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96 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 24, ISSUE 6 f A fter a pair of FCS postseason appear- ances in his first two seasons — after taking over for Jerry Kill — Dale Lennon's Salukis haven't made it back to the play- offs since 2009, and the field was even expanded to 24 teams in 2013. Lennon is hoping some tweaks to the offensive and defensive schemes can push the program back to prominence. Southern Illinois de- buted a new-look offense in the spring, a scheme built around a power run- ning game, mobile quar- Southern Illinois MyCole Pruitt already is Southern Illinois' all-time receptions and receiving yards leader for tight ends — and he still has his senior season to play. Southern Illinois Salukis 2014 OPPONENT PREVIEW • SEPT. 20 • ROSS-ADE STADIUM • TIME: TBA • TV: TBD icant changes — and not just in personnel, which are major in itself with the losses of Louis Nix and Ste- phon Tuitt on the line. VanGorder will switch from a 3-4 scheme to more 4-3 fronts, signifying a move from a bend-don't-break philosophy that relied on pressure by a talented front to a more aggressive, pressure-based blitzing scheme. Sophomore linebacker Jaylon Smith, defensive line- man Sheldon Day and junior cornerbak KeiVarae Rus- sell are stars, but other younger highly touted players will need to quickly emerge into playmaking roles. "I think they need to take more chances because they don't have the personnel to stand up and beat you in all those one-on-one matchups," Sampson said. "I think they've got some high-level talent at each (po- sition group) … but they don't have the depth on the defensive line, they're going to be very young at line- backer. They got faster. They moved a safety to line- backer. The defensive ends now are both converted outside linebackers. So where last year was a very big, long, imposing defense physically, now it's sort of lighter and quicker. I think they're going into the season thinking, 'We need to focus more on forcing turnovers' than maybe yards per play." Even if Golson picks up where he left off in 2012 and the defense quickly produces in the new scheme, the Irish's best-case scenario could still only be 10 wins, Sampson said. With a road game at Florida State being chalked up as a loss, Sampson said, it could be tough to win 10 of the other 11 games on a schedule that includes USC, Michigan, Stanford and Louisville. "If Notre Dame is 10-2 at the end of the year, wheth- er they made the playoffs or not — and they probably wouldn't at 10-2 — people would look at that and say, 'Hey, really good season,'" Sampson said. — Stacy Clardie OF NOTE: Irish quarterback Everett Golson was sacked five times in a 20-17 win over Pur- due on Sept. 8, 2012, in his first career start at home.