Div. 1-AA foe Southern Illinois scores 28 second-half points

Down seven points in the final five minutes of Saturday's game, the IU football team had two chances to tie the game against Southern Illinois. Despite those chances, the Hoosiers came up empty in their 35-28 loss to the Salukis.\n"We had our chances. We really did," interim head coach Bill Lynch said. "We just didn't play well enough to take advantage when we did have field position."\nLynch is serving as the interim coach while IU coach Terry Hoeppner recovers from the brain surgery he underwent last week.\nWith less than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Salukis' senior running back Arkee Whitlock scored on a 9-yard touchdown run, giving Southern Illinois the 35-28 lead.\nFreshman quarterback Kellen Lewis, in his first collegiate start, led the Hoosiers down the field with a flurry of completed passes before the offense sputtered.\nOn a fourth-and-17, Lewis scrambled out of the pocket but was sacked by SIU defensive end Lorenzo Wims before he could get rid of the ball.\nGiving the ball over to Southern Illinois on downs, the Hoosier defense held the Salukis in check, giving the offense one more chance to tie up the game. With less than two minutes left, Lewis completed several passes but on a fourth-and-five play was unable to find senior receiver Jahkeen Gilmore, giving the Salukis the victory.\n"We just weren't able to execute like we did in the first half," sophomore running back Marcus Thigpen said.\nThigpen provided one of the few bright spots for the Hoosiers, running in two touchdowns and pulling down four receptions for 36 yards.\nThrough most of the first half, IU seemed to have the game in hand, even when Southern Illinois scored its first touchdown with 27 seconds remaining in the half, cutting the Hoosier lead to 14-7.\nContinuing their momentum, the Salukis scored touchdowns on four straight possessions in the second half while the Hoosiers struggled to keep pace. For IU, the defeat stung more since it held the early 14-0 lead.\n"Those are the things we need to capitalize on," junior linebacker Adam McClurg said. "Once you lose momentum in football, sometimes it can go downhill like it did (Saturday)."\nThe driving force for Southern Illinois in the second half was its power running game. Whitlock -- one of five Salukis who totaled at least 32 yards in the game -- led the way with 103 yards and a rushing touchdown.\n"They're a good team," senior safety Will Meyers said. "Their running back (Whitlock) ran well. They did some things to get him the ball, and their offensive line blocked well ... So they did a good job."\nBalancing out the running attack, junior quarterback Nick Hill completed 10 passes for 142 yards and four touchdowns.\nIn his first start after replacing injured senior quarterback Graeme McFarland, who was replacing starting quarterback junior Blake Powers, Lewis held his own but was unable to lead the Hoosiers to victory. The freshman completed 20 of 40 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown but was held in check on the ground with a net gain of one yard on 13 carries.\nLynch threw away all the possible distractions that could have contributed to the disappointing defeat.\n"We didn't play well enough as a football team to win the game, and that's the bottom line," he said.