Saluki Football falls to Arkansas State, 41-28
JONESBORO, Ark. - Southern Illinois will look back on Saturday night's 41-28 loss to FBS Arkansas State and think about what might have been.
In their bid to upset their second FBS team this season, the Salukis (2-2) outgained the Red Wolves (2-2), 526-474, but four times they came up empty on drives deep inside Arkansas State territory. Twice, SIU was turned away on 4th-and-goal opportunities. Southern also threw an interception in the end zone and missed a short field goal.
"Missed opportunities," SIU head coach Nick Hill lamented. "As a play caller it starts with me. That's what I told the (team). When you get down to the five or six yard line four different times and don't score, it has to make you sick to your stomach. I have to do a better job of putting them in a position to have some plays there."
Making his first-career start at quarterback, junior Karé Lyles had an impressive performance for the Salukis, completing 19-of-31 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with Avante Cox seven times for 142 yards, including a perfectly placed 26-yard TD strike at the end of the first quarter that tied the game, 14-14.
"I thought we threw, caught it and pushed the ball down the field," Hill said. "(Karé) did a lot of things that we can move forward with and grow. With Cox, I keep saying in every postgame that he can get going and that he's a good player. He showed that tonight."
Lyles was aggressive throwing the ball downfield, connecting not only with Cox but completing five passes for 69 yards to wideout Landon Lenoir. His only mistake of the day came just before halftime when Southern had the ball in a 3rd-and-goal situation and Lyles rolled to his right, threw into traffic and was picked off by ASU's Tajhea Chambers.
"I play a position where I need to take full responsibility for this loss and I truly do," Lyles said. "Just that critical mistake that I made before the half is one you can't have as a quarterback. I knew that after that mistake going forward, I wasn't going to make one like that again."
The turnover allowed Red Wolves quarterback Logan Bonner enough time to march his team 91 yards in six plays for a momentum-changing TD heading into intermission that made the score 31-14.
The Salukis rallied back in the second half on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Lyles to Sam Bonansinga that cut the deficit to 31-21. They closed the gap again when Lyles bulldozed his way through would-be tacklers for a 15-yard score that made it 38-28.
Southern had a chance to cut the deficit to six points with five minutes to go, but on 4th-and-goal at the ASU 5, Lyles passed the ball to Romeir Elliott at the goal line, where the freshman running back saw the ball slip through his fingers.
Multithreat running back Javon Williams Jr. had another top performance for SIU with 103 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. It was his second-straight 100-yard game. He also completed his first-career pass out of the Wildcat formation.
Two of SIU's best players were injured during the game - star running back D.J. Davis left in the third quarter after injuring his arm on a kickoff return and All-American safety Jeremy Chinn did not play most of the second half due to a nagging foot injury. Hill said the injury to Davis' arm was serious.
"Watching (Davis) in pain on the field was tough to look at just because you feel for how much the kid has put into this season and to this team," Hill said.
Although Southern's defense was vulnerable to the deep pass, allowing 357 passing yards and four passing TDs, it generated heavy pressure on the quarterback with five sacks, including two by linebacker Luke Giegling.
The Salukis will have a bye week next week and begin conference play in two weeks at South Dakota State.
"I know that we're going to be better from this loss going forward," Lyles said. "We're going to look at the film and see that there were a lot of great plays. We're a physical team, we fight until the last second, and when we're on, nobody can really stop us."