CARBONDALE - If the outright conference championship wasn't enough, running back Deji Karim has now definitely done something Larry Warner couldn't at Southern Illinois University.

Karim, a fifth-year senior tailback who played behind Warner, John Randle and Arkee Whitlock, became just the fourth player in school history to win the Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year Award on Wednesday. Karim received 58 points to outdistance North Dakota State tailback Pat Paschall, the nation's leading rusher, for the award.

Paschall, who averaged 139.70 yards per game for the Bison this season, got 25 points. Northern Iowa quarterback Pat Grace, the first team all-conference signal-caller, and Illinois State wideout Eyad Salem tied for third with 16 points.

Karim, the nation's second-leading rusher with an average of 137.45 yards per game, has scored 17 touchdowns for the top-ranked Salukis (10-1). Sixteen of those came on the ground, where the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Oklahoma City native averages 7.4 yards per carry.

"I try to provide that spark if we don't have that spark," Karim said. "I try to pump people up to get them going, and it helps my game, as well as it helps everybody else, so, that's the main part about my game that I like."

Karim has 1,512 of SIU's 2,447 rushing yards this season and helped the Salukis become the first team to ever go 8-0 in the nine-team MVFC. SIU captured its first outright conference title since 2004.

"Deji kind of had one of those storybook-type of seasons, where we knew he could be pretty good, but we weren't sure how good," SIU coach Dale Lennon said. "That was the big question mark coming into the season, just what would our run game be like, who was going to take over for Larry? And it didn't take long for Deji to kind of establish himself as our go-to guy, and he's continued that throughout the season."

Lennon captured the league's coach of the year award for his efforts this season. SIU not only swept the league schedule, but beat its other top-10-ranked teams, South Dakota State and Northern Iowa, on the road to do it. The Salukis beat the then-ninth-ranked Jackrabbits, 34-15, on Nov. 7 in Brookings, S.D., to win at least a share of the league title. SIU beat Northern Iowa, which was ranked second at the time, 27-20, Oct. 17 at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

"I think it's a great compliment to the staff," Lennon said. "I've always felt very good about the staff that we were able to put together here, and we work well together, so, I think, more than anything else, it's a nice reward for a lot of people."

UNI defensive end James Ruffin and South Dakota State defensive end Danny Batten tied for the league's defensive player of the year award. Ruffin had 13 sacks and 14 tackles for loss. Batten had 10 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.

The victory over the Panthers snapped an 11-game skid in Cedar Falls and helped SIU win its 10th straight league game. The Salukis closed the league season by winning their record 14th straight MVFC game.

Seven others joined Karim on the all-conference first team: fullback John Goode, offensive left tackle David Pickard, nose tackle Chris Arthurs, linebacker Brandin Jordan, cornerback Korey Lindsey, safety Mike McElroy and punter Scott Ravanesi.

Wide receiver Joe Allaria, center Bryan Boemer, linebacker Chauncey Mixon and kicker Kyle Dougherty made the second team. Karim made the second team as a return specialist.

Dougherty led the MVFC in scoring with 95 points. He was 47-of-49 on point-after tries and 16-of-21 on field-goal attempts. The first team kicker, Zach Kutch of Illinois State, hit all 25 of his extra-point tries and made 22-of-29 field goals.

Marion native Matt Brown was the second team quarterback. Brown completed 226-of-352 for 2,369 yards, 11 touchdowns and six interceptions for Illinois State. Brown led the MVFC in passing, averaging 215.4 yards per game.

SIU and SDSU are the only two teams that can add to their teams' stats. The Salukis open the playoffs at home against No. 19 Eastern Illinois (8-3) Saturday, while the No. 11 Jackrabbits (8-3) are at No. 3 Montana (11-0).

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