Southern Illinois 59, ISU Sycamores 10

ISU Sycamores set school passing record, fall to SIU, 59-10

CARBONDALE, IL (11-13-2004) - Indiana State entered Saturday night’s game at Southern Illinois 0-4 all-time versus a #1-ranked NCAA Division I-AA team. That mark moved to 0-5 as ISU dropped a 59-10 decision at the top-ranked Salukis. SIU moved to 10-1, 7-0 GFC, while ISU finished its season 4-7, 1-6 GFC. The Salukis take the conference title with the win, finishing off the first-ever 7-0 season in league history.

SIU quarterback Joel Sambursky tossed four first-half touchdowns and ran for another as the Salukis raced out to a 42-3 lead at the intermission. On a fourth-and-goal play at the ISU one-yard line, Sambursky went around left end on an option to cap the game’s opening drive and give SIU a 7-0 lead.

Sambursky would then find Brent Little on the first of two scoring strikes with 6:32 left in the first stanza to move SIU out to a 14-0 advantage.

Sophomore kicker Kyle Hooper would score for the Sycamores with 3:42 left in the first quarter when he capped an 11-play, 46-yard drive to get ISU back to within 14-3. The kick was Hooper’s 16^th field goal of the season, as he hit his eight consecutive attempt of the season.

Adam Vogel recorded his third sack of the season in the second quarter – ISU’s first quarterback sack in its last five games.

Leading 14-3, Sambursky continued his aerial assault as he found Quorey Payne on a five-yard toss and hit Little on an 82-yard TD to move up 28-3. After tailback Brandon Jacobs found the end zone on a 50-yard run to move the Saluki advantage ahead to 35-3, Sambursky found Kellen Allen on a five-yard score to give SIU its halftime advantage of 42-3.

Indiana State appeared to put together a scoring drive midway through the third quarter as they marched down inside the Saluki 10-yard line. ISU kept the drive going on a fourth-and-one; just on its side of the 50 when Kris Karagory ran the ball on a fake punt and pushed it forward for a first down. The drive was aided by two Saluki pass interference calls to keep the drive alive. It died on a fourth-and-six play from the SIU nine, when Phillip Johnson’s pass was intercepted and returned back to midfield.

That play set up Jacob’s second score of the day, when he reached pay dirt as the Salukis took a 49-3 lead.

After a SIU field goal, Johnson found Carl Berman in the left back corner of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown to inch the Sycamores closer at 52-10 with just over six minutes left in the contest.

With time winding down in the game, Antonie Jackson added a five-yard touchdown run to cap the Saluki scoring and seal SIU’s 59-10 victory.

ISU’s leading rusher in the contest was Jake Shields who finished the game with 50 yards. Shields ended his ISU career with 2,119 rushing yards – the fifth-best mark in school history. Phillip Johnson hit 18-of-44 passes for 224 yards and finished the season with 1,951 yards through the air – the fifth-most passing yards in a single-season by a Sycamore. Indiana State’s offense generated 2,307 passing yards during the season, which broke the previous school record of 2,249 set in 1988.

With the loss, Indiana State’s season ends versus Southern Illinois. The Sycamores have lost its last seven consecutive Gateway road contests. The Salukis will move onto the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs for the second straight year, this time as the postseason’s #1-ranked team.

Scoring Summary:

1st 11:21 SIU - Sambursky, Joel 1 yd run (Coffin, Craig kick), 7-56 3:39, INSU 0 - SIU 7

06:32 SIU - Little, Brent 35 yd pass from Sambursky, Joel (Coffin, Craig kick), 6-77 2:53, INSU 0 - SIU 14

03:42 INSU - Hooper, Kyle 45 yd field goal, 11-46 2:45, INSU 3 - SIU 14

2nd 13:30 SIU - Payne, Quorey 5 yd pass from Sambursky, Joel (Coffin, Craig kick), 7-68 2:40, INSU 3 - SIU 21

10:21 SIU - Little, Brent 82 yd pass from Sambursky, Joel (Coffin, Craig kick), 1-82 0:11, INSU 3 - SIU 28

05:10 SIU - Jacobs, Brandon 50 yd run (Coffin, Craig kick), 2-53 0:51, INSU 3 - SIU 35

00:34 SIU - Allen, Kellen 5 yd pass from Sambursky, Joel (Coffin, Craig kick), 6-83 2:15, INSU 3 - SIU 42

3rd 02:54 SIU - Jacobs, Brandon 14 yd run (Coffin, Craig kick), 7-55 1:57, INSU 3 - SIU 49

4th 11:02 SIU - Coffin, Craig 44 yd field goal, 9-54 3:50, INSU 3 - SIU 52

06:14 INSU - Berman, Carl 18 yd pass from Johnson, Phillip (Hooper, Kyle kick), 11-86 4:41, INSU 10 - SIU 52

02:03 SIU - Jackson, Antione 5 yd run (Coffin, Craig kick), 8-61 4:02, INSU 10 - SIU 59

USA-365.com has provided live Internet audio streaming with Brian Fritz providing the play-by-play and Pete Emmert with the color commentary throughout the 2004 Sycamores football season. USA-365.com will continue to provide live Internet audio streaming through the winter sports schedule covering ISU men's basketball with Brian Fritz providing the play-by-play and Jim Waugh with the color commentary. The Sycamores host Coastal Carolina in their regular season opener Friday, November 19 with a 6:05 p.m.. CST tip-off. The pre-game show starts at 5:40 p.m., CST / 6:40 p.m., EST on www.USA-365.com.

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