Christion with 466 yards passing; SDSU beats S. Illinois
CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - In a shootout that featured 84 points and 1,092 total yards of offense, it was back-to-back sacks by South Dakota State and Taryn Christion that made all the difference in the Jackrabbits' 45-39 victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday night.
The Salukis (2-3, 0-2 Missouri Valley) kept fighting from behind and had a chance to win it until Blake Whitsell and Cole Langer recorded sacks on third and fourth downs with a minute left to seal it for South Dakota State. Christion was 32 of 51 for a school-record 466 yards and five touchdowns.
"He did a nice job," SDSU coach John Stiegelmeier said of Christion.
Jake Wieneke caught six passes for 164 yards and two scores, and tight end Dallas Goedert had 12 receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown, and ran for another score.
The Jackrabbits (3-2, 2-0) sacked Josh Straughan six times. "Six sacks against that young man is tremendous," Stiegelmeier said. "He's going to make a lot of plays in this league.
Straughan was 33-for-50 passing for 380 yards and two TDs. Jonathan Mixon ran for just 37 yards but scored two touchdowns for Southern Illinois.
Goedert capped the Jackrabbits' first possession with a 17-yard sweep - his first career carry - with 11:42 left in the first quarter. The 10-play drive covered 75 yards.
The Salukis put together their longest scoring drive of their season to tie the game 7-all. Mixon capped a 16-play, 93-yard march with a 6-yard scoring run with 3:33 left in the first quarter.
But the tie was short-lived. Less than a minute later, Christion threw a 47-yard TD pass to Wieneke for a 14-7 lead. Goedert caught a 39-yard TD pass with 2:46 left in the first half. The Salukis scored 56 seconds later on Straughan's 53-yard pass to Connor Iwema. Austin Johnson, the SIU kicker, ran in the 2-point conversion on a trick play to get SIU within 21-15 with 1:52 left.
SDSU went right back down the field to score on a 17-yard pass from Christion to Wieneke with 49 seconds remaining. Johnson's 45-yard field goal pulled SIU to 28-18 at halftime. SDSU had 318 yards at the half to 276 for Southern Illinois.
"We knew they had an explosive offense," SIU coach Nick Hill said of his team's 10-point halftime deficit. "We need to make a play on defense. We've got to get some pressure on the quarterback."
Christion had 255 yards passing and three touchdowns in the first half, and he threw a 56-yard touchdown pass to Brady Mengarelli on the Jackrabbits' first play of the second half.
The Salukis cut the deficit to 35-25 on Jimmy Jones' 11-yard run with 6:33 left in the third quarter, and pulled to 35-32 on Jones' 11-yard TD pass from Straughan with about four minutes left in third quarter.
With 13:39 remaining, SDSU's Kellen Soulek blocked Johnson's 50-yard field goal attempt. Two minutes later, the Jackrabbits extended their lead to 42-32 on a 27-yard TD pass from Christion to Alex Wilde.
The Salukis refused to go away. They made it a 42-39 on Mixon's 1-yard run with 9:18 to play. But Chase Vinatieri kicked a 33-yard field goal with 2:15 left, forcing SIU to need a touchdown rather than a field goal to tie it.
Straughan drove the Salukis to the SDSU 33 before the two sacks ended SIU's chances.
"They had some big plays that a number of times got us on our heels," Stiegelmeier said. "We had some miscues but we hung in there and we battled."