Gameday
Stadium: Stambaugh Stadium (20,630)
Sycamore Radio: ESPN Radio 1130/1300 AM
Play-By-Play: Brian Fritz
Analyst: Pete Emmert
Series Information:
Series Record: Youngstown State leads 16-1
Last Meeting: ISU 7, YSU 40 (11/03/07 at ISU)
Last ISU Win: ISU 13, YSU 6 (10/28/95 at YSU)
Current Streak: Youngstown State has won the last 11 games in the series between the two schools and 16 out of 17 contests overall in the series history.
Setting The Stage
Indiana State (0-9, 0-5 MVC) will play its final road game of the season today, when it takes on Youngstown State (2-8, 1-5 MVFC) on Senior Day at Stambaugh Stadium in Youngstown, Ohio. The Sycamores are coming off one of their better games of the season, a 34-7 loss to #24 North Dakota State last Saturday at the Fargodome in Fargo, N.D. ISU allowed a season-low 247 yards of total offense to NDSU, including just 98 yards through the air to the Bison. The Penguins are coming off a wild 54-44 loss at Illinois State last weekend at Hancock Stadium in Normal, Ill. The 44 points scored were the most in a road loss in school history and marked the first time the Penguins had scored 40-or-more points in a defeat since 1992 (52-49 to James Madison). Last year in Terre Haute, YSU earned a 40-7 victory and in 2006 the Penguins picked up a 55-17 victory in the last meeting between the two teams at Stambaugh Stadium.
An Indiana State Win Over Youngstown State Would ...
* Snap the Sycamores' 23-game losing streak, dating back to a 28-22 Homecoming victory over Missouri Valley Football Conference rival Missouri State in 2006.
* Give the Sycamores their first win over YSU since 1995, when the Sycamores defeated the Penguins by a score of 13-6 in Youngstown, Ohio, under head coach Dennis Raetz.
* Give Indiana State its first conference win since 2006, when the Sycamores defeated Missouri State, 28-22, on Homecoming in front of a big crowd at Memorial Stadium.
* Give Indiana State its first conference road win since 2002, when the team defeated Southern Illinois by a score of 21-14 at McAndrew Stadium in Carbondale.
* Give Indiana State its first win on the road since 2004, when it defeated Eastern Illinois, 33-30, in overtime at O'Brien Stadium in Charleston.
* Give Trent Miles his first collegiate head coaching victory and first at ISU.
The Indiana State Head Coach
Indiana State is led by first-head head coach Trent Miles, a 1987 graduate of ISU as well as a native of Terre Haute, Ind. Miles made his debut as a collegiate head football coach on against Eastern Michigan and will be looking for his first victory at Indiana State. Prior to coming to ISU, Miles spent three seasons (2005-07) as the running backs coach at Washington under head coach Tyrone Willingham and three years at Notre Dame (2002-04) as the wide receivers coach.
The Youngstown State Head Coach
Jon Heacock is in his eighth season (52-39) at Youngstown State, his only stop as a collegiate head coach. In the past three seasons, Heacock has led the Penguins to 26 wins, two Gateway Football Conference (now Missouri Valley Football Conference) championships and a semifinal berth in the 2006 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. For his efforts, Heacock has twice been named the Gateway Football Conference Coach of the Year (2005 & 2006), was named the 2006 American Football Coaches Association FCS Region Four Coach of the Year and was also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award in 2006, which honors the top coach in the FCS.
Youngstown State Scouting Report
The Penguins (2-8, 1-5 MVFC) are coming off a wild 54-44 loss at Illinois State last weekend in Normal, Ill. YSU's 44 points were its most in a road loss in school history and it marked the first time the Penguins scored 40-or-more points in a defeat since 1992 (52-49 to James Madison). Junior quarterback Brandon Summers tossed a school-record-tying four touchdown passes and threw for 347 yards - the fourth-highest single-game total in school history - against the Redbirds. Summers leads the way on offense for YSU, averaging nearly 150 yards per game through the air with 13 touchdown passes. On defense, strong safety Brandian Ross leads the way with 79 total tackles while adding 3.5 tackles for loss, a half of a sack, one interception and three pass break-ups on the season.
The Last Time Out Against Youngstown State
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The Indiana State Sycamores (0-10, 0-5) dropped their regular-season home finale against Youngstown State (6-4, 2-3) by a score of 40-7 at Memorial Stadium on a sun-drenched afternoon in front of 2,540 fans. Indiana State scored its lone touchdown on the day on a fumble recovery by center Jack Byrne in the third quarter to cut the YSU advantage down to 26-7 .
Staying Tough With The Bison
Heading into Saturday's game against No. 24 North Dakota State, the Sycamores had given up a total of 105 points in their last two games. However, against the Bison the Sycamores defense rallied and allowed the Bison just 20 points in the first half and a total of just 34 in the game overall. That point total was the teams lowest since it gave up 24 points in a loss to Southeast Missouri State on Sept. 27 at Memorial Stadium. In addition, ISU allowed just 247 yards of total offense to the Bison, which was a season low for any opponent.
Brown Finds The Endzone
Running back Antoine Brown has been a solid addition for the Sycamores this season and he continued to prove that on Saturday against #24 North Dakota State. The transfer from Kentucky ran for a season-high 70 yards and a touchdown for the Sycamores, which proved to be the team's only points of the day. He now has two rushing TD's on the season, which leads the team.
Moving To The Head Of The Class
Quinton Scott and Jayden Everett have become a tremendous linebacking tandem for the Sycamores this season, often trading spots at the top of the team's tackle list. On Saturday, Scott regained that honor for the Sycamores as he collected a team-high 16 tackles against the Bison. Six of those tackles were solo stops and he added a half tackle for loss, which gives him 3.5 TFL's on the season.
Pulling Out All The Stops
With the Indiana State offense needing to get on the scoreboard against South Dakota State, head coach Trent Miles dove into his playbook and pulled out a special scoring play to give ISU its first points of the day. On the team's first possession of the third quarter, the Sycamores had the ball at the SDSU 42 yard line on 1-and-10. Freshman Ryan Roberts took the snap from center and the pitched the ball to running back Darrius Gates. Gates then stopped in the backfield and tossed a 42-yard strike to wide receiver Jeramie Grey that gave the team its first points of the day.
Return To Paydirt
The Sycamores picked up two points in an unconventional way against South Dakota State. Early in the fourth quarter, the Jackrabbits scored a touchdown on a six-yard pass to make the score 35-7 at that time. However, on the extra point attempt, senior Dan Millington leaped up and blocked the Kyle Harris kick which allowed Larry Carter to scoop the ball up and return it all the way for two points for the Sycamores.
Young Guns
Of the 53 players that saw action for the Sycamores in the season opener at Eastern Michigan, a total of 34 of those players were seeing their first-ever collegiate action of any kind. ISU started five players on offense, one newcomer on defense, plus one more on special teams against the Eagles.
