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."

Salukis wring Leathernecks

At the end the first quarter, following a turnover on downs and a 43-yard touchdown run, Western Illinois' sideline knew it was over.

With Halloween only a few hours away, those on the somber Leatherneck sideline stood like zombies, shoulders limp and faces drooped - and they pretty much stayed that way the rest of the game, watching SIU obliterate their team 66-13 in the worst defensive effort in Western Illinois history.

SIU steamrolled the Leathernecks Saturday night, tying an all-time record for total yards in a game (606), breaking the record for most points against a Gateway Conference opponent (66) and easily setting a new season mark with 436 yards rushing. Between the Salukis' dominance and the Leathernecks' futility, it's quite possible the two teams set all-time records for records set. The lopsided win also gave the Salukis their longest home winning streak (11) in school history, along with turning a table that had been anchored in the ground for decades.

SIU has now beaten mighty Western Illinois three times in a row for the first time since 1945.

"I never would have dreamt it in my life," said safety Alexis Moreland, who blocked a punt for the second week in a row. "I knew we'd turn it around, I knew we'd be good eventually, but I never thought that it would be like this."

It's unlikely Western Illinois thought it would be this way, either. Western Illinois came to Carbondale averaging more than 35 points a game, good for second in the conference and eighth in Division I-AA.

But because of Moreland and the SIU defense, the Leathernecks came away with only 13 and saw their key weapons reduced to squirt guns.

The Gateway's leading rusher, Travis Glasford, was limited to 34 yards on 24 carries.

Glasford was not running poorly, breaking tackles all night long. He simply had nowhere to run, and usually saw a few Saluki jerseys as soon as he got the ball.

"Our kids are playing great defensive football right now," SIU head coach Jerry Kill said in one of the greatest understatements of the season.

Despite being down by a few dozen points most of the game, Western Illinois insisted on running the ball and did not pass consistently until the fourth quarter. The Leathernecks trailed the entire game, yet ran the ball 35 times and threw only 31 passes.

Leathernecks head coach Don Patterson said he was trying to shorten the game by running with Glasford, but his team did not block as well as it should have.

SIU also contained Western Illinois' explosive receivers. Through the first three quarters, Leatherneck wide receivers caught only one pass.

Western Illinois starting quarterback Steve Lafalce completed only four of 16 passes and could not find a seam in the Saluki defense.

Wherever the ball was, so was the SIU secondary.

"I even commented to a couple of my defensive players - 'man, we're fast,'" Moreland said, smiling even more than usual after the rout.

Moreland's defense spent an arduous 28 minutes on the field despite the blowout, not because the SIU offense was performing poorly, but because it continued to reel off big plays.

As usual, the Saluki line pushed the opposing defense around like shopping carts. And, as usual, the SIU running backs gave the front five credit for the eye-popping rushing numbers.

"It's my big boys. That's what I call them, my big boys," said running back Brandon Jacobs, who busted loose for 128 yards on seven carries. "My O-line, if they continue to move people off the ball every week, we're going to continue having 300-yard games."

SIU almost had a 300-yard rushing game at halftime, compiling 288 first-half yards and giving the Salukis a 45-7 halftime lead.

Jacobs and freshman fullback Craig Turner broke big plays, running for a combined 231 yards on 10 plays in the first half. That's an average of 23.1 yards per carry.

Turner ran for 103 yards in the game, and his season average is now 12.4 yards per carry, but the run of the day belonged to Jacobs.

Jacobs took a handoff at the beginning of the second quarter and showed off his speed, going untouched for a 64-yard touchdown run. A defensive back had an angle on him, but the 260-pound back ran past the speedy Fu'ad Khaleel.

"A lot of my teammates and coaches have been asking to see that all year long, and I've been wanting to do it all year long," Jacobs said. "It actually felt good to get out and turn on the burners and let them go."

Kill said Jacobs is just starting to learn the offense, which could be a scary prospect for future Saluki opponents.

SIU has only Illinois State and Indiana State left on the schedule, and the Salukis swear they will take both seriously.

Illinois State was edged by Western Kentucky this weekend, meaning the Hilltoppers are still only one game behind SIU in the Gateway.

To win the conference, and make sure they do not peak in the middle of the season as they did last year, the Salukis say they will be even better as the year continues.

Moreland, and the rest of the players, do not want to get lulled into a false sense of security - despite Saturday's record-setting performance.

"We didn't want to come out this season, at any time of the season, and get complacent," Moreland said. "We knew that we would be a good team, but we want to finish the job this year."