Southern Illinois has steadily climbed the FCS ranks. Following three losing seasons to start Nick Hill’s time as head coach, the Salukis have rebuilt for three straight winning records and back-to-back playoff appearances. They reached the spring quarterfinals and last year’s second round. The spring’s postseason bid ended a 10-year drought.
After ranking No. 7 in last year’s preseason Top 25, SIU is the No. 9 squad in the Stats Perform Preseason Top 25 media poll. Can the Salukis make a deeper playoff push after an up-and-down 2021 season? Let’s take a look at the team and discuss.
2022 FCS Preseason Preview Central
Last Season
The Salukis finished 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the MVFC, highlighted by a 42-41 win at then-No. 2 South Dakota State. They reached the playoffs, beating South Dakota 22-10 on the road before falling 38-7 at North Dakota State in the second round.
SIU ranked No. 31 in FCS scoring offense (30.9 PPG) and No. 51 in scoring defense (25.8 PPG).
2022 Roster
SIU’s roster will have a mix of veteran standouts and an influx of transfers. The Salukis always have dudes, thanks to strong recruiting classes recently. The same is true in 2022. RB Javon Williams Jr.? Dude. WR Avante Cox? Dude. DB PJ Jules? Dude.
The Salukis also lost some dudes from 2021, like its top two tacklers Bryce Notree and Qua Brown, standout DE Anthony Knighton, playmaking WR Landon Lenoir, and top OL Zeveyon Furcron.
To fill some of those gaps, SIU brought in roughly 18 Division 1 transfers — five FCS and 13 FBS. Eleven of the FBS transfers are defensive players. And two FCS DB transfers have starting experience at their previous stops in Collin Heard (Colgate) and Iverson Brown (Illinois State). It’s an area SIU needs to improve, ranking No. 51 in scoring defense last year (25.8 PPG). The Salukis were not good against the run, allowing 179.4 YPG (98th in the FCS). That won’t fly in the MVFC or in the playoffs.
The offense shouldn’t have a problem putting up points. Nic Baker is the guy after winning the starting job last summer. He’s coming off a strong year, completing 63% of his passes for 3,231 yards, 27 TDs, and 11 interceptions. Cox is a HERO Sports Preseason Third Team All-American and an explosive playmaker as a three-time All-MVFC selection. (Cox may miss the season-opener after having hand surgery). And Williams is a beast at 6-foot-2 and 245 pounds, utilized as a running back and wildcat quarterback. He ran for 19 TDs in 2019, seven TDs in 2020-21, and nine TDs in 2021.
SIU returns an offensive line featuring four players who saw solid starting time last fall — Beau Branyan, Chase Evans, Jimmy Wormsley, and Calvin Francis.
On special teams, SIU will have new starters at punter and kicker.
2022 Schedule
- @ No. 14 Incarnate Word
- vs. SEMO
- @ FBS Northwestern
- vs. North Dakota
- @ Illinois State
- @ No. 5 Missouri State
- vs. Western Illinois
- @ South Dakota
- vs. No. 21 Northern Iowa
- vs. No. 1 North Dakota State
- @ Youngstown State
This is a challenging slate. The season-opener is massive, going to an Incarnate Word team that can light up the scoreboard and who made last year’s playoffs. Getting a win there is key, or else SIU could be staring at a 1-2 record before facing a Valley schedule featuring five playoff-worthy teams (UND, Mo State, USD, UNI, and NDSU).
Season Outlook
SIU hopes its program trajectory resumes in 2022 after falling short of expectations last year. While it was a successful season overall, the Salukis underwhelmed vs. what I personally thought they could accomplish.
Last year at this time, SIU was loaded with veteran seniors and returned basically its entire team after narrowly losing to eventual national runner-ups SDSU in the quarterfinals. Expectations were to compete at a national level in the fall. Preseason ranked No. 7, SIU got to as high as No. 3 in the media poll in Week 8 with a 6-1 record (6-0 vs. the FCS with a win over SDSU). But a decline followed, losing three of the final four regular-season games. The Salukis beat USD 22-10 in the first round of the playoffs but then lost 38-7 to NDSU in an ugly game where NDSU won the rushing battle 389-61.
That has cooled some of my 2022 expectations. I’m not as high on SIU as some of the media poll voters, ranking the Salukis No. 12. I don’t necessarily see this team competing into the quarterfinals. But I do think it’s still a playoff team. A 7-4 regular-season mark like last year’s record seems realistic. Early games against quality opponents like UIW and UND need to be victories before facing the likes of Mo State, USD, UNI, and NDSU.
The transfers make it a bit tougher to gauge. SIU has a good base of returning talent. So do the transfers take the team to the next level? We’ve seen it happen at programs like Missouri State. We also have seen disjointed teams with inconsistency issues when they load up from the portal. Looking down the “previous school” section on the 2022 roster, SIU has 35 total players who started their careers at other schools before transferring to SIU, whether this year or in previous years.
The Salukis have a Top 15 FCS QB in Baker and great offensive weapons around him. But the questions on defense and the tough schedule lead to one’s opinion that a second-round playoff exit is the most plausible season outcome.
NEXT: FCS Jersey Countdown
