Southern Illinois Salukis vs Illinois Fighting Illini Match Player Stats On Aug 31, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Aug 31, 2013

Illinois 42, Southern Illinois 34: Nathan Scheelhaase threw for a career-high 416 yards and two scores, and the host Illini survived a furious second-half rally in the season opener.

Southern Illinois (0-1) trailed 39-17 with 5:30 remaining in the third quarter, but roared back to within 42-34 on Kory Faulkner's third touchdown pass of the game, a 1-yard strike to MyCole Pruitt with 4:14 to go. The Salukis reached the Illinois 3 yard line on their final possession, but Faulkner's fourth-down pass with 44 seconds remaining fell incomplete.

Faulkner completed 25-of-40 passes for 312 yards and three scores as the Salukis racked up 407 yards on Illinois (1-0). It was not enough, though, thanks to Scheelhaase’s big day and two separate 2-yard touchdown runs by Donovonn Young and Aaron Bailey.

Scheelhasse finished 28-for-36, connecting on touchdown passes with Josh Ferguson (53 yards) and Jon Davis (11 yards), both scores coming in the second quarter as the Illini built a 25-7 halftime advantage. Ryan Lankford finished with 115 yards receiving for Illinois, and Ferguson added 103 yards.

Southern Illinois started its rally after Illinois' V’Angelo Bentley returned a kickoff 100 yards to make it 39-17 Illinois. Faulkner threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to John Lantz and, after an Illinois field goal, the Salukis tallied the next 10 points on a Thomas Kinney 41-yard field goal and the touchdown pass to Pruitt to pull within eight points.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Backup quarterback Reilly O’Toole ran a series for Scheelhaase late in the fourth quarter only to complete a pass for minus 1 yard on second down before getting sacked for a 7-yard loss on third. …Ten Illinois players caught passes, totally 415 yards. … Scheelhaase's 416 yards are the third most by an Illinois quarterback in the last 10 seasons.