Opponent View/Scouting Southern Illinois

Purdue is 14-0 all-time vs. FCS foes. Can it stay perfect while facing a Southern Illinois squad that has a history of being a giant killer?

In its history, the Salukis have won six games against FBS teams, and head coach Nick Hill has been a part of five of those wins (two as starting quarterback, three as head coach).

The closest Purdue has come to losing to a FCS (formerly I-AA) foe was in 2013, when the Boilermakers slipped past Indiana State, 20-14. That was the lone win of Darrell Hazell’s maiden season.

Purdue added Southern Illinois to its 2025 slate in June 2024. The Boilermakers will pay the Salukis a $500,000 guarantee for playing the game. Purdue had been searching for an additional game in 2025 after UConn asked to move its visit to West Lafayette from 2025 to 2029.

This is the second season in a row and third in four that Purdue has played a FCS foe: Indiana State, 2024 and 2022. Purdue last played Southern Illinois in 2014, a 35-13 Boiler win under Hazell.

SIU was picked to finish sixth in the Missouri Valley at league media days this summer. The Salukis were 4-8 (2-6 MVC) in 2024.

Southern Illinois opened with a 49-3 victory vs. Thomas More, a D2 school in Kentucky.

Luke Martin, the voice of Southern Illinois, breaks down the Salukis (1-0) in advance of Saturday’s game at Purdue at 7:30 p.m. ET (BTN).

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Southern Illinois offense?

Martin: They’re healthy. Last year, the Salukis had to pull a graduate assistant off of their coaching staff to play quarterback at the end of the year. They had that many injuries. QB DJ Williams, who is the starter, broke a finger in his throwing hand in Game Three of last season. And to really put perspective on how important he was to the SIU offense, he was still the leading rusher until the last game of the year, and he didn’t even play three full games. That’s how active and important he is.

It’s a healthy offensive line that returns a lot of seniors. Many of those guys, such as Derek Harden and Aiden Logan, missed all of last year. The biggest question offensively is: Do they have enough weapons around DJ, Williams to consistently put up points?

Head coach Nick Hill is back as the offensive play-caller, which he’s done in his career after Blake Rolan left for Wisconsin.

They love their tight end room, with Aidan Quinn and Ryan Schwendeman being back and healthy this year, as well. Can those skill guys who, internally, they feel really good about show that against somebody else?

GoldandBlack.com: What can we expect from the Saluki defense?

Martin: The Saluki defense is under a new coordinator, as well: Lee Pronschinske. He was on staff a year ago as the safeties coach. Coach Hill made a change in the offseason to promote Coach Pron. Antonio James left and is now at Illinois. Coach Pron has brought in his own twist again.

A big key: SIU’s key guys are healthy again. Colin Bohanek, the Mike linebacker, he tore his biceps in Week two of the season on the very first drive against Austin Peay and was a non-factor. Andrew Behm, who transferred into the program last year from Akron, he is healthy. Trying not to be a broken record here, but last year was just a really tough year for Southern in terms of injuries.

That’s probably the biggest difference between FCS and FBS, it’s just your depth as you go throughout your team. You feel really good about your two-deep initially. Southern had to go much deeper than their two-deep, especially on both sides of the ball with Bohanek and Behm. They feel really good about those guys.

But they have to answer some major questions on the back end of that defense. They’ve had experienced guys that have played a lot of snaps that now are gone. Last year was a Saluki defense that really struggled to defend, especially when it came to teams throwing the ball against the dogs. That’s, of course, what Purdue had great success doing against Ball State. So, that will be an area that Saluki fans will no doubt have circled for Purdue offensively. Can they take advantage of a not very proven secondary for SIU?

GoldandBlack.com: How do you see this game unfolding?

Martin: This will be Coach Hill’s 10th FBS game. And of the previous nine, seven of the nine have been decided by less than two possessions. So, they’ve been in these games.

Last year at BYU, it was 16-7 at halftime. And really it was a disappointment (41-13 loss), because Southern had won its last two FBS games, Northwestern and Northern Illinois, and everyone left like, man, this is a bummer. We’re not used to losing some of these games. BYU was almost a playoff team last year.

Southern is going to have to play well to even just have a chance to be in the game and a chance to win it. And when you look through Southern’s history, it’s been the turnover margin that has been key to upsets. When they have won these type of games, they have forced turnovers and they have gotten extra possessions. That’s not rocket science. That’s kind of the formula for a lot of FCS teams. When they go into environments like this, you can’t make many mistakes. You got to try to force your opponent into mistakes. And that’s what Purdue did really well against Ball State. They just didn’t turn the football over. There weren’t any major mistakes. SIU is going to have to try to get Purdue in that sort of predicament.

Coach Hill has been a part of six of the seven FBS wins for SIU as a player and as a head coach. He was the quarterback of SIU the first time any team from the Gateway, now Missouri Valley, Conference beat a Big Ten team when they went on the road and beat Indiana. He, of course, was the head coach when they won at Northwestern.

SIU won’t be intimidated. They’re going to be looking forward to the opportunity. And this is a program that’s used to this kind of stage, and they really relish in this opportunity, and they’ll have a lot of fun on Saturday night.