Saturday, September 25
Carbondale, IL
2:00 PM
Southern Illinois University
vs
Illinois St.
Saluki Football hosts Redbirds on Family Weekend
09/21/2021 | 8:34:00 | Football
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois hosts Illinois State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in its conference opener at Saluki Stadium. Ticket prices start at just $12 for groups of 10 or more. It's Family Weekend at SIU, and parents can purchase general admission seats in the student Dawg Pound (Section 17-20) by calling 877-SALUKIS. Reserved seats can be purchased using the SIU Salukis mobile app, where you pay the same price and skip the line!
The No. 7-ranked Salukis (2-1) are coming off a 55-3 win over Dayton last Saturday. A crowd of 7,338 watched Southern roll to its most lopsided win since beating Mississippi Valley State by the same score in 2017. Southern's 658 total yards were the sixth-most in school history and included 406 yards on the ground. Javon Williams led SIU with 123 rushing yards, including 73 on a first-quarter TD run.
Series versus the Redbirds
On this date - September 25th
Head Coach Nick Hill's Weekly Press Conference - 9/20/21
Opening Statement:
"On Dayton, it was nice to be back at home and get to play in front of our home crowd. I thought it was an awesome student section, they came out and did a great job and we want them to continue on that. I'm really proud of our guys' effort and the entire week of practice. They went out there and got rewarded with a win.
Now we've turned the page and we understand that the season is really getting started as far as diving into the Missouri Valley Football Conference. It's one game at a time and we understand the gauntlet of what this MVFC will bring. Starting this week with Illinois State, if you look past any team or any moment in this league, someone will whoop your butt. We are excited to get going, excited to be playing at home this weekend, and excited about the challenge."
On team dynamic from spring and start of non-conference:
"I don't think there was anything we didn't know already about our guys, just from our time together and training camp. I feel that we are still learning that as we go. It was a good non-conference schedule, we talked about that, we were challenged in a lot of ways, and we played a lot of people in two of the games. I feel that we've gotten a lot better, but it's one game at a time. This game presents a lot of challenges and we're excited to continue to grow."
On extra motivation in rivalry with Illinois State:
"Honestly, I don't think there's any extra rivalry because we didn't play them in the spring. There's nothing we can do about that. It's 2021 – that's what I talk to our team about going into this season. The spring season is over, they don't care about that, we don't care about that. When the ball gets kicked off, nobody is going to be thinking about whether we played last year, or they stopped playing. It'll have zero effect on this game. If we let our minds get into effect, we are not going to be playing as good.
They are 2-1 just like ourselves, so we need to dive into film. I know that the last two times we played them, they beat us. In 2018, that was one of the worst performances I feel that we have fielded as a team here. And in 2019, we played well on defense, but not what we wanted offensively and did not play well with eight or nine sacks. They're a good football team, coach [Brock] Spack always does a great job with defense, plays hard, always presents challenges and they run the football well."
On ISU's quarterback, Bryce Jefferson:
"He got hurt last week in their game, but he's an athlete. He presents a lot of problems with his feet, runs the ball really well. We'll be prepared for whatever quarterback they put out there. They do what their offense calls them to do, they are going to be a physical football team that hangs their hat onto running the ball. When you can do that effectively, you have a lot of opportunities in the play pass, play action, and naked game. He's able to execute that and that's the way they have recruited the quarterback position. We'll be ready to go and put together the best plan on defense."
The No. 7-ranked Salukis (2-1) are coming off a 55-3 win over Dayton last Saturday. A crowd of 7,338 watched Southern roll to its most lopsided win since beating Mississippi Valley State by the same score in 2017. Southern's 658 total yards were the sixth-most in school history and included 406 yards on the ground. Javon Williams led SIU with 123 rushing yards, including 73 on a first-quarter TD run.
Series versus the Redbirds
- SIU is 41-38-3 lifetime vs. ISU. The Redbirds have won 5 of the last 6 meetings.
- The last meeting was in 2019. The teams had met every season since 1969 until ISU opted out of the teams' scheduled Apr. 3, 2020 game in Normal.
- This is SIU's second longest series. The longest is vs. Southeast Missouri (89 meetings).
- SIU is 24-17-1 versus the Redbirds in Carbondale.
On this date - September 25th
- 1931: SIU beat Scott Field, 19-0.
- 1937: SIU lost at Missouri S&T, 27-0.
- 1948: SIU lost at Wayne St., 26-0.
- 1954: SIU lost to Southeast Missouri, 7-6.
- 1965: SIU lost at Louisville, 13-0.
- 1971: SIU won at Illinois St., 10-9.
- 1976: SIU beat West Texas A&M, 21-17.
- 1982: SIU lost at Arkansas St., 35-30.
- 1993: SIU lost at Arkansas St., 27-6.
- 1999: SIU lost at Northern Iowa, 34-14.
- 2004: SIU won at Delaware St., 49-0.
- 2010: SIU lost at Youngstown St., 31-28.
- The Salukis are 16-20 in MVFC season opening games.
- Coach Nick Hill's Saluki teams are 0-5 in MVFC season opening games.
- Saluki Stadium opened in 2010 and is in its 12th season as SIU Football's home.
- SIU's all-time Saluki Stadium W-L record is 32-27.
- Coach Nick Hill's Saluki Stadium coaching record is 14-13.
- All of SIU's points came on offense (7 touchdowns and 2 field goals), as there were no turnovers in the game.
- SIU totaled 658 yards of total offense and averaged 9.3 yards per play.
- SIU had 9 plays of 20 yards or more. Six of those nine plays were rushing plays.
- It was Dayton's most lopsided loss since 1921.
- RB Javon Williams carried 3 times for 123 yards. It was his eighth career 100-yard rushing game. 73 of his yards came on a touchdown run.
- WR Landon Lenoir caught seven passes, tied for his second highest career receiving game.
- CB David Miller, subbing for the injured James Ceasar, led SIU with 8 total tackles. It was Miller's first career start. Seven of his eight tackles were solo tackles.
- In his first season-opening start as a college QB, Baker set the school record for passing yards in one game when he passed for 460 yards in the win at SEMO on Sept. 2, 2021.
- Baker's 460 yards came while playing in just 3 periods of a game SIU won, 47-21.
- Baker is one of just 5 SIU QBs to pass for 400 or more yards in a game. His head coach, Nick Hill, is also part of that fivesome having passed for 436 yards in a 2007 loss at Northern Iowa.
- Baker was 16 for 27 for 176 yards 0 TDs and 1 interception Week Two at Kansas St. He turned the ball over 3 times (2 fumbles and 1 interception).
- Baker was 16 for 21 for 235 yards, 3 TDs, and 0 interceptions vs. Dayton. He played two quarters, plus the opening drive of the third quarter.
- The injured foot that hampered Williams throughout the 2020-21 season is completely healed.
- Williams is in 14th place on SIU's career rushing yards list with 1,816.
- Should he rush for 1,000 yards in 2021, Williams would move into sixth place in career rushing with 2 years of eligibility remaining.
- If Williams leads SIU in rushing this season, he will be the first Saluki to lead his team in rushing in three consecutive seasons since Tom Koutsos led SIU in rushing from 1999-2001. Also, Williams would be the second since Burnell Quinn did it 1976-78.
- Williams is in fifth place on SIU's career rushing TDs list with 29. Williams scored 19 of his rushing touchdowns in his redshirt freshman 2019 season.
- Williams is in sixth place on SIU's career TDs list with 31.
- Williams is in eleventh place on SIU's career points list with 186.
- All-American and All-MVFC First Team WR Avante Cox is averaging 27.1 yards per reception through the first three games of the 2021 season.
- The Walter Payton Award finalist is tied for sixth place on SIU's career pass receptions list with 125.
- Cox is in sixth place on SIU's career receiving yardage list with 1,780.
- Cox is tied for ninth place on SIU's career receiving touchdowns list with 12.
- Cox is bidding to become the first Saluki to lead his team in receptions in three consecutive seasons since Brent Little (2003-05).
- Going into the ISU game, Cox has caught passes in 25 consecutive games.
- He and QB Nic Baker were teammates at Rochester (Ill.) High School.
- Baker and Cox connected on a 99-yard TD pass on the first play of the 2021 season at Southeast Missouri.
Head Coach Nick Hill's Weekly Press Conference - 9/20/21
Opening Statement:
"On Dayton, it was nice to be back at home and get to play in front of our home crowd. I thought it was an awesome student section, they came out and did a great job and we want them to continue on that. I'm really proud of our guys' effort and the entire week of practice. They went out there and got rewarded with a win.
Now we've turned the page and we understand that the season is really getting started as far as diving into the Missouri Valley Football Conference. It's one game at a time and we understand the gauntlet of what this MVFC will bring. Starting this week with Illinois State, if you look past any team or any moment in this league, someone will whoop your butt. We are excited to get going, excited to be playing at home this weekend, and excited about the challenge."
On team dynamic from spring and start of non-conference:
"I don't think there was anything we didn't know already about our guys, just from our time together and training camp. I feel that we are still learning that as we go. It was a good non-conference schedule, we talked about that, we were challenged in a lot of ways, and we played a lot of people in two of the games. I feel that we've gotten a lot better, but it's one game at a time. This game presents a lot of challenges and we're excited to continue to grow."
On extra motivation in rivalry with Illinois State:
"Honestly, I don't think there's any extra rivalry because we didn't play them in the spring. There's nothing we can do about that. It's 2021 – that's what I talk to our team about going into this season. The spring season is over, they don't care about that, we don't care about that. When the ball gets kicked off, nobody is going to be thinking about whether we played last year, or they stopped playing. It'll have zero effect on this game. If we let our minds get into effect, we are not going to be playing as good.
They are 2-1 just like ourselves, so we need to dive into film. I know that the last two times we played them, they beat us. In 2018, that was one of the worst performances I feel that we have fielded as a team here. And in 2019, we played well on defense, but not what we wanted offensively and did not play well with eight or nine sacks. They're a good football team, coach [Brock] Spack always does a great job with defense, plays hard, always presents challenges and they run the football well."
On ISU's quarterback, Bryce Jefferson:
"He got hurt last week in their game, but he's an athlete. He presents a lot of problems with his feet, runs the ball really well. We'll be prepared for whatever quarterback they put out there. They do what their offense calls them to do, they are going to be a physical football team that hangs their hat onto running the ball. When you can do that effectively, you have a lot of opportunities in the play pass, play action, and naked game. He's able to execute that and that's the way they have recruited the quarterback position. We'll be ready to go and put together the best plan on defense."
Players Mentioned
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/ FootballInside Saluki Athletics - October 7th
Wednesday, October 08
10.7.25 | Coach Nick Hill Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, October 07
10.4.25 | Game Highlights vs. Indiana State
Tuesday, October 07
10.6.25 | Rolyns Aligbe with Rodney Watson
Monday, October 06