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One dimensional offense almost catches Salukis

By Todd Hefferman, The Southern

Sunday, September 7, 2008 11:22 PM CDT

CARBONDALE - Dale Lennon was OK with the trade-off Saturday night against Hampton.

The Salukis' first-year coach had the lead at the half, and the Pirates had 12 yards rushing on 17 attempts. Hampton's quarterback went on to set a school record for passing yards in the second half, but No. 12 SIU got Lennon his first win in maroon and white, 37-31.

"Once you force them into being one-dimensional, all of a sudden, now, they can start swinging the ball all over the place, and that's kind of what happened," Lennon said. "We did have good success against their run, which I thought was positive, because their running back talent level was pretty high. We just needed to adapt a little bit better on our pass defenses in a couple situations."

Hampton went to the air in the second half, almost exclusively, to try to catch up to SIU's 27-10 lead. In the third quarter, the Pirates ran 22 plays. Thirteen of them were pass plays, and after Hampton quarterback Herbert Bynes completed 9 of 13 for 197 yards, the Pirates were back in the game at 27-24.

Bynes hooked up with Justin Brown on an 85-yard touchdown when he got the ball just over SIU safety Mike McElroy's mitts near midfield. Bynes scored the other touchdown on a 1-yard plunge where he merely snapped the ball and put the football over the goal line as if he was handing it to the goalposts.

Bynes, a sophomore in just his third career start, finished with 403 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions. The Salukis managed to ground Hampton's tailback assortment, as the Pirates rushed for 47 yards for the game, and got enough turnovers to grind out the victory in front of 10,051 fans.

"We gave up way too many big plays in the second half," said McElroy, who came up with a few of his own in the second half. "A couple of them were on the secondary. We just gotta improve week by week, and that's going to be the big thing, is how well we improve going to Northwestern."

The Salukis (1-0) and Northwestern (2-0) square off Saturday in Evanston. The game will be on the Big Ten Network.

McElroy came up with two of SIU's picks, picking up one after outside linebacker James Cloud got his hand on a Bynes throw toward the sideline. The 6-foot-1 McElroy somehow got a foot inbounds after hauling in the interception. McElroy ended the Pirates' next drive after stepping in front of Brown near the sideline at the Hampton 20.

Kyle Dougherty kicked a 30-yard field goal on SIU's ensuing drive to put the Salukis up 37-24.

Bynes hit four different receivers and was only sacked once. If SIU can shore up its secondary, it may have a shot at beating its third straight Football Bowl Subdivision team in a row.

Northwestern beat Duke 24-20 Saturday in Durham, N.C., as running back Tyrell Sutton ran for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Northwestern needed two critical fourth-down stops to end the threat, one near the goal line on Duke's final possession. Duke beat Football Championship Subdivision No. 8 James Madison 31-7 in its opener.

Richard White update - White, SIU's backup tailback, suffered a leg injury running a kickoff return back. Lennon didn't have any new information Sunday, but said White would undergo an MRI today.

NDSU loses lineman - No. 1-ranked North Dakota State will be without starting left tackle Gerry Ebel for three to four weeks because of a leg injury suffered Saturday, Bison coach Craig Bohl told The Forum newspaper. The Bison beat Central Connecticut State 50-14 in Fargo, N.D.

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 351-5087

Up Next

What: SIU (1-0) at Northwestern (2-0).

When: Saturday, 11 a.m.

Where: Ryan Field (47,130), Evanston.

ETC: The Salukis have beaten two Football Bowl Subdivision teams in a row. SIU beat Indiana in 2006, becoming the first Missouri Valley Football Conference team to ever beat a Big Ten squad, and topped Northern Illinois last year. � Northwestern beat Syracuse and Duke.