The Southern Illinois Football Salukis must have been very eager to come home.

Freshman quarterback Courtney Smart threw for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns and tailback Isaiah Mack added 124 rushing yards and another 2 scores as the Salukis got all over the UTEP Miners early and didn't let up, en route to a 42-17 win. SIU was playing it's first home game of the season after opening the season on the road at Kansas and at Iowa State.

UTEP went down the field on their first drive and took a 7-0 lead on a 19 run by tailback Rocky Miller. Scores would be few and far between for the rest of the game, however, as the Salukis quickly came back to take a 14-7 lead, and went into halftime leading 21-10.

UTEP stayed within striking distance in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 28-17 with 1:24 left in the quarter. That would be the end of the Miners' scoring however, as the Salukis added two more touchdowns in the final quarter.

"This was a great performance from our kids," said SIU head coach Turk Battle. "It's great whenever you can get a jump on a very good football team like UTEP, and then follow your gameplan throughout, instead of getting down early and trying to claw back into it."

"It defintely felt good to be at home today," said Smart. "This was my first game in front of the fans in Carbondale. They've really gotten behind this team, and they were a big boost for us today."

The Salukis will hit the road again for the next two games, playing at Missouri next week and at Alabama the following week.