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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -  Jewel Hampton ran for a game-high three touchdowns to lead No. 17 Southern Illinois (1-0) to a 38-10 win over Southeast Missouri (0-1) Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,136 at Houck Stadium.

Hampton scored all three of his touchdowns consecutively, including one in the second quarter and two in the third.

SIU, which led 14-3 at the half, outscored Southeast 24-7 in the final two quarters to polish off its fourth-straight win at Houck Stadium. The Salukis have not lost in Cape Girardeau since 2001.

“We just had too many mistakes on both sides of the ball,” said Southeast head coach Tony Samuel. “You have to give SIU credit. They played well and executed. Defensively, we gave up too many big plays."

Hampton scored his first two touchdowns immediately after Southeast had scored.

After Drew Geldbach made a 35-yard field goal to narrow SIU's lead to 7-3 with 3:03 left in the first quarter, Hampton answered with a 1-yard plunge on the Salukis next possession. That touchdown capped a 14-play, 64-yard drive which covered 7:27.

Southeast fell behind, 21-3, when Hampton scored again, this time on a 23-yard run with 10:32 remaining in the third quarter.

The Redhawks battled right back when Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference quarterback Matt Scheible threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Foster at the 6:41 mark. Foster's second career touchdown made it a 21-10 game and put the finishing touches on Southeast's longest drive of the night (9 plays, 85 yards).

Foster's TD was the last of Southeast's scoring, as SIU responded with 17 unanswered points to put the exclamation point on its 38-10 season-opening win.

Although Hampton led his team in touchdowns, Steve Strother and Paul McIntosh finished ahead of him with 81 and 65 rushing yards, respectively.

Strother gave SIU a quick 7-0 lead when he broke free for a 62-yard touchdown just eight seconds into the game. He caught a McIntosh swing pass behind the line of scrimmage and ran down the near sideline to the end zone.

McIntosh completed 14-of-18 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown, as well.

SIU outrushed Southeast, 240-17, and held a 494-261 advantage in total offense. The Salukis averaged nearly eight yards (7.6) yards per play.

Scheible ran for a game-high 91 yards on nine carries, averaging 10.1 yards per attempt. He also completed 14-of-23 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. Scheible (3,522) moved to ninth all-time in career passing yardage at Southeast.

“Matt did a really good job,” said Samuel. “We just have to protect our personnel better."

In addition, Southeast ran just 55 offensive plays.

Defensively, Blake Peiffer registered a career-high 12 tackles to lead the Redhawks. Peiffer also had nine solo stops and forced a fumble.

Bryan Blanfort followed with nine tackles, a pass breakup and one forced fumble.

Kenneth Boatright led SIU with seven tackles.

Southeast returns to action when it travels to Purdue on Sept. 17. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m., CT. That game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.