CARBONDALE - Turnovers were a good friend of Southern Illinois University's football team entering its first-round playoff game against New Hampshire.

Through 11 games, the No. 8/9 Salukis were second only to fourth-ranked Northern Iowa in takeaways in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and had scored five defensive touchdowns. So when SIU forced four turnovers against 10th-ranked New Hampshire on Saturday at McAndrew Stadium, things were probably looking up, right?

Think again. The Wildcats gave up just seven points off those turnovers and got a playoff record-tying five field goals from Tom Bishop to beat the Salukis 29-20.

"Give credit to New Hampshire's defense. That's the one thing, I thought they played a very solid game," SIU coach Dale Lennon said. "I thought their defensive line did a very good job, and when we had those turnovers, those were points that we needed to get on the board."

SIU (9-3) managed to take its first and only lead of the game off the most bizarre of Saturday's seven combined turnovers. The Salukis had a chance to break a 6-6 tie after Korey Lindsey intercepted a pass at the SIU 25, but quarterback Chris Dieker returned the favor with a pick at the Wildcat 11.

New Hampshire quarterback R.J. Toman then tried to prove, without a reasonable doubt, that the officials were really working for the home team.

On a second-and-8 from the New Hampshire 13, Toman tried to find a receiver crossing about three yards past the line of scrimmage. Instead, he drilled an official right in the chest, causing the football to bounce almost straight in the air and into the hands of senior defensive end Kendrick Young. Young reached the UNH 12-yard line on his first career interception return, and set up the Salukis' only touchdown of the day.

Larry Warner, in his last game as a Saluki, was stopped at the 1-yard line after a 13-yard gain. Saluki quarterback Chris Dieker finished the drive with a plunge over the goal line with 4:28 to go in the first half.

Kyle Dougherty's extra point put SIU up 13-6 in front of 5,461 fans, but the lead would not make it to the half.

Chad Kackert returned Dougherty's kickoff 45 yards to the Saluki 40 with 4:18 left. UNH reached the SIU 9-yard line, but had to settle for a 28-yard field goal from Bishop to make it 13-9.

After a Saluki punt, the Wildcats (10-2) drove 80 yards in four plays to take their final lead of the game. Toman ran for five yards and then lateraled to wide receiver Mike Boyle for another 15 to set up UNH at its own 40. Toman then found Boyle on a 54-yard pass that Lindsey was able to end at the Saluki 6. Two plays later, Toman found the end zone, and put UNH up to stay.

Lindsey set SIU up at the UNH 29-yard line with his second interception of the game in the third quarter, but, it being the third quarter, the Salukis came away with nothing after Dougherty missed a 46-yard field goal short.

Dougherty, 13 of 19 on the year on field-goal tries entering the game, made 2 of 4. He converted from 47 and 30 yards out, and missed from 47 and 46. Both misses came in the third quarter, which proved to be a Twilight Zone experience for the Saluki football team this season.

SIU was outscored 10-0 in the third Saturday, which brought its deficit in that quarter to 93-15 for the season. The Salukis allowed 256 points all season.

UNH, the champions of the Colonial Athletic Association's North Division, lost the turnover battle 4-3. The Wildcats were ranked second in the nation in turnover margin entering the game, averaging a margin of plus-1.82 per game. Eight times this season, they had forced at least two turnovers, and three times, they had four or more.

"We talk often on the defensive side of the ball about sudden change, and our defense takes great pride in it," New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell said. "We had a couple turnovers. That's very uncharacteristic of how we've been all season, and our guys just rose up on that side of the football and made some plays for us."

Warner, among the nation's leaders in all-purpose yardage, finished with 222. He rushed for 93, caught three passes for 18 yards and earned 111 on kickoff returns.

Dieker was picked off twice in his first playoff start, but completed 18 of 36 for 163 yards and a touchdown to third-string tight end Kyle Harruff early in the fourth quarter.

Lennon, a possible coach of the year winner out of the MVFC, ended his first season in Carbondale with his sixth straight playoff appearance. With the Salukis' win at Illinois State Nov. 22, the former North Dakota leader became only the third coach in league history to win or share the title in his first year coaching in the MVFC. In his first year at the Football Championship Subdivision level after 10 years as a Division II head coach, Lennon helped SIU to its sixth straight season with nine or more wins.

SIU could return 19 starters and both specialists next fall.

"I'm very proud of this team," Lennon said. "It was one of those days where things weren't necessarily clicking at all times, but we hung in there and did everything in our power to make something happen at the end. This time, we just came up short."

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 351-5087@thesouthern.com / 351-5087