CARBONDALE - There was no raucous screaming or wild celebration Sunday at Copper Dragon when the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff pairings were announced.

There were a few murmurs and an eerie silence when the bottom half of the bracket appeared on the screen. The bracket revealed 10-1 SIU received the No. 3 seed in the tournament. The Salukis finished the season ranked first in The Sports Network Poll and second in the NCAA FCS Coaches poll.

ESPN originally showed the Salukis would be playing host to Weber State. That proved to be erroneous. Eastern Illinois, 8-3, will be coming at 1 p.m. Saturday to Carbondale to play SIU.

However, the No. 3 seed remained a hot topic of conversation.

"Everybody in the room thought we did what we had to do to get that No. 1 spot," said senior linebacker Brandin Jordan. "I guess obviously we didn't do that in their eyes, so now we're No. 3."

Montana got the top seed, and Villanova was the second seed. The Missouri Valley Conference's second entry, South Dakota State will go to top-seeded Montana.

"From the way the tournament is set up, it looks like we should have the first two at home," Jordan said.

Although obviously not thrilled with the seed, senior linebacker Kyle Walker said the Salukis can use it to their advantage.

"The way we look at it, to get to where we want to be, to get to the national championship, you've got to beat teams anyway," he said. "It doesn't matter if you beat them at home or at their place.

"We're going to be excited to get going, get ready for Eastern Illinois and focus on the game this week and just worry about how things play out after that. Having a No. 1 seed, you can get your head filled with thinking you're the best and you're untouchable."

SIU coach Dale Lennon said not receiving a top seed was disappointing, but there are more important things to worry about.

"You still have to win that first game," he said. "If you don't win that first game it doesn't matter what you get. That's where you just take care of business and everything will unfold as you take care of business. That's our approach."

Lennon led the Salukis to the playoffs in his first season last year. SIU lost at home to New Hampshire, 29-20.

"Last year everything was brand new," he said. "I'll go back to what I said at the beginning of the season, we know what to expect from this group. We know each other and I think the foundation is there, and hopefully the experience from last year can help us take it even further this year."

Deji Karim, the team's leading rusher, agreed.

"We're a more business-oriented team," he said. "We know the task at hand that we're facing. We prepare ourselves and get ready to play our best ball. I sense that every time I step on the field in practice and on game day."

les.winkeler@thesouthern.com

618-351-5088

 

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