Know Your Foe: SIU-BYU Preview with Luke Martin the Voice of the Southern Illinois Salukis

welcome to Saturday's Warrior the channel where we talk all things BYU obviously Big 12 we do a lot on realignment but today we are doing this year's first installment of a segment that we call know your foe where we bring in guests to help us take a closer look at each of BYU's opponents um each week as we uh get ready to to play them and so today we have joining us Luke Martin the voice of the SIU Salukis uh with us thank you so much for joining me Luke Trevor good to be with you man like we were just talking about before we recording it's nice that finally get the game week you know you spend so much time so much of hard time has been out at training camp and you're covering practices and there's to be honest there's only so much you can do in a training camp now it's nice where you get an opportunity to focus on an opponent dive deep into them and kind of get to know more about who how the season's going to start where you're going to go so I appreciate the time man definitely excited to get out the Provo and see that BYU Community next week level Edward Stadium well we're excited to have you guys and I I just gotta say the I'm I'm really excited to have you on because I as I was planning these segments and I'm trying to get guests lined up you know to talk about each team each week I was like I don't know what I'm going to do for SIU so the fact that not only did I find somebody and you're willing to come on but I'm not even you're not just some podcaster you are a legitimate uh media member and so this is really exciting for me to have you um and because you know you're an experienced guy you're a professional um I want to start off here with hard-hitting questions no softballs for you what the people really want to know is what is a Saluki and how did it become the mascot of SIU well of course it's a long history here being known as the Salukis and the Salukis is obviously an Egyptian royalty dog it's the fastest breed of a dog so that's why a lot of what you see with us is where hashtags on social media hashtag run with us um it's it's always one of those things where Speed playing fast it's kind of always been a mantra here at Southern to kind of play off the Saluki dog name but one of the things that's actually really kind of cool is when the Salukis enter Saluki Stadium now um there was a Saluki dog way back in the day uh King Tut there's actually called King tutt's tomb that the Salukis will touch on their way to the stadium and that was one of the honorary dogs that one of the first dogs that passed away here at SIU tragically way back when and it's just one of those things where as the as the team makes their way out of the locker room kind of making their way in the Saluki Stadium kind of a cool little resemblance that they kind of touch on their way in and they go to the team tunnel and take the field at Saluki Stadium so there's a lot of pride in this area for the Saluki name because it is unique um it's very unique not a lot of people not really anybody else has that nickname so there's a lot of pride in this area and in southern mole the area is really known as little Egypt um so there's a lot of Egyptian towns and Egyptian names in this area and that's kind of why the Saluki name was adopted way back when and that is what makes college sports so much fun is the history the tradition and all that that makes makes each program uh unique and that's one reason why I love uh doing these segments is is learning things like that so really cool um I did a little bit of res SE Arch and I found that the modernday Husky may have come from other breeds that may have been partially bred and mixed with Salukis and if that's the case does that just create I don't know what that might do with Northern Illinois up there and uh and if that has any impact on a I don't know what your rivalry with them is like but well speaking that the last time we played which was last year and it was SIU who came out Victorious I think we know which of those breeds is better any anyway so that's obviously the Saluki breed and Coach Hill who's our head coach Nick Hill when he was a quarterback here he was able to beat the beat the Huskies then too when he was a player so as long as coach Hill's been here his record against Northern Illinois has been pretty good so I think that speaks for itself Trevor all right great and so who is uh Siu's primary rival yeah it's you know it's one of those things for me you know this is my second year here the guy who I came in after Mike ree he was the voice here for 44 years um so we've only had two two radio voices here U but I've been a part of the Missouri Valley Conference for a while this will be my eighth year in some way shape or form associated with the league which the Missouri Valley Conference and the Missouri Valley Football Conference are technically two different entities which kind of confuses people those are two different leagues teams that are in the Missouri Valley Football Conference like North Dakota State South Dakota State South Dakota North Dakota they're not part of our Olympic sports league and basketball league and the Missouri Valley Conference but I think a big rival no doubt in football is Illinois State uh Illinois state was with within the Missouri Valley Football Conference and they're also in the Missouri Valley Conference that's a rivalry in basketball it's always been very important to Southern Illinois and for football coach Spa ever since he got there you know in the mid 20010s um he's obviously built a really good program and last year was outside of covid um last year I believe was the first time Southern Illinois State didn't play since like the 1960s um which is just it's a really long time so it's a long history game and I would say our fan base um that one within the league is the biggest rivalry but in terms of like we do have a rivalry trophy it's called The War for the wheel um it's not an extremely long historic rivalry in terms of when that trophy's been around but coach toque who used to be here he's now the head coach at Simo which is part of the ovc um him and Coach Hill came together like you know what it would just be great these two schools are close they're only separated by 4550 minutes typically they always play um let's put a trophy on the line so it's a war for the wheel it's kind of a wheel from an old ship um that the teams play for southern was able to win it back uh last season so that's a little bit of the history in terms of the rivalries but there is one rivalry trophy that the Salukis play for consistently but in terms of a longer history within the Missouri Valley I would say arguably no doubt um Illinois state right now would be that team but you go back to kind of the history lesson before North Dakota State South Dakota State and those teams joined the league when coach hill was a player Northern Iowa was probably the biggest rival because it was either Northern Iowa or Southern Illinois who was kind of duking it out of who was going to win the valley at that point in time uh so it transforms throughout the year uh but no doubt non-conference simos is their biggest rival and I'd say within the league right now Illinois state is a team and everybody circles is that's a game that they look forward to here in Carbondale awesome um as you're talking about this this just got me thinking because all summer long at least um you know at the the power level the conversation is realignment right and people are excited like you said to get to actual football but I'm curious at the FCS level obviously there is like a trickle down effect with realignment because you see schools moving you know for example Missouri State I think is flirting with the idea or wants to move up to they are going yeah they are going so it's official so uh you know and and those have impacts but how much are you know conferences at the FCS level or schools at that level really focused on that all the realignment hubub I think you have to be focused on it Trevor because I mean look college football's changing we all know that um you see the power shifting to really join forces and see exactly what that championship in that level will look at and I think what's really important what you have to think about when you're a school like Southern Illinois where we are at you know North State South Dakota State have just dominated uh really the FCS level um over the last 15 years North Dakota State obviously with their big run now South Dakota State's won the last two national championships at our level those teams are the peak um but you have to understand that what's important about our level is I think whatever the second tier however you want to phrase it is I think that's what you really need to strive to be a part of um it looks like probably at some point there's going to be a new second tier of college football um where the power leagues are probably going to break off and they will play for their own Championship which ultimately they kind of do already um which will leave schools like in leagues like the mid- americ I I'm a Ball State grad um so like I'm very familiar obviously with the Mid-American Conference I think there's gonna be a lot of schools in leagues like that that group of five that are like where do we go um what's exactly the best place for us um that will be the interesting conversation piece that if you're a leader at a school like SIU if you're really good that upper tier of the FCS which Southern likes to Pride themselves and being you better have your eyes to exactly how that trickle down effect as you described Trevor because at some point in time as you Missouri state they're making the jump they're going to Conference USA um they haven't been as successful as a football program at the FCS level but they are kind of seeing where that shifting is going and they want to try to at least make sure they have a spot uh the FBS or whatever that tier looks like look I I I don't have a crystal ball and I can't tell you exactly what it will go and where it will go but I do think it's very important for schools at our level that are very competitive in the FCS that are competing uh for those top 10 spots and they're try to compete for a national title that wherever it goes wherever college football eventually shifts if the group of five eventually have their own version of a playoff that's separate from the college football playoff which of course the power leag will be a part of I think it's important for the top tier FCS teams to try to be a part of that yeah it's uh certainly I I think everybody's you know waiting to see how all this plays out like you said none of us has a crystal ball but there definitely does seem to be some writing on the wall with it um okay so back to SIU um a lot of people especially Buu fans probably aren't familiar with SIU really but it's a solid program uh right now you're uh 11th in the preseason poll and you play in a very competitive conference because that's only good enough for fourth in the conference of course you're there with the the Dakota schools both North and South that are um obviously everyone's familiar with the success that they've had um in at the FCS level over the years so uh tell us a little bit about um kind of the expectations for SIU this year Well to really give you I think to your fans and BYU fans a good reference point how the Missouri Valley Football conference is referenced in the FCS as the SEC of the FCS I mean as you described Southern is top 15 team in the preseason one poll has them top 10 another as you said has him 11 yet fourth in the league uh last year just for for some perspective Southern was fortunate enough to get to the postseason technically finished tied for seventh in the Missouri Valley Football Conference uh final standings it shows you how deep the league is the deep is extremely the league is extremely deep I should say there's so much talent and even the teams that are down towards the bottom that maybe don't stack up a lot of wins you see a lot of times in non-conference FCS action you'll see teams like Indiana State or Murray State or Missouri State where they'll go out and they'll beat some of the upper tier teams from what would be considered the lower level of FCS teams that can win those leagues but get into the postseason you tell her a huge difference that there's a huge drop off from the Missouri Valley Football Conference the Big Sky which I I'm sure many BYU fans are familiar with just with where they're located but for southern specifically I mean this is a program that has built a lot of success over the last couple years you know coach Hill since 2019 after a couple tough years for him where he was the youngest coach I believe in division one at the time when he was hired back in 2016 um to now have this opportunity to have those first couple years which were struggles um to now really see it kind of reap the benefits um Southern's been to the playoffs three times since 2019 they've won a game every time they've been in the postseason since 2019 uh when you look in the Missouri Valley Football Conference if you add up all the playoff wins only North Dakota State and South Dakota State have more playoff wins than Southern within the valley which that speaks really high volumes of one how good North Dakota State and South Dakota State have been but also where Southern has been competitive now it's just the question of this year Trevor can they they've been able to beat North Dakota State South Dakota State South Dakota North Dakota they don't see North Dakota this year in the regular season but can they do that within a season um they've been able to show that sporadically that they can go on the road and beat South Dakota State when they're a top five team uh they've beaten North Dakota State here when they were the number one team in the country in the spring season but it's not all been in that same season uh they really want to be able to show consistently that we can beat the best of the best within the same season and close out uh if you look at Southern's schedule last year all of their losses were the playoff teams they didn't lose to a team that did not make the postseason um and some of those games are really close South Dakota State here who won the national title it was a one possession game South Dakota Southern thought they had a touchdown late to tie the game but it was overruled and they got stopped inside the three yard line uh and lost that game by one possession those two games flip Southern's probably a national seed and who knows how far the season goes for them their season ended on a block field goal uh at Idaho they had a chance to kick a field goal that would have won the game to extend their season the postseason they had a protection breakdown up front the kick got blocked game went in overtime and ID Idaho was able to ultimately win it in in overtime so I think for southern there's a lot of frustration of man we saw what we could have been a year ago um there were opportunities there you had South Dakota State at home you had South Dakota at home some opportunities to pull off some really big wins and came up short um they beat everybody that they should really beat they beat an FBS team for the second straight year in Northern Illinois as we talked about a little bit earlier Northwestern the year prior to that so this is a team that's very confident um they're looking they're going to really look forward to the challenge uh at BYU the first game of the year because Southern has shown that they have had success under coach Hill in these FBS games this will be his ninth FBS game as a head coach and if you look at the previous eight Trevor seven of the eight Southern has either been tied or had a lead at halftime this is not a typical FCS team that kind of goes into these FBS environments and the doors are blown off right from the go um Southern takes a lot of pride in these games they look they look forward to the opportunities in these games and they're really going to be eager to see where they stack up because that's ultimately where they want to be because if you're going to want beat North Dakota state if you want to beat South Dakota state two teams that are also playing the Big 12 here in the first week of the season with NDSU seeing coach Prime in Colorado and South Dakota State seeing Oklahoma State first week all three of those Valley teams that are going up against Big 12 teams you're gonna you're gonna have three Valley teams that are Uber confident and not going to be afraid of those environments because of how battle tested they feel they are throughout the years yeah it's rough because as a fan of college football normally I would be roting for all those FCS upsets but uh you know the way the the whole conference war is right now you really got to see your conference members do well and so you you know in BYU's best interest like to see the big 12 do well but yeah you got to love um you know seeing these these top FCS programs come in and compete and uh I didn't mention I'm also um in some ways a a Midwest guy grew up in Michigan not far from Ann Arbor and we all remember appstate going into upset Michigan which was a loaded Team guys coming back that you know came back for one more year and just what an upset that was and so I think fans of college football love seeing those moments so it's interesting to hear that um talk about the mindset of the team that they they're ready for the challenge and that they're you know this is something that they're ready for and prepping for so tell us a little bit about uh let's start on the offensive side of the team like who are the key players what kind of scheme do they run and uh really where if anywhere um do you feel like SIU is going to be able to potentially find an advantage going up against BYU well a little bit of perspective too Southern loses their all-time record holder in basically every passing quarterback statistic uh and Nick Baker Nick Baker has graduated um so Nick Baker's gone those are big shoes to fill and Nick broke every record that his head coach held which was kind of really cool to see but Nick was also 5 foot n and that may be a little bit generous he was probably more 5 foot eight what he was able to do with his stature is is what makes those records really remarkable Trevor I bring that up because whoever it will be Southern and BYU are very similar in terms of having a quarterback competition that is extremely close and neither team has decided who that guy is gonna be yet um so DJ WIlliams who's a transfer from Murray State who's had experience within the Missouri Valley Football conference with Murray joining the league full-time last last year on the football side and then you have Hunter Simmons who's been behind Nick Baker both of those guys are 63 um I don't think it's necessarily so important to bring up height because Nick was so good being at five foot n but this will be the the tallest quarterback that coach Hill has had to work with since his second year was Sam Str and Sam Str was 6 foot three2 and St was able to put up some really good numbers in terms of a quarterback so Southern has more of a prototypical quarterback in terms of the size strength of what you would need Hunter hasn't had the playing experience like DJ uh but Hunter's been around so he knows the program he knows the scheme he knows what's expected coach Hill in the past has kind of been known as the play caller um towards the end of the year he really shifted those duties more towards his OC Blake Rowan and right now I believe they're kind of they had some more momentum towards that late but coach Hill's very involved with the offensive side of the football as I alluded to he was our quarterback back in the mid 2000s late 2000s for Coach Jerry k which was one of the most successful erors the most successful era for Saluki football so whoever the quarterback is they feel really confident about the offensive line the offensive line Southern has 12 six-year guys going in their six- year of college football half of them are within the offensive line room uh Noah finsky missed all of last year he was a transfer from Colorado originally went to Iowa a huge massive body um he's going to look the part he's going to be the starting left tackle he's going to be part of a very experienced offensive line I think out of the guys who are coming back there's over 12 120 starts combined up front with that offensive line it's a very experience group but last year really the difference was there weren't a lot of Playmakers for southern offensively um Ro Elliott who was a tremendous running back when he was in southern could run the ball when Deontay Cox was not hurt Southern had a Target to go to offensively but both those guys missed a lot of time last year and if you dive in the Southern's numbers you'll see why those numbers aren't where they historically have been under coach Hill typically Southern's offense is a team that can score in the 30s on average last year that was down in the lower 20s they just couldn't do it consistently Trevor so when you looked at this year they hit the transfer portal hard uh all the guys I think out of the four newcomers they bring in at with the wide receiver spot all four had 20 or more receptions at their previous School within their year um they really like kou kantes leis he transfers in from Wisconsin he didn't play at all last year but he was one of the best receivers that Wisconsin had the year prior to that before coach fickle took over there uh Nan Hezekiah he's a transfer from Howard a really big body they like to see what hesi as they call him can really do this year Vincent Davis is one of the returning receivers from last year who I think will have a Major Impact as well to continue in that leadership role they really like T morero who's a transfer from Charleston uh down there in the South Carolina area and in the running back room Shawn Lester is going to get probably more of the carries this year Sha's been in the program he's a guy that knows kind of what's expected again trying to learn from a guy like Ro Elliott but then you have transfers like withr harston from Ohio State who was a walk- on there you have Eddie Robinson who transferred in from Duane um so there are guys there that where you look at that room and you go can there be some more consistent in the running game behind a more experienced off offensive line and you look at tight endend Aiden Quinn was one of the top tight ends in the country last year he comes back Ryan schwinderman who's a was a younger guy last year got a lot of reps and kind of learning how to go offensively will be a key Target for them so those are areas in the tight ends in those FBS games have been crucial uh when you look when Southern's had success a lot of it is because tight ends are able to sneak through find some holes in that defense and really make some big plays I think Southern's going to expect that from those guys so kind of when you look at that offense it was a group last year that was disappointing uh they they were not consistent enough uh kind of mixed in from the special team standpoint which you may get to a little bit later Trevor but when you look at I look at PFF Pro Football Focus um they obviously come out with grades how they grade is not really how teams grade because they don't really know exactly what the team's scheme is so they grade it a little bit differently but Southern's offense graded out at almost a 95% clip last year which is obviously really good one of the highest in the country their offense was in the 70s there's about a 19 percentage Point Gap South Dakota State North Dakota State who are obviously the upper tier of our league I think their Gap was about a three four perc difference so that's where Southern's got to get to it's not so much that the offense has got to get into the 90 pertile like the defense would be great it's just can there not be that big of a gap can they play more complimentary football that's really where the offense this year those are some of the names that BYU fans should know but I also think there's can the offense make those strides so the offense is gonna have a big chip on their shoulders starting the first week of the Season okay um so I mean it it's impressive to hear about especially the the o line there with the the big guys you have I mean if these are guys that for whatever reason transferred out of uh you know these bigger programs but they were good enough and and big enough had the size and and to be recruited by these programs and be there so um do you feel like this is a a bigger o line than you typically see at an FCS level yeah I would tell you well I mean at the FCS level now I mean North Dakota State South Dakota State those are big boys um I mean when they and they show it when they go up against teams in the FBS I mean South Dakota State you know they haven't lost since they played Iowa I think now two years ago they lost six to3 and that was a game they didn't even allow a touchdown um which which is just staggering it was two field goals I mean they they have been able to hold their own and a big reason why those teams have success and also why teams don't play those two teams specifically a ton is because of their strength up front and that's where Southern has that confidence both on the offensive side and the defensive side of the line is they've had depth there more so defensively uh not so much last year offensively Southern I would say even though they had a good consistent starting group a year ago it wasn't very deep um that's an area where again everybody everybody right now Trevor I'm just letting you know every fall Camp I've been a part of everybody right now wants to say they're deep and everybody wants wants to talk about right now hey we got the depth we're we're very deep here and then once you get in the games you're like man you've been talking about all fall Camp you're deep but you're only playing the same Five Guys or we're not really seeing a lot of these guys rotate in so everybody right now feels great they we got all the depth in the world we're going to be really good once the gam start rolling around that's when you truly see if coaches were just kind of giving you coach speak or like yeah we have depth and they're going to show it with all the different guys they'll play or it was more just coach speak and it's like ah you know we're just not comfortable yet it's like well what a shock you know games can sometimes games are truth serum the adversity is truth serum for a lot of teams once we get to that point so and You' mentioned the quarterback battle uh do you expect so we're actually recording this a week uh before the game and uh which is which stinks because I'm like tricking my brain I feel like there's a game tomorrow but um there is by the time this is posted but um so do you expect there to be an announcement prior to that first game or do you know or was that really going to be like a game time and then we'll see who rolls out my guess is it will be a game time decision for SIU I do not expect them to say anything publicly well I always say you know my experience around these things Trevor is there's so much of a want to from a fan and a media perspective of okay who is the guy going to be what the coaching staff really cares about is that locker room so experiences where I've been around in quarterback battles the team knows and that's really where the team and the team's going to keep that underneath themselves it's the locker room the locker room is only going to be the place to know we will all find out when that game gets kicked off but what's most important I feel like for coaches and for the team is that they know really what the game plan is and how they go so whether they want to tell us we'll leave that up to them it's fine if they want us to know ahead of time great um if not we'll find out when that game gets K gets kicked off but just kind of how the camp has gone it's been a really good competition both guys Hunter and DJ have definitely they have their strengths each of them it's been very close honest I really feel like both teams are very similar in terms of at least how they talk publicly about their I can only speak from from our perspective for the practices that I see here in Carbondale but I expect that the team will know we won't know till the game gets kicked off which that's completely fine and I can understand why programs do that yeah I mean this is a sore subject for I think BYU fans right now and I'm with you though I I I I mean yes we would like to know obviously they don't really what we want to know isn't really their top concern um I just hope that the team does know that they have a direction because then you can start moving forward and you can give them that vote of confidence and that's where I think you know making a public statement you can kind of give them that vote of confidence and say hey let's move forward but I mean if it's there it's in the locker room people know and they're able to practice as such great and if we if it becomes a game time decision then so be it but um anyway so all right so that's the offensive side let's switch uh to the defensive side of the ball um what again same thing what are kind of the key players what can we expect to see from this defense and and where can they potentially get an advantage against BYU well they really feel like the defense is that anara that coach Hill teams in the past maybe has been a weak spot um and Coach Hill has told me in a lot of interviews that we've done Trevor and not that he's totally changed his philosophy and how he wants to build or structure a team but he understands as the season progresses as you get into November when you get into December for playoff football for us at the FCS level you got to have a good defense um defense travels no matter where you go now you'd like to win a lot of Gam games during the course of your season and get to a position where you're hosting uh which that's also why North Dakota State and South Dakota State have a lot of postseason success is because they do so well in the regular season teams got to go to them they got to go to their building they gotta play them to have the opportunity they gotta find a way to win the Fargo Dome which if anybody's been to the Fargo Dome good luck to you uh that's a really tough place to play when that place is fat packed and same thing with Dan J dous now that they've made that an incredible environment but the point is is that last year Hing into the season literally 24 almost not even 24 hours before the first Saluki practice of fall Camp their defensive coordinator left uh took a job at Northwestern coach vocc good guy very highly respected within the southern program had an opportunity of course their situation with Coach Fitzgerald and shifting around with their staff was obviously unique and late so that kind of put you would think man that puts you in a bind I mean you don't have a def your defensive that you had for the spring and then ultimately as you're getting I mean you're prepped like you're ready to go like this is less than 24 hours from your first day of fall Camp I thought it was coach speak at first but coach Hill was like I got no worries I mean Antonio James is gonna take over and we're gonna be fine and you're kind of like okay but like this this timing seems a little off I know Antonio's been a position coach with the defense but like he's now the guy it showed I mean the defensive numbers last year were so staggering probably the biggest difference is just how many turnovers Southern produced they produced 15 more turnovers than they did the previous year um they were top 10 in the country and I think nine different categories uh they only allowed 94 yards rushing a game they were one of the top teams in terms of stopping the run and a lot of that had to do with not just the defensive line but their linebacking Corp uh and they returned one of their best linebackers from last year Branson Colmes uh he transferred out he was one of the few guys that left to go to the FBS he's now at Wake Forest uh Branson did have one more year left but Branson got his degree from Southern and I know SIU fans are really happy for him that he's got that opportunity at Wake Forest but now it really opens up the door for Colin banck that's going to be a name that you're going to hear time and time again out of all the position groups that seem to have the biggest depth is going to be at linebacker coach James does like to rotate a lot of different guys in but he also really likes to rely on the back end of his defense uh PJ juwes was phenomenal PJ Jules right now he's kind of right on that cutting line in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals hope hopefully PJ can end up making that roster because of multiple different spots that he can have but prior PJ really was Jeremy chin 2.0 Jeremy chin who of course got drafted by the Panthers now at the Washington commanders in the NFL Jeremy chin was an outstanding player I think was drafted in the third round could just do a little bit of everything that was PJ now really seems like uade Ste is going to be one of those guys in the back into the defense where he will be listed as a safety but don't be surprised when you see him moving around where he may be up front near the defensive line he'll drop back in coverage he's really a what I guess they would call a Rover on that defense he'll be utilizing a lot of different ways both starting cornerbacks that were really good last year Mark Davis who's also now transferred to Vanderbilt and then DJ Johnson who graduated so he lost both starters at corner um that's going to be an interesting spot for Southern's defense it's kind of an unknown group they don't like being called the unknown group there's a lot of confidence intern internally especially a guy like Jamir Khan who's coming back who got to learn from those guys last year just didn't get a ton of reps but jir is one of the most Ultra ultra competitive guys that's going to be a name that you're gonna see and probably BYU fans will see him talk a little bit too so he he's he's got a Swagger about him that we really enjoy um and then up front on the defensive line they got really experienced guys who have just been around really let by Dewey green who comes back who numbers wise you look at numbers a year ago Dewey maybe didn't have a lot of personal numbers but it's really just getting more comfortable I feel like in the scheme I think that's the biggest thing with this defense that now had this will be their second year under coach James their numbers were outstanding and you talk to them me I'll talk to coach James you know in preparation for the game you know on the 31st but it's like there's always that part of him where I'm like man you know like you did this like you were top five top 10 in this area he's like yeah but we can be better and I'm like if it's going to be better that's going to be really impressive because those numbers were really really good a year ago so that's the part for me Trevor where I look at can Southern not just sustain what they've done defensively can they make an is there another step to be made now they'll all tell you yes there is and if there's another step to this thing if they can go to another level man Saluki fans are really going to like where they're at because a year ago this is no disrespect to the offense the the defense played at a championship level last year Trevor um you look at the Idaho game for an example I'm pretty sure Idaho does not win that game if they don't get a punt return for a touchdown Which that was their first score of the game and then also if Souther doesn't have a lot of penalties on the defensive side but also the blocked field goal as I told you about which was a bad protection um two really special teams blunders and when you get into these FCS FBS games so much focus is what we've had to this point off offense defense special teams is really the area of the foot of of the game that in these games can really make it an FCS team have an advantage or it can really open it up and those are how games can really get out of hand and where FBS teams can really have the upper Advantage it may be somewhat respectable in terms of offense versus defense on both sides but special teams can be a really big factor and last year Southern really struggled in special teams specifically in kicking the football they were just not consist consistent they weren't great in the return game either from a standpoint of being able to take an advantage of that so they're they're excited about their defense they think the offense is going to be really improved uh they do like what they have from a special team's perspective but they really got to prove it you know and that side of the game Trevor because like I said that was an area last year that just reared its ugly head at some really key times and in those games and especially when you start off the season in a game where you just have the roster size differences you have of course more scholarship players where BYU with all of their attributes that they have and program standards you you kind of see in those games where maybe an FCS team gets a little bit tired quicker as that as those games progress Southern Fields like I again they have that depth where they can really compete for four quarters those truly show in those FBS vers FCS games absolutely so BYU has had a couple seasons in recent history where they've struggled against uh FCS opponents in game one and both of those Pro to be very ominous in hindsight that those were bad Seasons the two seasons that BYU has missed blll games under uh coach Kanani satake so um a lot of fans I think are going to be watching this game very closely maybe more than you would think fans normally in a in a FCS type matchup uh to open the season uh so it definitely has BYU fans uh after missing a b game last year very uh honed in on this game and really expect um BYU well really hoping in order to to hope for Success throughout the season that BYU doesn't just win but is able to win in a big way and it sounds like you know uh SIU is is prime for this they're they're ready for the challenge they going to come out and not going to lay over easily so tell me what if if SIU is able to pull off the upset what will have needed to happen throughout the game for for them to achieve that they got to move the ball offensively um and you look at historically at least for BYU you know I think it's right around 20 fcfs games they played they've obviously won all of them they've never lost but the one consistently you look at the average score of those games it's 48 to1 I think is the average score is what I tallied so that means obviously they've not scored a lot of teams have not been able to score a lot on BYU and those games that have gone really well their offense has been able to really rack it up mentioned Southern will feel like their strength of the team this year will be the defense again they do feel like the offense has improved um but to really kind of not to skate around that Trevor but to me they just cannot if you're gonna win these games it's just the way it is it's not being you know unfair to Southern when you say it in this way you can't afford mistakes you know Southern can't go into Provo and turn the ball over have silly penalties um give BYU short fields and then have to have long Fields offensively um you add those things up if Southern's got to drive the length of the field every time and BYU is capitalizing on either turnovers or have short fields and there's a lot of internal mistakes I mean that that's not the recipe for Success um it's not a recipe for success for any team uh for that matter but especially when you're an FCS team going the FBS the one factor that I think will be interesting that is different and Coach Hill has told his team this you look at a lot of the wins that southern has had or a lot of the teams that southern plays it's not necessarily the rockus environment that they're going to expect on the 31st there's only been two games in program history Trevor where Southern has seen a crowd of over 60,000 um both of those games were were in the state of Illinois both at uh Illinois um so and now those are way back I think the last time would have been like 1992 so it's been a while since they play play in front of 60,000 plus if there will be 60,000 plus which I would expect on a Saturday night in Provo I think the smallest crowd last year was just a little above 59 which was the CM Houston game there's going to be a big crowd and arguably it will be one of the top crowds that Southern's played in front of how do they handle that uh and again not trying to it's not to poke fun or be disrespectful to Northern Illinois crowd was not a factor um there was not 60,000 people there um even the year prior to that when they went to Northwest Western crowd not much of a factor and both of those games as I mentioned were in state so there were a lot of Saluki fans like there was a lot of maroon that traveled to go to those games to support Southern there will be maroon and Provo Utah but won't be as many as there were in those previous stops so I think that that will be a Twist to this thing Trevor and it should be because that's a factor in the game it's a part of having HomeField advantage and being a part of it so how does Southern not make those mistakes that may get Amplified even more with the crowd noise with the environment how do they handle that environment I know they're looking forward to it they want to eat it up they want to have that opportunity to play but again it's not very often Southern has been in that position so I think for southern it's simple if you want to find a way to win that game you and I will will not be talking after that game if Southern wins it if they make a lot of mistakes um you have to play almost as clean of a game as you can imagine um it just it's part of being an FCS team going into an FBS environment especially of the level that BYU is so they got to limit those mistakes I think offensively they got to consistently move the ball if they can do that I think defensively Southern has shown that that is their strength even last year against Northern Illinois um hopefully this year to against BYU um but again too it's like BYU has shown where if they have if if BYU is the team they expect to beat or expect to be they want to score in the 30s and 40s and that's a number that southern has not given up a lot even in the last couple years so it will be intriguing to see but I do believe it's going to come down to I don't think southern wins a game at BYU that's like 4235 that's a high-scoring affair um now could it be that way watch that be the score it makes me look like probably um but I do think for southern it's one of those games where it was like at Northern Illinois last year a 14- 10 um 217 2420 you know somewhere in that range if the score is somewhere like that that's probably boting well uh for SIU and where they want it to be um if BYU's scoring in 30s and 40s that's probably not where you want to be just because it's Southern's offense right now is just a little bit unproven in that area yeah um I just want to correct something I had said earlier uh Sam Houston I was as I was thinking about it they were t technically FBS last year was their first year up but um nonetheless it proved to be uh rather ominous but okay well it sounds like uh we've got quite a game ahead of us for the game opener I know we're both really excited to be back at it I hope you uh enjoy your time in Provo if uh anybody who's still there um out that way and has recommendations for Luke and uh and his team to to go uh eat while they're out there let us know those in the comments and also let us know what uh you would like or what you expect to see from BYU um in game one and and how you expect that to play out and uh please be sure to like this video uh subscribe to the channel but then also Luke uh can you tell everybody where they can uh find all your content where they can follow you yeah absolutely I'm very very uh popular on Twitter in terms of a active I should say not popular very active on Twitter I mean you can come up with that I don't think I'm not as popular Trevor uh you can do _ lukp Martin that's my uh Twitter X handle I guess Twitter X I still call it Twitter consistently sorry sorry Elon uh but at luk P Martin um all of our content too that I send out through some of our social channels within here at SIU sior foot you can see a lot of our position previews and stuff we've done through fall camp that can get you a little bit more acclimated with our team but no that's kind of how they how BYU fans can can I'm really looking forward to a Trevor it's going to be a lot of fun next week and who knows it could be a really competitive game come down could be a game that doesn't go in Southern's favor and by by and it really shows more of BYU that's why these games are tough especially right out of the gate in these FBS FCS games because even from an FCS perspective Trevor you can you can win a game like this and you feel sort of invincible and then you can get humbled very very quickly or vice versa you go into it and it really doesn't go your way and you're like man you're kind of like down the the dumps you kind of expected a little bit more and then you turn around like oh we're actually we're actually better than we thought so it's the fir first games of season you have no idea what to really expect we all can think we know but we're gonna ultimately find out which is the fun part of this it's why we do it that is why we do it that is why we play the game college football is back I'm so excited Luke thank you so much for joining me you're very gracious with your time and I wish the best for you at SIU after next you know after game one for the rest of the season and hope you win out so all right well thanks again and take care thanks Trevor