Salukis bury Indiana State, 23-14, for third straight win D.J. Davis' 160 yards put him over the 5,000 career mark
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A stout defense and another big day on the ground on offense sparked Southern Illinois to its third-straight win - a 23-14 victory over Indiana State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium - as SIU continues its playoff push into the month of November.
Senior running back D.J. Davis had a season-high 160 yards on the ground, putting him over 5,000 career all-purpose yards for the Salukis (5-4, 3-2).
"I'm so proud of him and happy he gets the recognition he deserves," said SIU head coach Nick Hill. "I think we'll look back and see that he's one of the best running backs in school history and a Saluki Hall of Famer."
Davis, who topped 100 yards for the 10th time in his last 18 games, was more excited about the team's accomplishments, as the Salukis now find themselves in the playoff hunt.
"Really, it's just about stacking wins on top of each other and doing what I have to do help my team get these wins," he said. "Any personal accomplishments I couldn't have done without the help of my teammates."
Freshman Javon Williams Jr. added 84 rushing yards for Southern and scored both of the team's touchdowns. He started the scoring with a 54-yard touchdown gallop off right tackle on the Salukis' second drive of the game.
Although SIU piled up 265 rushing yards on the day, yards didn't always come as easy as they have the last two weeks. Williams Jr. was stuffed on 4th-and-goal at the ISU 1 late in the second quarter with the game tied, 7-7.
"We weren't finishing on offense," Hill noted. "Those six or eight plays we've made the last few weeks for explosive touchdowns we didn't make today, but we played winning football - the things you have to do on the road."
After the offense failed to convert on fourth down, the defense rose up and stopped the Sycamores (3-6, 1-4) on three-straight plays, and a short punt gave SIU the ball back at the ISU 20. Williams Jr. eventually punched it in from two yards out to make it 14-7.
Another three-and-out for the Sycamores gave SIU good field position at its own 40 with two minutes left in the half. On the first play of the drive, Davis scampered 48 yards down the left sideline to the ISU 12. Southern eventually pushed the ball to the 1, but had to settle for a Nico Gualdoni 24-yard field goal to make it 17-7.
Southern's second-half offense consisted of a pair of Gualdoni field goals - one from 36 yards and the final one from 27 yards out that made the score 23-14 with 12:16 to go in the game. He was a late substitution at kicker after Griffin Cerra was injured during warmups.
"He's maybe the MVP of the game," Hill said. "He nailed a couple of big-time field goals for us. The last one was huge."
Trailing by nine, Indiana State marched to the SIU 16 with eight minutes remaining when safety Qua Brown made the game's biggest defensive play. He diagnosed that Michael Haupert would throw out of the Wildcat formation, ranged to his left and leapt high for an interception in the end zone.
"I was reading the QB eyes and we knew that out of the Wildcat they were going to throw a pass eventually," Brown said. "We knew it was going to come down to getting stops and getting our offense back on the field."
SIU's defense held the Sycamores to 266 yards of total offense, forced two turnovers and recorded three sacks on the afternoon. The unit made clutch fourth-down stops on Indiana State's final two drives with linebacker Cody Crider making the tackle on both plays.
Outside linebacker Makel Calhoun had 11 tackles and two of the team's sacks, linebacker Bryson Strong had 12 tackles and forced a fumble and Jeremy Chinn recovered a fumble for SIU.
"Once you get into November, you have to have a great defense," Hill said. "You hang your hat on playing great defense and you're going to win a lot of football games."
Southern has its first three-game winning streak in a season since the start of the 2014 campaign and the first three-game winning streak in conference play since 2012. The last time SIU won consecutive road games was in 2013 when it beat South Dakota State and Northern Iowa back-to-back.
The Salukis return home to play Missouri State next Saturday. Immediately after the victory, Saluki Athletics rolled out a Flash Sale for 25 percent off a ticket to Saturday's game by purchasing a ticket online and using the code WEWIN. The sale ends Monday night at 11:59 p.m.