The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

It's all or nothing for SIU

Saturday was not just another victory for SIU football - it was a loud, authoritative bark that echoed through the Shawnee National Forest.

As they walked off the field, the Salukis were probably mirroring the thoughts of the narrator from "The Sandlot" after Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez and the rest of the guys crushed a team of uppity rich kids.

"It was a solid victory," they likely thought. "In fact, we beat the crap out of those guys." It was, and they did.

The Salukis did everything right Saturday.

The No. 1 team in the country played fundamentally sound, committed only two penalties, forced four turnovers and committed only one. They passed well, ran even better, mercilessly rushed the passer and controlled the tempo of the game.

This all led to the dismantling of then No. 4, now No. 10, Western Kentucky, and let the nation know who the top Dawgs of Division I-AA are.

But there is a negative, if one can call it that, in all of this for SIU, and I'm not talking about the pathetic crowd of 10,143 that showed up to see the biggest game in Gateway history. Now, after an amazing performance like Saturday night, SIU has to go all the way.

No Gateway championship. No deep playoff run. No championship game bust like so many SIU teams have had tortured their fans. All the way.

If the Salukis do not win a national championship, 2004 will be a disappointment because, plain and simple, this team is simply too talented to expect anything less. I'm saying it because the team will not.

This subject came up at the press conference after the game, but no one on the team is going to say they are the best team in the country, the odds-on favorite.

Quarterback Joel Sambursky shrugged off the question, basically saying no matter what happens he will never declare SIU the best team in the country until after the championship game.

"I'll never answer that question," Sambursky said Saturday, laughing as he responded to a question about who was the best team in the country from 95.1 FM's Rick Gregg. "You can ask me that all day, and I still love ya, but I'm not ever going to answer that question."

The reason, he said, was because unlike the media, he actually has to prepare for each game and cannot get caught thinking ahead. Good point. We're lucky that way.

He said we, as in the Southern Illinois sports media, should be doing all the looking ahead and speculation. He is too focused on each upcoming opponent to look ahead and worry about anything other than the upcoming weekend, yet another reason this team seems destined to go all the way.

That kind of mental focus is crucial to success in any sport, and finding those who can maintain it can be quite difficult.

I know I'm not that mature. In fact, I spaced out during the ACT because there was a spider on the wall. His name was George. He was an average spider, with no particular hopes or dreams. He lived in a nice apartment building and was attempting to raise money to help save the ... oh yeah, football.

This team has a deadly focus, and when it plays intelligent and focused football, it is unbeatable. Not good, not above average, not great -- unbeatable. SIU had its focus Saturday night, and it ended up beating Western Kentucky by twice as much as Kansas State did.

Think about that for a second.

SIU outperformed a Big 12 team that nearly beat No. 2 Oklahoma last week.

This team really is that good, and no one in this region is going to tolerate anything less than a national championship. Anyone who has followed the Salukis this season knows if SIU loses a single game the rest of the season, it's because of one of the following two reasons: the other team was extremely lucky and little could be done to stop the malicious football gods, or the Salukis underachieved.

There won't be a massive outcry like in New York if the Yankees don't win it all, or in Chicago after the Cubs set a Ryan Leaf-like precedent for underachieving. But in the hearts of Saluki fans, there will always be a figurative cancerous tumor in the bottom of their hearts if this team cannot run the table.

This is the most talented Saluki football team in the history of the school, and if the end of the season does not reflect it, disappointment will be the only word synonymous with 2004 Saluki football.