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By Jason Clay
www.SIUSalukis.comOct. 17, 2009

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - An opportunistic fifth-ranked Southern Illinois football team ended an 11-game losing streak in Cedar Falls, Iowa by beating No. 2 Northern Iowa, 27-20, Saturday in front of a record crowd of 17,190 at the UNI-Dome.

There had been four previous Missouri Valley Football Conference games between Top 5 teams, and SIU became the first to beat the team ranked higher. With the win, Southern Illinois is sitting pretty in the conference championship race. The Salukis improve to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference. UNI falls to 5-2 and 3-1 in the league.

SIU's win over the second-ranked Panthers is its first win against a team ranked that high since beating No. 1 Western Kentucky on Oct. 27, 2005. It was also SIU's seventh win in program history over a Top 5 team.

Southern Illinois has now also won 10-straight MVFC games. The Salukis have five games remaining and three of them are on the road.

"I told our team afterwards in the locker room that it was just game No. 6, but it was a heck of a game No. 6," head coach Dale Lennon said. "We had a great defensive effort. We got to give our players credit for keeping their focus because the guys did well and were able to get the job done."

Steven Morse's fumble recovery on a fumbled punt set up Deji Karim's one-yard touchdown run to put Southern Illinois up 20-13 with five minutes to play. Senior cornerback Brandon Williams added a touchdown on an interception return at 2:48 that ended up being the winning points, as UNI was able to score in the final two minutes to cut SIU's lead down to seven. However, wide receiver Marc Cheatham recovered the Panther onside kick to secure the victory for the Dawgs.

The Saluki red zone defense deserves much of the credit as anybody in the victory. Excluding the last touchdown in the final minutes, Northern Iowa had the ball inside the Southern 10-yard line four times, but were only able to score three times and totaled just 13 points.

Junior safety Mike McElroy intercepted a pass from wide receiver D.P. Eyman on a trick play late in the third quarter that ended one of UNI's possessions deep in Saluki territory.

Karim rushed for over 100 yards for the fifth-straight game, becoming just the sixth Saluki ever to do so. He finished the game with 125 yards on 24 attempts with one touchdown and added one catch for 48 yards.

Senior quarterback Chris Dieker led an efficient offense and made some key plays for the Dawgs. He finished the game completing 16-of-29 passes for 174 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He added 44 big yards rushing on 10 carries and picked up a pair of key third downs with his legs.

The Saluki defense held Northern Iowa to nearly 100 yards under their per game total offense average. Panther quarterback Pat Grace only completed 13 of his 28 passes for 219 yards.

Buck Buchanan Award candidate Brandin Jordan led the Saluki defense with six tackles, but it was the unit that collectively won the game for Southern Illinois.

Kyle Dougherty started the scoring Saturday with a 45-yard field goal at 3:17 of the first quarter. Karim got SIU into field goal position with runs of 22 and 10 yards during the drive.

Northern Iowa would take the lead early in the second after a 10-play, 69-yard drive. The Panthers had a first-and-goal at the SIU four, but the Salukis held them at the one on third down. UNI went for it on fourth and Grace hit Carlos Anderson in the flat for the touchdown.

The Salukis came back with a 12-play, 78-yard drive that Dougherty finished once again with a field goal, this time from 27 yards out to cut the Panther lead down to one.

UNI would tack on three more points before halftime, but it could have been more. The Panthers had a third-and-goal from the SIU three with less then a minute before the half, but the Saluki defense held once again and Northern Iowa's Billy Hallgren hit a 27-yard field goal.

At the start of the second half UNI drove down to the Southern 32, but the Salukis held them on a third- and fourth-and-two to obtain possession. Then Dieker drove the Dawgs in for their first touchdown of the game on a 10-play drive. He hit Bryce Morris on a 17-yard toss to give SIU a 13-10 lead.

Inside of five minutes of the third quarter, UNI had the ball inside the SIU 10-yard line for the third time of the game. On a second-and-goal at the 10, Eyman took a handoff and looked to throw. He was pressured and lobbed a pass back across the field that McElroy picked off.

Early in the fourth the Panthers once again drove down inside of the Saluki 10-yard line. They had a third-and-goal at the one and Grace lobbed a pass to tight end Schuylar Oordt who got his hands on the ball, but Fred Wright was able to knock it away and UNI had to settle for a 19-yard Hallgren field goal. That made it a 13-all ball game with just under 12 minutes to play.

After a Southern Illinois drive past the UNI 50-yard line, the Salukis were stopped and forced to punt. Scott Ravanesi's punt went inside the UNI 15 and return man Varmah Sonie tried to pick it up, but bobbled it and Morse jumped on it at the seven-yard line, setting up a Saluki first-and-goal.

Northern Iowa didn't make it easy, but Karim was able to score on a fourth-and-goal at the one to put the Salukis up 20-13 with 5:06 to play.

On the ensuing possession, SIU had Grace rattled and he threw a pass right at Williams, with no Panther in sight. Williams easily took the ball in for the touchdown and that basically put an end to the game.

UNI did come back to score one once more, but the Salukis closed out the game with the victory.