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Salukis not letting Delaware debacle keep them down

Despite bitter final loss, SIU still embracing one of greatest seasons in school history

Derek Anderson ~ Daily Egyptian SIU sophomore quarterback Joel Sambursky looks on during Saturday's first round playoff game at Delaware.

NEWARK, Del. - A tearful Lionel Williams hugged fellow defensive lineman Billy Beard as the two tried to cope with what had just occurred.

In another part of the locker room, linebacker Eric Egan sat down balling, wearing just his shoulder pads and his underwear.

Then, leaning against his locker was senior wide receiver Courtney Abbott, who, like Egan, had just finished his final collegiate game in a disappointing 48-7 loss to No. 2 seed Delaware in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs.

Yet, Abbott was still able to take something positive out of the beating SIU had just received.

"We put Southern Illinois football on the map," Abbott said as a twinge of pride made its way through his bloodshot eyes.

Despite the loss, SIU finished the season with a 10-2 record and saw its national ranking hover in the top 10 most of the season and peak at No. 2 overall.

Head coach Jerry Kill said the reason the team was able to make SIU known for something other than basketball is because of the hard work of his seven departing seniors.

Despite being small in numbers, Kill said the group - consisting of Abbott, Egan, Muhammad Abdulqaadir, Tom Koutsos, George Mooney, Brandon Robinson and Wesley Proctor - made history during their Saluki tenures.

"They're a part of one of the biggest turnarounds in college football, and nobody can take that away," Kill said. "These kids have done maybe the biggest turnaround that I have ever seen or ever heard of in college football."

The group witnessed the Salukis turning from a 1-10 team two seasons ago during Kill's first year to a 4-8 team last season to an unbelievable 10-2 in their its go-around.

Making the turnaround even more spectacular was that little was expected from the Salukis outside of the team.

In the Gateway Conference preseason poll, the Salukis were picked to finish sixth and there was next to no one who expected this to be the year SIU returned to the playoffs as the drought neared 20 years.

Then the Salukis knocked off perennial Ohio Valley Conference powers Southeast Missouri State and Murray State in back-to-back games and people questioned whether the team was for real.

Next came a string of six straight wins over Gateway opponents, including road wins against national powers Western Illinois and Western Kentucky.

In the process, the once football-impotent Salukis set a new league mark with 10 consecutive wins to start a season and, despite a close loss to Northern Iowa, clinched a share of the league title, the first for SIU since joining the league for its inception in 1985.

The winning record marked just the third time the Salukis have finished above .500 since the 1983 season. SIU went 7-4 in both 1986 and 1991.

Also, for just the second time in school history, the Salukis finished a season with double-digit wins.

"We've come a long way from last year and a couple of years ago," sophomore cornerback Yemi Akisanya said. "We appreciate that because we know what we've come from."

The playoff appearance was the first for SIU since winning the national championship in 1983, and the Salukis plan on making the postseason a regular occurrence.

SIU should return close to 30 players who have started at one point or another during their careers, including a long list of postseason award winners - Alexis Moreland, Royal Whitaker, Joel Sambursky, Brent Little, Frank Johnson and Jamarquis Jordan.

Underclassmen such as Akisanya said they felt sorry for the fashion in which the seniors lost their final game, but for the players coming back, it will only serve as motivation to return to the playoffs and have a better showing.

"We have something to look forward to," Akisanya said. "The program is moving in a positive direction, and we're going to keep working hard and hopefully get it to the top."