After a pair of unprobable back-to-back wins that left the Southern Illinois football team riding high, expectations went brought crashing back down to earth, as early turnovers plagued the Salukis in a 65-28 drubbing to Kent State.

SIU quarterback Eric Sullivan threw his first pass of the afternoon right into the hands of Kent cornerback Johnny Jones. After holding the Flashes to a field goal on the ensuing drive, it looked as if the SIU defense may maintain it's improved performance last week against Vanderbilt.

But the Saluki offense could not get moving, unable to manage so much as a first down for the entire 1st quarter and turning the ball over twice during the first 15 minutes.

As bad as the game started, the Salukis entered the 2nd quarter down only 10-0, and as the offense continued to sputter, the defense seemed to step up and leave the Salukis down 17-0 going into halftime.

But disaster of whole new levels struck as the half wound down . Kent scored 28 points in the final 1:38 of the half, 3 touchdown coming off 3 Saluki turnovers, one an interception return by Jones.

"I have never seen anything like this in all my coaching years," said SIU head coach Turk Battle. "It's like we were snake-bit from the moment we stepped on the field. I can't tell you how disappointed I am with the play of our offense. I've been preaching all season to this point for the defense to step up and keep us from not getting put away early. Today, they did just that, and the offense completely laid down."

Battle became more agitated as the post-game conference went on:

The Saluki offense found some rhythm in the second half and managed to outscore the Flashes, 28-24. Wide receiver Sean Howard was once again the offensive star, catching 8 passes for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns. All 3 Saluki quarterback saw action as the game got out of hand. Sullivan finished the day 10-for-26 for 209 yards, 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Ryan Ellis played most of the second half and completed 2 of 5 pass attempts for 100 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Ellis also rushed for 30 yards on 6 attempts. Third-stringer Carlos Dixon saw one play as Ellis came out injured, and threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Howard.

The Salukis will try to rebound next week against Clemson for homecoming.