The Southern Illinois University football team had won 127 games from 1994-2008. None of them were at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
In what is arguably the most bitter rivalry in the
Gateway Missouri Valley Football Conference, the University of Northern Iowa had always gotten the better of Southern Illinois when the games were played indoors. Panthers fans called it "Dome Magic." Saluki fans called it (expletive deleted) ... among other things.
And
as yours truly predicted on Friday, it all came to an end as the
Salukis beat the Panthers 27-20 on Saturday at the little dome of horrors.
Consider the following. Southern has had six head coaches try and fail to beat UNI in its back yard since Rey Dempsey's squad did the trick in 1983 en route to the school's lone national title. Ten different First Team All-Americans have suited up in the maroon and white. None of them came home with a road win at Northern Iowa. Southern has fielded 16 different 1,000-yard running backs. But none had carried the Egyptian Hunting Dawgs to a road win in the terror dome.
That all became nothing more than a past nightmare as Deji Karim rushed for 125 yards and what turned out to be the game winning touchdown. The 1-yard score on 4th-and-Goal gave SIU a 20-13 lead with about five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
On the Panthers' ensuing possession, cornerback Brandon Williams took back a pick six to put the game on ice.
And for good measure, former Saluki great
Jerry Hairston Jr. scored the winning run for the New York Yankees after leading off the bottom of the 13th with a base hit. I guess you could pencil in a 10-tackle day for Bart Scott against the Bills and a 100-yard rushing game for Brandon Jacobs against the Saints as a pair of former Dawgs will hit the gridiron later today.
And now, the rest of your Pigskin Pimpin' on a Sunday morning...
