Recap | Strong defensive effort for Saluki Football in loss to North Dakota State

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Oct 11

2:30 PM

Football

#1/#1 North Dakota State

Fargo, ND

Oct 18

2 PM

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#15/#14 North Dakota

Carbondale, IL

Oct 25

2 PM

Football

Northern Iowa

Carbondale, IL

Nov 1

4 PM

Football

Murray State

Murray, KY

Nov 8

1 PM (CT)

Football

#19/#24 Youngstown State

Youngstown, OH

Nov 15

12 PM

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#18/#17 South Dakota

Carbondale, IL

Nov 22

12 PM

Football

#5/#7 Illinois State

Normal, IL

CARBONDALE, Ill. — No. 2 North Dakota State remained unbeaten versus FCS opponents this season, holding off Southern Illinois on Saturday, 24-3, in a game that was closer than the final score might indicate.

Minus their top two quarterbacks, the unranked Salukis (2-5, 0-3) have run the gauntlet of five-straight games against ranked opponents.

Today, the defense rose up and held NDSU to its fewest yards of the season (363) and lowest point total in its last 13 games.

"There's no moral victories in this game, but there was progress made today, there were things fixed that needed to get fixed," said SIU head coach Nick Hill. "It didn't come in a winning effort, there's things that are going to show up in the tape that we have to continue to get better at, but there are a lot of things we can build off of."

For the first time in 35 years, SIU started a true freshman at quarterback, with Jake Curry taking over, after injuries to DJ Williams in Week 3 and Hunter Simmons in Week 6.

The rookie marched Southern down the field on the team's opening possession, completing four passes, before freshman wide receiver Allen Middleton coughed up the football at the NDSU 26. It was SIU's first lost fumble of the season, and a promising drive ended with no points.

Curry completed 15-of-27 passes for 152 yards and one interception on the day, but it was one run in particular that stood out during the second quarter, when he evaded the pass rush, escaped upfield and lowered his shoulder into defensive end Loshiaka Roques for a 10-yard gain.

"I was proud of Jake," Hill said. "Being 18 years old and making your first start against that defense — tough task. I thought Saluki fans saw the kind of grit and competitiveness that he has. He's just going to keep getting better. I think the guys have really rallied behind him, because they've seen that in his work throughout the week."

Late in the second quarter, Curry did put points on the board, completing an 18-yard pass to Middleton and a 24-yard strike to Vinson Davis III. That set up a 50-yard field goal by Paul Geelen that made the score 7-3.

The only loss for the Bison (6-1, 3-0) this year came during Week One at Colorado, 31-26, in a game that came down to the final possession. They have mostly moved the ball at will against opponents, averaging 43 points versus FCS teams entering today's game.

SIU's defense allowed only 3.9 yards per carry against NDSU's vaunted rushing attack, and defensive end Louis Wilbert stuffed CharMar Brown for a loss on 4th-and-1 at the SIU 39 on the opening drive of the third quarter.

"The drives we gave up, they had to earn every yard," Hill said. "We got them into some tough situations, we got them off the field."

The offense left some points on the field — including a missed 41-yard field goal in the fourth quarter that could have cut the deficit to 11.

"We weren't able to capitalize and get a couple touchdowns on the board," Hill said.

The Salukis are off next Saturday, before a road game at Indiana State two weeks from today.

"We need a bye week pretty badly," Hill said. "The (guys) who are not practicing during the week (due to injuries) need some time off. We need some time off mentally. With five weeks left, there needs to be some determination to say, "we have the group to go get on a run." The teams we've been playing don't make it easy on you when you're changing quarterbacks. We need to regroup, and guys need to get healthy for a run."

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