
Football plays at Northwestern for first time since 2008
09/14/2022 | 1:29:00 | Football
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois football team returns to Chicago to play Northwestern for the first time since 2008 when it plays the Wildcats on Saturday at 11 a.m. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
This week's game will be just the second meeting between the schools. Northwestern beat SIU, 33-7, on Sept. 13, 2008. In that game, Larry Warner scored on a 19-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter to give the Salukis a 7-6 lead. In a game that was played in a driving rain, the Wildcats scored 27-unanswered points.
SIU is 1-7 all-time against Big Ten teams. The win came in 2006 and was orchestrated by current head coach Nick Hill, who was the team's starting quarterback. In a 35-28 win at Indiana, Hill threw four touchdown passes and SIU out-gained Indiana on the ground, 244-76.
The last time Southern played a Big Ten team was in 2015, when it lost at Indiana, 48-47. The Salukis scored a touchdown with 20 seconds remaining, but their two-point conversion attempt to win the game was unsuccessful. Hill was the team's offensive coordinator under head coach Dale Lennon.
In six of its last seven games vs. FBS programs, the Salukis have led at halftime — Kansas State (2021), UMass (2019), Ole Miss (2018), Memphis (2017), Florida Atlantic (2016) and Indiana (2015). The Salukis trailed at halftime at Arkansas State (2018).
Quoting Coach Hill
On the 34-31 loss to SEMO:
"It was a good football game, but we came out on the wrong end of it. I give a lot of credit to SEMO, they made more plays at the end of the game to win the football
game. We've got to continue to show growth in this team. I think we did from week 1 to week 2 as far as some things we challenged them with. We got better, but it
was not good enough."
On playing Northwestern:
"We've got a really good opponent this week. Obviously we have the challenge of going and playing a Big Ten Opponent, one that I have a ton of respect for, one
that's disciplined and physical, and we definitely have our work cut out for us."
On the Injury Status of Wide Receiver Izaiah Hartrup:
"At this point, I would say he's still a couple weeks away from being back. It's a pretty significant hamstring injury that's taken a really long time. It's as bad of
hamstring injury that we've seen around here, as far as holding somebody out for a significant amount of time. We won't rush him back, we'll make sure that he is
good to go, and when he is ready to go, we'll put him out on the field."
On Bouncing Back from an 0-2 Start:
"When you get hit and you lose a couple football games, you've got to have great perspective on that. We have a lot of season left to get better and great teams do
that, they get better throughout the year, they get better from game to game. There's going to be highs and lows and different sets of adversity that comes out
in every game. We just have to stay the course and believe in ourselves and go out there and play good football."
This week's game will be just the second meeting between the schools. Northwestern beat SIU, 33-7, on Sept. 13, 2008. In that game, Larry Warner scored on a 19-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter to give the Salukis a 7-6 lead. In a game that was played in a driving rain, the Wildcats scored 27-unanswered points.
SIU is 1-7 all-time against Big Ten teams. The win came in 2006 and was orchestrated by current head coach Nick Hill, who was the team's starting quarterback. In a 35-28 win at Indiana, Hill threw four touchdown passes and SIU out-gained Indiana on the ground, 244-76.
The last time Southern played a Big Ten team was in 2015, when it lost at Indiana, 48-47. The Salukis scored a touchdown with 20 seconds remaining, but their two-point conversion attempt to win the game was unsuccessful. Hill was the team's offensive coordinator under head coach Dale Lennon.
In six of its last seven games vs. FBS programs, the Salukis have led at halftime — Kansas State (2021), UMass (2019), Ole Miss (2018), Memphis (2017), Florida Atlantic (2016) and Indiana (2015). The Salukis trailed at halftime at Arkansas State (2018).
Quoting Coach Hill
On the 34-31 loss to SEMO:
"It was a good football game, but we came out on the wrong end of it. I give a lot of credit to SEMO, they made more plays at the end of the game to win the football
game. We've got to continue to show growth in this team. I think we did from week 1 to week 2 as far as some things we challenged them with. We got better, but it
was not good enough."
On playing Northwestern:
"We've got a really good opponent this week. Obviously we have the challenge of going and playing a Big Ten Opponent, one that I have a ton of respect for, one
that's disciplined and physical, and we definitely have our work cut out for us."
On the Injury Status of Wide Receiver Izaiah Hartrup:
"At this point, I would say he's still a couple weeks away from being back. It's a pretty significant hamstring injury that's taken a really long time. It's as bad of
hamstring injury that we've seen around here, as far as holding somebody out for a significant amount of time. We won't rush him back, we'll make sure that he is
good to go, and when he is ready to go, we'll put him out on the field."
On Bouncing Back from an 0-2 Start:
"When you get hit and you lose a couple football games, you've got to have great perspective on that. We have a lot of season left to get better and great teams do
that, they get better throughout the year, they get better from game to game. There's going to be highs and lows and different sets of adversity that comes out
in every game. We just have to stay the course and believe in ourselves and go out there and play good football."
Players Mentioned
9.15.25 | Saluki Spotlight Presented by SIU Alumni Association: Penny Warner (Soccer)
Wednesday, September 24
9.24.25 | Jorge Moreno with Rodney Watson
Wednesday, September 24
Inside Saluki Athletics - September 23rd
Tuesday, September 23
9.22.25 | Saluki Basketball Begins In Season Practice
Monday, September 22