NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State piled up 541 yards of total offense and rolled to a 51-3 homecoming victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday at Hancock Stadium.

The No. 12-ranked Redbirds (5-1, 2-1) scored the game’s first 31 points, compiled a 409-90 advantage in rushing yardage, and tied the largest margin of victory in the 81-game history of the series between the schools.

“Illinois State whooped us in every phase,” acknowledged SIU head coach Nick Hill. “We really didn’t get going offensively. Defensively, they dominated the line of scrimmage, (they) out-coached us.”

Since winning its season opener, Southern has dropped five-straight games, and the effects of injuries and a series of close losses appears to finally be taking its toll on the team. The Salukis (1-5, 0-3) were without the services of eight starters and four backups today. Adding to SIU’s woes, star running back D.J. Davis left the game with a first-half injury.

“Obviously, you’d like to have your guys at full strength, but we’re not,” Hill said. “You have to find ways to move the football and score points with whoever we have. I take full responsibility for that. We have to go back to square one with the fundamental things, and that’s throwing and catching, blocking and tackling.”

Illinois State averaged nearly eight yards per carry as James Robinson ran for 202 yards and Markel Smith added 143. Quarterback Brady Davis was efficient, as well, completing 10 passes, including four touchdown throws.

“They have great backs and their quarterback adds another element where he can scramble and get out of the pocket,” said SIU linebacker Luke Giegling, who recorded his first career interception. “Everyone in our locker room is upset right now. This isn’t the way we want to be playing. We know we’re a better team than this.”

Southern entered the game ranked 12th in the nation in total offense, and its ability to mix the run and pass was a key to its early-season success. Without Davis for much of the game and with backup Jonathan Mixon sidelined, SIU’s best ground threat today was quarterback Sam Straub, who ran for 49 yards. Southern’s longest run from scrimmage was just nine yards.

In his first game back from a concussion, Straub completed 14-of-30 passes for 103 yards. Half of his completions were to Raphael Leonard, who has caught at least one pass in every game of his SIU career. 

The Salukis picked up two first downs on their opening drive but didn’t move the sticks again until late in the second quarter. Their only scoring drive came at the start of the third quarter — a 17-play, 66-yard march that included a pair of fourth-down conversions and ended with a 26-yard field goal by Nico Gualdoni.  

“We felt like it was a game where we could throw the football,” Hill said. “We’ve had some success against them before throwing the football.”

One bright spot on defense for the Salukis was defensive end Anthony Knighton, who had two sacks today, giving him 5.5 on the season, 12.0 in his career, and moving him into 20th all-time in career sacks at SIU.

Illinois State was relentless on the ground, though, hurrying to the line of scrimmage to score one last touchdown in the game’s closing seconds. 

“Some of the inexperience in the secondary — getting fits down in the run game — we’ve got to grow up pretty quickly,” Hill said. “We played our fifth and sixth corner, and obviously our top two safeties didn’t start the game.”

The Salukis had led at halftime of every game until today.

“We have to stay together,” Hill said. “We’ll do that, I promise you. We have good people and we have to model the way as coaches with our attitudes, staying positive and competing. We have five games to play and this season is long from over.”