Indiana State Weekly Release
Illinois State Weekly Release
Missouri Valley Football Conference Weekly Release

Setting The Stage
Indiana State continues year two of the Trent Miles Era on Saturday, Oct. 17, as the Sycamores hit the road to take on Illinois State. Saturday's game is set for a 3:07 p.m. (ET) kickoff at the Hancock Stadium (15,000). The game can be seen live on Fox Sports Midwest as part of the Missouri Valley Football Conference's television package with Tom Ackerman, Danan Hughes and Erin Bajackson on the call. The game will also be carried live on ESPN Radio (1130 and 1300 AM), with Brian Fritz and Vaso Michels calling the action for the Nelligan Sports Marketing Radio Network. Action can be heard live worldwide on ESPNSportsRadio.com, and live stats are available at GoSycamores.com.

The Indiana State Head Coach
Indiana State is led by head coach Trent Miles, a 1987 ISU graduate and Terre Haute native. Miles made his head coaching debut last season against Eastern Michigan and carries a record of 0-18 into Saturday's game. Miles previously spent three seasons (2005-07) as the running backs coach at Washington and three years at Notre Dame (2002-04) as the wide receivers coach. Miles is 0-1 against the Redbirds, and is 0-11 against members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

The Illinois State Head Coach
Illinois State is led by head coach Brock Spack, who is in his first season at the helm of the Redbird program. Spack is 2-4 as a collegiate head coach, and this is his first meeting against Indiana State.

Scouting Illinois State
Illinois State is a member of the NCAA FCS Subdivision and competes in the MVFC. The Redbirds are 2-4 on the season, coming off 43-23 defeat at the hands of No. 6 Southern Illinois last week. Illinois State took a 27-24 victory on Oct. 3 at North Dakota State earlier in the month. The 'Birds are led in rushing by Geno Blow who has 87 carries for 334 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Matt Brown is 131-of-204 passing for 1,368 yards and six interceptions with seven touchdowns.

A Little History
This marks the 105th season of football at Indiana State, dating back to 1896. The University did not field teams from 1899 to 1900, 1908 or from 1910 to 1919. ISU owns an all-time record of 338-461-22 and is competing for the 24th consecutive season as a member of the MVFC.

What's Transpired
Indiana State opened the season with a 26-20 overtime loss against Quincy at Memorial Stadium. The game drew regional attention, as 7,216 fans were in attendance. The Sycamores bounced out to a quick 17-0 lead in the first quarter against the Hawks - ISU's largest lead over an opponent since 2004 -- but Quincy came back to knot the score at 20 with 43 seconds left in regulation. Darrius Gates paced the Sycamores with 102 yards on the ground and also threw a 75-yard touchdown pass as the offense showed spark early in the game.

ISU enjoyed its closest game against a member of the NCAA Division I FBS Subdivision since 2003 with a 30-10 loss at Louisville. Santino Davis recorded a pair of interceptions in falling to the BIG EAST opponent.

The Sycamores were shut out in their third contest of the season against Eastern Illinois by a 31-0 count. It marked the first time ISU was shut out by the Panthers since 1962 and their 95 yards of total offense was the Sycamores' lowest total since the 2003 campaign.

Indiana State battled tough at No. 18 South Dakota State in the first half, but it wasn't enough, as the Jackrabbits took it to the Sycamores late in the second quarter en route to a 41-0 win over ISU. ISU trailed just 3-0 in the waning moments of the first half, but a blocked punt and a touchdown with less than a minute remaining helped SDSU to the game's momentum and the eventual victory. Senior Donye McCleskey recorded a season-best 15 tackles in defeat, plus his first interception of the season. ISU was shutout in back-to-back games for the first time since the 1999 season.

The Sycamores were shutout for the third consecutive game, falling 28-0 to Youngstown State. The Penguins owned just a 7-0 lead in the fourth quarter as the Sycamores held YSU without a score for nine consecutive possessions and did not allow a first down to Youngstown in third stanza. Indiana State went over the 100-yard mark in total offense, but were not able to reach pay dirt, falling to 0-2 in league play.

Indiana State defensive tackle turned fullback Rod Hardy got the Sycamores on the board in the third quarter of the Northern Iowa contest to break a 17-quarter streak without scoring a touchdown. The Sycamores fell to No. 3 nationally-ranked Panthers on Oct. 3 by the score of 62-7.

BARRELLING IN
Indiana State debuted a new jumbo package against No. 3 Northern Iowa in the Sycamores' last game before the open week and the benefactor was Rod Hardy, who has started all six games this season at defensive tackle. Hardy, who recovered a UNI fumble to give the Sycamores a short field offensively, plunged into the end zone to give ISU its first offensive points since the second game of the season at Louisville. Hardy was the first ISU player since 2005 to score an offensive touchdown despite starting the game on defense. Josh Jones scored on a pass reception that season against Western Kentucky in a game in which he also started at linebacker.

Top Two Tacklers In The MVFC
Indiana State senior defensive back Donye McCleskey continues to have an extremely solid season for the Sycamores, leading the team with a 9.5 tackles for game average. That figure also ties McCleskey for top tackling honors in the league with fellow Sycamore and redshirt freshman Aaron Archie. McCleskey set a season-high with 15 total tackles at South Dakota State while Archie's top total came with 12 stops against Youngstown State and UNI. Not to be left in the shuffle is sophomore Alex Sewall, who is averaging 8.8 tackles per game which ranks sixth-best in the league.

Return To Sender
Indiana State has been solid in special teams, as the punt return squad ranks 25th nationally with an 10.78 yards-per-return average. That mark is good enough for second in the MVFC. Individually, Darrius Gates is averaging 28.62 yards per kickoff return which is second in the league and eighth-best nationally. As a team, the Sycamores average 19.91 yards per kick return, which is 68th nationally and in a league which boasts some of the best special teams in all of the FCS Subdivision, is fifth in the MVFC.

Facing The Best
The Sycamores face have already faced a pair of nationally ranked foes this season, both on the road, at South Dakota State and Northern Iowa. ISU has not beaten an opponent in the Top 25 since downing No. 19 Western Illinois on Oct. 23, 1999. The Sycamores are 8-68 all-time against FCS nationally-ranked opponents, including a mark of 6-49 against league members that are nationally ranked. Indiana State's next two opponents, Illinois State & Western Illinois, are not expected to be nationally ranked.

We Are Mostly...Young
Of the 84 players on the current Indiana State roster, a total of 65 student-athletes are underclassmen -- or just over 76 percent. There are 38 true or redshirt freshmen on the roster currently. A total of 19 student-athletes have seen their first collegiate action this season, including 18 true or redshirt freshmen.

Few Seniors
Indiana State has just 10 players on its roster who are seniors. Of those, Mike Woods and Elliott Thomas are fifth-year seniors, while Donye McCleskey, Jeramie Gray, Jerry Calvert, Dan Millington, Pat Burke, and Bill McGrath are in their fourth year. Antoine Brown and Gabe Mullane transferred into the Sycamore program and are in their final season as well. Indiana State has the fourth fewest seniors on a 2009 roster nationally.

Working Overtime
The Sycamores have played in 11 overtime contests since the rule was established for regular season games in the NCAA FCS Subdivision in 1996. The Sycamores are 6-5 in games that have used an extra period, including a 33-30 overtime win over Eastern Illinois in 2004.

DEFENSE...DEFENSE
The Sycamore defense held Youngstown State to just seven points into the fourth quarter, continuing to improve as the season progresses. In fact, the defense did not surrender a first down in the entire third quarter against the Penguins. The Sycamores forced YSU into nine consecutive drives without surrendering a score, spanning from the 5:37 mark of the first quarter until the 10:03 mark of the fourth.

Sycamores vs. the Missouri Valley Football Conference
Indiana State is in its 24th season as a member of the MVFC. ISU's first season as a league member came in 1986 when it went 1-5 through a six-game league schedule. The Sycamores are 39-109 in MVFC contests and have lost each of their last 20 league matchups. ISU's last victory over a member of the league came on Oct. 21, 2006 against Missouri State (28-22). The Sycamores' last road victory over a MVFC opponent came on Nov. 9, 2002 at Southern Illinois, a 21-14 ISU victory.

Flood Gates Open
Junior tailback Darrius Gates opened the season against Quincy by rushing for a team-best 102 yards on 11 carries. He closed out the 2008 campaign against Missouri State by rushing for 237 yards on 29 attempts en route to being named the MVFC Offensive Player of the Week. His performance in the season finale of 2008 against the Bears coupled with the effort versus the Hawks, makes Gates the first Sycamore to record back-to-back 100-yard single-game rushing performances since Jake Shields accomplished the feat in the first two games of 2003 (127 at Ball State; 213 vs. Florida International). To add to his success on the ground, Gates also completed a 75-yard TD pass to Bryant Kent in the first quarter against Quincy, which was the second pass completion of his career (both have gone for touchdowns).

Up Next ...
Indiana State returns home to face off against Western Illinois on October 24. Kick-off for the annual Homecoming contest is set for 3:00 p.m. (ET).