CARBONDALE - Paul McIntosh may take every offensive snap for Southern Illinois University's football team the rest of the year, but is hard to find sometimes.

Just ask Deji Karim, a running back who said he doesn't realize where his redshirt freshman quarterback has gone on some plays.

"With Paul, you have to sit there and block a lot longer, because you don't know where he's at on the field," Karim said. "He could have gotten rid of the ball, and then you're sitting there blocking, he's just right there, running in front of you. That's a big difference to me between (him and former quarterback Chris Dieker)."

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander turned a simple rollout to his right into the spectacular Saturday at Indiana State. On a first-and-10 from his own 31-yard line, McIntosh ended up on the Sycamores' 37 when he turned upfield and eluded a couple of tacklers for 32 yards. It was his longest run on a day he went for 159 yards through the air and 57 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

"You can see the confidence coming back. He hasn't played for nearly a year and a half, but he's starting to get those quarterback instincts back, so that's the thing that you look for," said SIU coach Dale Lennon. "You want him playing instinctively. He's a guy that we found. 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."

McIntosh was named offensive player of the week by the league office Sunday after he led SIU over the Sycamores 33-0 in his first career start. This season, he has more rushing yards than five Saluki tailbacks, and is averaging nearly as many yards per carry (6.6) as Karim (7.2), who is the nation's second-leading rusher.

It started because of his father, Tim, a former high school football coach who is now the principal at an Evansville middle school. McIntosh rotated around a few different positions, and eventually settled in as a quarterback. A good quarterback. He led Reitz (Ind.) High School to a 15-0 record and a state championship as a senior, throwing for 2,400 yards and 22 touchdowns. In four years, he ran for 34 touchdowns out of a run-first offense.

Pushed into a passing situation, however, McIntosh can still sling it. Wednesday, he zipped a 20-yard out pattern to Bryce Morris just past safety Lance Caldwell. Tuesday, he threw the ball 50 yards in the air toward wide receiver Matt Guinn, who wasn't able to catch up to it. For the season, he is 27-of-39 for 313 yards and a touchdown.

"That's the knock. He's an Army transfer. That's a run system," said SIU co-offensive coordinator Phil Longo. "And then he ran a lot in high school. The fact of the matter is he has a very strong arm. He throws the deep speed out well. He can fire it deep when he wants to. Really, our passing game hasn't changed much."

The only thing McIntosh doesn't have arrives in a package this weekend: a big-game opportunity. While Dieker showed he can win games last year (he was 9-3 as a starter prior to this season), McIntosh is yet to beat a ranked team. Hello, No. 9 South Dakota State. The Evansville native will make his second career start in the Salukis' biggest game of the year Saturday.

Win at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium, and SIU wins its seventh straight playoff berth and at least a share of the MVFC title. Lose, and the best the Salukis can do is tie for the title and hope their resume at the end of the year is good enough to make the 16-team Foot-ball Championship Subdivision field.

SIU (7-1, 6-0 MVFC) and the Jackrabbits (7-1, 6-0) square off at 1 p.m. in Brookings, S.D. It will be the first time in league history that two 6-0 teams have faced each other, and the latest the conference title will be decided since 2005.

"Whatever our option, we just have to take advantage of the opportunities their defense gives us, just don't make too many mental mistakes in this game," McIntosh said. "We're still a base-run team, and let Deji carry the load, and kind of put it on his shoulders and see what's going to happen."

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 618-351-5087