By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Salukis made it interesting late, but Indiana State held on for an exciting 39-36 Homecoming victory over Southern Illinois at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

The Sycamores (4-2, 2-1 MVFC) were up by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter following an impressive offensive showing and a defiant defensive output against a lethal SIU (2-4, 1-2 MVFC) offense. However, the Salukis marched back and were within three late after a Mark Iannotti rushing touchdown and Matt DeSomer two-point conversion made the game 39-36 with 1:28 to play.

ISU's offense, however, did what it had all game: run the ball. Leading rusher Matt Adam (nine carries, 123 yards, 1 TD) plowed ahead for 10 yards on 3rd and 10 to move the chains and run out the clock for the win.

“(It was) just a great win,” said ISU head coach Mike Sanford. “I thought our team kept fighting and kept believing in spite of a lot of adversity. We had a lot of difficult things happen.”

The adversity Coach Sanford alludes to is not glaringly obvious at first glance at this game, as the Sycamore offense was – for the most part – able to move the ball at will on the Salukis, raking up a season-high total offensive output of 561 yards.

The Salukis started out hot, though, with a 10-play, 77-yard scoring drive on the game's first possession. ISU responded in kind, though, with the first of three touchdown passes from Matt Adam (14-of-29, 190 yards, 3 TD) to Gary Owens (five catches, 128 yards, 3 TD) for 30 yards over double-coverage.

Owens' day was a historic one for Indiana State, as he tied the all-time single-season receiving touchdown record (8, set in 1968 by Steve Schmid), as well becoming the fifth Sycamore to ever catch three touchdowns in the same game – the first since Sampson Levingston in 2013. Most remarkable was the fact that Owens spectacularly had his hands on at least three more touchdown passes that were knocked away or fell out of his grasp.

“Gary Owens was awesome today,” Sanford said. “He had three touchdown receptions but he could have had even more.”

Owens even caught a 42-yard pass from fellow wide receiver and former ISU QB Robert Tonyan Jr. later on in the first quarter, who found Owens wide-open down the right sideline on a trick double-pass play.

“We were very aggressive,” Sanford said. “And we're going to continue to be very aggressive.”

That aggressiveness payed off so well thanks to a superb rushing offense that accumulated a season-high total of 329 yards – 320 of which came from just three people. The Sycamores decided to beat the high-flying Salukis at their own game (SIU entered ranked ninth nationally in rushing offense) by riding the performances of Adam (123 yards, 1 TD), LeMonte Booker (113 yards) and Roland Genesy (85 yards) to victory. Adam and Booker are actually the first 100-yard duo for ISU all season.

Speaking of Adam, the sophomore quarterback wasn't just getting a few yards here and there – he was exploding from the line of scrimmage. Adam set a new career-long rush twice today, once on a 43-yard touchdown run on a perfect read-option in the first quarter and then on a long 44-yard first down in the third.

“Matt did a great job,” Sanford said. “With Matt having the mobility that he has is tremendous, and I think that had a lot to do with it.”

Adam's mobility also helped in the passing game as well. Adam's ability to escape pressure and look downfield kept the Saluki defense honest and eventually allowed for the three touchdown passes to Owens.

“I thought Matt kept his composure well,” Sanford said. “I think Matt showed some maturity today. He made some good decisions and learned from some things that happened last week.”

And even though they gave up 554 total yards of offense, the Sycamore defense completely stymied an incredible SIU rushing offense, holding the Salukis to just 127 yards on the ground – a season-low for ISU opponents. Indiana State has still not allowed a 100-yard rusher this season.

Safety Tsali Lough was a huge part of that, tallying up an ISU season-high 16 total tackles. Kendall Walker also posted his third-straight double-digit game with 13 total, as did Jameer Thurman with 10. Jordan Wallace provided a crucial forced fumble on an SIU kick return that was recovered by safety Marcus Gray – his second of the year. And cornerback Travis Starks had yet another timely interception to stall out a promising SIU drive.

“I think our defense made plays when they needed to and when we needed them to make a play,” Sanford said.

Not to be left out of the fun, though, were the special teams. Indiana State blocked two Saluki punts, both by true freshman Adrian Butler.

ISU also corrected its recent penalty mishaps with a highly-disciplined game against SIU. Following a rough game at South Dakota State last week, ISU only had two penalties for 20 yards on Saturday.

“That was a big focus going into this game, was discipline and doing things right and doing the things you need to do to win, which I felt like we did tonight,” Sanford said.

Today's win pushes ISU to 3-0 at home for the first time since 2011, and it also marks the first consecutive wins over Southern Illinois since 2001 (20-14) and 2002 (21-14).

Up next, though, is a formidable opponent in the four-time defending national champion Bison of North Dakota State. However, the Bison just lost at home in the Fargodome for the first time since Indiana State beat NDSU in 2012, falling to South Dakota, 24-21. The game is the MVFC's Game of the Week, and will be available on ESPN3.

“We're excited to have (NDSU) coming to our place and we're excited to play them,” Sanford said. “Obviously this is a huge game for us, and we're anxious to watch and analyze and gameplan against them.”

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