CARBONDALE - Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo was blown away after Southern Illinois University's football team eliminated his squad Saturday.

The top-ranked Salukis forced a season-high six turnovers by the 19th-ranked Panthers and scored 28 points off those takeaways on their way to a 48-7 victory at McAndrew Stadium.

"SIU is one fine football team," Spoo said. "That's about as good as I've seen in 22 years. They deserve everything they've gotten. If there's a better one out there, I'd like to see it."

SIU (11-1), which entered the game tied for the national lead with 21 interceptions, picked off quarterback Jake Christensen in the third quarter. The Salukis also recovered all five fumbles by the Panthers (8-4), who came up empty in their third straight playoff appearance against their neighbors to the southwest.

The Salukis put the game away in the third quarter, turning two consecutive Panther turnovers into touchdowns. Safety Lance Caldwell caught a pass Christensen threw right to him to set up his team at the 34-yard line. Six plays later, SIU quarterback Paul McIntosh found fullback John Goode for a 6-yard score. Backup EIU quarterback Bodie Reeder fumbled away the Panthers' next possession, setting up SIU at the 27.

"Any time you're forcing six turnovers, you're going to have a lot of things go your way, and, I think we converted on four of those six," SIU coach Dale Lennon said. "Naturally, you'd like to be six on six, but when the defense can get the ball back to your offense as fast as they did, with the field position that we had, that's why the number of points are up on the scoreboard."

SIU advanced to meet sixth-ranked William & Mary (10-2) next weekend at McAndrew Stadium. The Tribe blanked No. 15 Weber State on Saturday, 38-0.

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com

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