CARBONDALE, Ill. — In a showdown of Top 15 teams, No. 8 Southern Illinois scored all of its points in the first half and held off a late comeback by No. 12 Incarnate Word to win, 35-28, on Saturday in its home opener at Saluki Stadium.

SIU quarterback DJ Williams put on a show for the home crowd, passing for 301 yards and rushing for 79 more, before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with an injury to his throwing hand.

Williams completed 19-of-27 passes, including touchdown passes to Keontez Lewis and Ryan Schwendeman. He also scored on a dazzling 28-yard TD run in the second quarter.

"DJ was playing pretty lights out," said SIU head coach Nick Hill. "You can see all the things he can do. We're still learning what play calls DJ likes. When you're with a quarterback for an extended period of time you start to learn each other, and I felt he got in a good rhythm tonight."

Lewis and Nah'shawn Hezekiah had breakout performances at wide receiver for SIU, with 148 and 118 yards receiving, respectively. Lewis added an explosive 57-yard touchdown run on a reverse down the right sideline. Both Lewis (Wisconsin) and Hezekiah (Howard) were unknown quantities, having transferred to SIU in the offseason, but both were impressive in practices leading up to the season.

"I think Saluki fans got a glimpse of those guys at work tonight," Hill said. "Big-time catches, and the reverse to KLew, I think everybody in the stands saw how fast KLew is." 

Leading 35-14 at half time, the Salukis (2-1) had opportunities to put the game away in the second half. In the third quarter, Williams had a 44-yard touchdown run called back by holding, and he later threw an interception on the drive. Southern also mishandled the snap on a 27-yard field goal attempt, coming away with no points. In the fourth quarter, SIU came up short on 4th-and-1 at the UIW 22, when freshman running back Jerrian Parker was stopped for no gain.

"Wish we would've made it a little easier on ourselves," Hill said. "We had the opportunities to do that, but credit to (UIW) — we knew their offense was pretty high-powered, and their quarterback showed why he's one of the best in the country."

UIW had the ball deep in Saluki territory with under two minutes remaining and a chance to tie the game, but sacks by Louis Wilbert and Ben Bogle placed the Cardinals int a 4th-and-23 situation at the SIU 34 with 42 seconds remaining. Quarterback Zach Calzada, who passed for 366 yards and three TDs, tossed a desperation pass into the end zone that was picked off by safety Vinny Pierre Jr. to seal the win for SIU.

"We found a way to close it out," Hill said. "I'm super-proud of the defense. We got back on our heels a little bit, and they had the momentum going — to find a way to close out a game."

The Salukis, who out-gained UIW, 543-437, played the game without three of the team's four captains, who are sidelined with injuries — linebacker Colin Bohanek, defensive end Dewey Greene and tight end Aidan Quinn. In addition to Williams' injury a handful of other key players left tonight's game early.

"I think our depth got tested," Hill said. "Our guys are resilient. I feel like we've built some competitive depth and it showed tonight."

Southern has another tough opponent up next with SEMO coming to Carbondale for the annual War For The Wheel next Saturday.

"With the schedule we have, we need to put blinders on and be one game at a time," Hill said. "The goal is to win and move on to the next one and continue to grow your team."