Dakota State tops Saluki Football in 57-38 shootout
11/10/2018 | 6:04:00 | Football
The Jackrabbits (7-2, 5-2) averaged more than 10 yards per play and piled up 656 yards of offense. They were almost equally effective on the ground (315 yards) as through the air (341 yards). Pierre Strong carried for 188 yards and three touchdowns, including TD runs of 72 and 43 yards. Quarterback Taryn Christion completed just 13 passes but averaged 26 yards per completion.
The Salukis (2-8, 1-6), who have been decimated by injuries on defense, played without their top five defensive backs, including star safety Jeremy Chinn. That left them susceptible to surrendering large chunks of yardage.
"We knew we were going to give up some stuff, but we have to stop the run," said SIU head coach Nick Hill. "They were able to just get it over with and score on those explosive plays."
Southern's offense had a solid day, totaling 541 yards, including a season-high 353 on the ground. Running back D.J. Davis had a career-high 201 yards and became the first Saluki back since 2011 to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Quarterback Matt DeSomer added a school-record four QB-rushing touchdowns.
"I feel like we've run the ball better than we have around here in a long time," Hill said. "We've committed to running the football."
DeSomer's fourth rushing TD of the day came with 9:40 left in the third quarter and cut the Saluki deficit to 36-31.
"I thought we had some opportunities to put them away and get them discouraged with the way our offense was playing and we never did it," said South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier. "I thought they had a great offensive plan."
The Jackrabbits countered DeSomer's TD with an 80-yard scoring drive that took less than two minutes, then put the game away with a 63-yard scoring drive with 1:55 left in the third.
"It's 36-31 — we just needed to make a play, we needed to turn them over, they needed to make a mistake and they're not a team that makes many mistakes," Hill said.
SIU did close the gap to 50-38 on a 53-yard touchdown pass from DeSomer to Raphael Leonard, but a Strong 24-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter put the game out of reach.
"We weren't able to go score for score with them," Hill said. "I thought we did some decent things to score some points and move the football on a good defense, but not enough to beat a top-five team in the country."
The two teams combined for a stadium record 1,197 yards of offense and the 95 points were four shy of the stadium record.
Before the game, the Salukis honored their 14 seniors, who played the final home game of their careers.
"This senior class won't be remembered for a lot of trophies, but I appreciate their commitment and being able to coach them," Hill said. "There's a lot of good guys in the group that are going to graduate and do a lot of great things."
Southern ends its season next week at No. 1-ranked North Dakota State.
"I truly appreciate the fans who were out there through it all," Hill said. "We're preparing to go play the No. 1 team in the country on the road. We have to give them our best, just like we did (South Dakota State)."
Team Stats
SDSU 7, SIU 0
SDSU - Mikey Daniel 1 yd run (Chase Vinatieri kick), 8 plays, 64 yards, TOP 3:42
SDSU 7, SIU 3
SIU - Cerra, Griffin 50 yd field goal 6 plays, 11 yards, TOP 2:30
SDSU 10, SIU 3
SDSU - Chase Vinatieri 21 yd field goal 5 plays, 71 yards, TOP 1:55
SDSU 10, SIU 10
SIU - DeSomer, Matt 1 yd run (Cerra, Griffin kick), 12 plays, 76 yards, TOP 5:11
SDSU 17, SIU 10
SDSU - Jadon Janke 0 yd blocked punt return (Chase Vinatieri kick)
SDSU 17, SIU 17
SIU - DeSomer, Matt 1 yd run (Cerra, Griffin kick), 13 plays, 75 yards, TOP 5:32
SDSU 24, SIU 17
SDSU - Pierre Strong 72 yd run (Chase Vinatieri kick), 2 plays, 72 yards, TOP 0:15
SDSU 30, SIU 17
SDSU - Cade Johnson 56 yd pass from Taryn Christion (Chase Vinatieri kickfailed) 1 plays, 56 yards, TOP 0:08
SDSU 30, SIU 24
SIU - DeSomer, Matt 10 yd run (Cerra, Griffin kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:16
SDSU 36, SIU 24
SDSU - Cade Johnson 42 yd pass from Taryn Christion (Taryn Christion passfailed) 3 plays, 54 yards, TOP 1:17
SDSU 36, SIU 31
SIU - DeSomer, Matt 10 yd run (Cerra, Griffin kick), 6 plays, 86 yards, TOP 1:35
SDSU 43, SIU 31
SDSU - Pierre Strong 43 yd run (Chase Vinatieri kick), 5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:05
SDSU 50, SIU 31
SDSU - Mikey Daniel 1 yd run (Chase Vinatieri kick), 9 plays, 63 yards, TOP 4:29
SDSU 50, SIU 38
SIU - Leonard, Raphae 53 yd pass from DeSomer, Matt (Cerra, Griffin kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:48
SDSU 57, SIU 38
SDSU - Pierre Strong 24 yd run (Chase Vinatieri kick), 7 plays, 70 yards, TOP 3:01
