Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Just a week after the Indiana State football team snapped a 33-game losing streak when they defeated Western Illinois on Homecoming, the Sycamores squared off against No. 3 nationally-ranked Southern Illinois at Memorial Stadium. The Salukis proved why they are the third-ranked team in the nation by shutting out the Sycamores 33-0 in front of 4,582 fans on a cloudy day.

The Sycamores were able to contain the Salukis for the entire first quarter, as the game remained scoreless after fifteen minutes of play. Southern Illinois was able to turn on the heat during the second quarter however, scoring three touchdowns with the help of lead runningback Deji Karim, who rushed for 32 yards in the second quarter alone, and later finished with 87 yards. The half ended with a 21-0 score in favor of Southern Illinois.

Following halftime, the Salukis received a second rushing touchdown from their quarterback Paul McIntosh, driving the Saluki lead to 28-0. In his first career start, McIntosh finished the game 15-of-22 with 159 yards, including 57 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

The Sycamores were able to end the third quarter on a positive note, when freshman Andrew Blackmon intercepted Bobby Brenneisen's attempt at a touchdown pass at the three yard line.

The Sycamore defense was able to hold strong throughout the fourth quarter, allowing Southern Illinois only two points off a safety at the very beginning of the quarter.

While the Sycamores fell by a final score of 33-0, they again showed improvement by holding the Salukis to a point under their season scoring average.

Senior Antoine Brown led the Sycamore offensive attack with 36 rushing yards on 18 attempts while sophomore Ryan Roberts was 7-of-18 for 52 yards. Junior Bryant Kent caught three passes for 22 yards.

Defensively, the Sycamores were led by freshman Jacolby Washington with 10 tackles, including a career-high three for loss. Rod Hardy and Lawrence Young added multiple tackles for loss while Nate Brown had one as well. Blackmon posted an inteception for the second consecutive week and added a fumble recovery.

The Sycamores return to action on Saturday, November 7 when they travel to Missouri State. The Bears dropped a 24-14 decision today to Illinois State. Kick-off is set for 2:05 p.m. (ET).

POSTGAME QUOTES:

Head Coach Dale Lennon
Opening Statement
“Overall, I'm pleased with the day. I was definitely concerned coming into this week, just as our preparation was as a football team. Any time you lose your starting quarterback the week before, there's a lot of concerns that you have. I really did feel that the team prepared well during the course of the week, and we came out and made it as business-like as possible. That's what I was hoping for.”

On SIU's running game
“The combination of the run game and the teams we're playing putting a lot of people in the box, that's something we'll be seeing here most weeks. I thought just being able to use Paul McIntosh in the combination with our tailbacks -- that's something that's going to be a good combination for us. We just have to make sure we have enough variety to keep the defenses from overloading.”

On quarterback Paul McIntosh
“The thing I really liked about Paul's game today is that he looked comfortable out there. He was able to manage the clock very well. I liked how he controlled the line of scrimmage with the 40-second clock. He really didn't put us into too many negative situations, so I was very pleased with how he conducted himself.

“You can see the confidence coming back. He hasn't played basically for a year and a half, but he's starting to get those quarterback instincts back. That's the thing that you look for. You want them out there playing instinctively. Paul is an instinctive player. We can't expect him to be a pocket-type thrower all the time. In fact, a lot of times if he's moving around, he's going to be more of a weapon for us. We want him to use his instincts as he needs to.”

On defending Indiana State quarterback Ryan Roberts
“Sometimes it's the advantage of a three-four defense – we were able to bring pressure off the edge and because of that, it was easier to get some of the containment responsibilities taken care of. I thought our guys did a very good job of reacting to when he did keep it, which limited the yardage that he gained.”

On blocking a punt
“Having a punt blocked, especially for a score, is very demoralizing. I thought that was exactly what happened. They (Indiana State) were playing very good football and competing and battling with us. All of a sudden you get a quick  score like that, and it takes the wind out of the sails. I just felt at that point, we kind of grabbed the reigns and took control.”

Southern Illinois at Indiana State
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009
Indiana State Postgame Press Conference

Head Coach Trent Miles
Opening Statement
“We were beaten by a better football team today. They (Southern Illinois) were the better team today. I thought we fought hard. I thought that our energy was there. I thought we made a crucial mistake right before the half. You take a 14-0 game and get a punt blocked for a touchdown, and now it's 21-0. Those are the mistakes that you can't make against a team that's competing to win a championship and trying to go win a national championship. That was a team that has a lot of seniors. We didn't do what we needed to do offensively. We didn't run the ball, and we weren't able to throw it. But our defense fought really hard. We've closed the gap. That was a team that, last year, was beating us by 50 at the half. Self-inflicted wounds against a very good opponent cannot happen.”

On making progress against Southern Illinois
“Going from 50-0 at the half to 14-0 at the half the next year if you execute – that's progress. Do we accept it, and are we settling for anything? No. But that's a heck of a football team. They have eight senior starters on their defense and seven senior starters on their offense. We held their back, who leads the nation with around 140 yards per game rushing. We held them to 161 yards total rushing. We did some good things, but it's typical, youthful football. Our kids fought. They went out and battled.”

On SIU quarterback Paul McIntosh
“He's a runner. The more you play, the more confidence you're going to get. When you have a lot of really good players around you, it takes the pressure off. I thought he did a good job. I think it was his first chance at playing a whole game, and he's a good athlete. He'll be fine.”

Sophomore quarterback Ryan Roberts
On SIU's defense
“The last two weeks, I've done a pretty good job running the ball. Then last week, when we ran the power a lot, I had a lot of yards. They (Southern Illinois) weren't going to let that happen. They game-planned that pretty well and shut me down running-wise.”