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."

Undisputed No. 1

Any doubts from the pollsters about who is the No. 1 team in the country all but disappeared Monday.

After former No. 2 Georgia Southern lost to now No. 2 Furman, the Salukis are on top of the polls - by a lot.

In the Sports Network media poll, SIU received 102 of 107 possible first place votes, receiving 99 more than anyone else. In the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll, the Salukis earned 39 of 41 possible first-place votes and were the only team with multiple first-place votes.

Georgia Southern dropped to No. 6 in both polls and has gone from possible top dog to a team praying for a home game.

SIU as No. 1 is becoming as normal as the team blowing someone out, and the Salukis are starting to get used to it.

"We've had the No. 1 target on our backs for I don't know how many weeks," SIU quarterback Joel Sambursky said after Saturday's game, saying not much had changed despite the Georgia Southern loss.

SIU has now been on top of the rankings for eight weeks in a row and nine weeks overall. The nine weeks on top gives the Salukis more total weeks at No. 1 than any team in Gateway history.

As they have maintained all season, the Salukis want to finish at No. 1.

"The most important thing is not where you're at during the season, it's where you end up at," Sambursky said.

The seemingly undisputed top spot is crucial for SIU, and could easily translate into a No. 1 seed in the playoffs. To even hope for a top seed, SIU will have to take care of last-place Indiana State Saturday.

"For the playoff picture, that game next week is a must-win for us," SIU head coach Jerry Kill said. "We didn't finish the job a year ago, and we need to make sure we finish it this time."

Jacobs ejected, likely not suspended

Kill said running back Brandon Jacobs will not be suspended by the NCAA - he hopes.

Following a melee late in Saturday's game stemming from a spat with Illinois State's Nick Passarelli, Jacobs was ejected. But the referee told Kill, who was livid at the time, that Jacobs was not ejected for fighting.

That likely means Jacobs will not face a suspension, but he may incur Kill's wrath this week.

"That's certainly a situation we'll be taking care of," Kill said after the game.

Mass fan support in Normal

On the east side of Illinois State's Hancock Stadium, there are rows of bleachers about a dozen deep, holding about a thousand people.

During Saturday's game, half of those rows were filled with maroon. SIU enjoyed a supportive crowd behind its sideline that attempted to drown out the Illinois State band stationed right behind the Saluki bench.

Athletic Director Paul Kowalczyk made the trip, along with several other members of the athletic department, and former running back Tom Koutsos made a cameo on the SIU sideline.

Grigsby sets all-time tackles mark

It was a miserable Senior Day for the Illinois State Redbirds, but Saturday was still a game to remember for senior linebacker Boomer Grigsby.

Grigsby set the all-time Gateway Conference tackles record, passing Jim Carver's record of 565, set at Eastern Illinois in 1995.

"I'm truly honored, and I always will be," Grigsby said. "I think it will set into me a lot more in the future, when I'm a little older, because the bottom line is try to win games. I think it would have been a lot better for me if I had three tackles and we could have won."

Northern Illinois thriving

SIU's one-point loss to Northern Illinois is looking better and better every week. The Huskies have won six in a row and are now No. 22 in the coaches' poll going into tonight's game at home against Toledo, which will air on ESPN2. They are undefeated in the Mid-American Conference at 6-0.