Setting The Stage
The Indiana State Sycamores continue year two of the Trent Miles Era on Saturday, Sept. 5, with the first road game of the season at Louisville. Saturday night's game is set for a 7:30 p.m. (ET) kickoff at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (42,000). The game will be carried live on ESPN Radio (1130 & 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 game will be televised live in Louisville on WHAS-11, but not in the Wabash Valley nor on the Internet.

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 0-13 into the road opener at Louisville. 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 has never faced the Cardinals as a head coach, but was a senior member of the 1984 Sycamore squad that downed Louisville by a score of 44-21. This is Miles first meeting against a team from the BIG EAST.

The Louisville Head Coach
Louisville is coached by third-year skipper Steve Kragthorpe, who is 11-13 at Louisville. Kragthrope is 40-35 in eight seasons as a head coach. Kragthorpe coached former Missouri Valley Conference member Tulsa from 2003-2006. He is 1-3 all-time against members of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, but Saturday night's game is his first against Indiana State.

Louisville Scouting Report
Louisville is a member of the NCAA FBS Subdivision and competes in the BIG EAST Conference. Saturday's game against ISU is the season opener for Louisville. The Cardinals return 15 starters and 48 letterwinners from last season's 5-7 team, including eight starters on offense. Louisville is 48-55-3 all-time in season openers, including a 1-1 mark under Kragthorpe's guidance.

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 338-456-22 and is competing for the 25th 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.

For Road Openers
Indiana State opened the season last week against Quincy, but will play its first road game of the season against Louisville. The Sycamores are 27-50-7 in their first road game of the season, but are looking to earn an opening road win for the first time since 1984 -- a 44-21 win at Louisville. Indiana State has opened the road portion of the season twice before in the series with the Cardinals: a 0-0 tie in 1940 and a 44-21 ISU victory in 1984.

We Are Mostly ... Young
Of the 85 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 16 student-athletes saw their first action in a Sycamore uniform versus Quincy, including 11 true or redshirt freshmen.

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 last week 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). With another 100-yard rushing performance this week against Louisville, Gates would be the first Sycamore since David Wright in 1993 to post at least three consecutive games going over the century mark on the ground. The school record for consecutive 100-yard rushing games is 10 - held by Derrick Franklin from 1991 until 1992. 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).

Dog Days Of August
Indiana State's season opener on Aug. 27 against Quincy was not only the earliest in all of NCAA Division I football this season, it was also the earliest in the history of the program. The Sycamores are 2-8 in their 10 previous games during the month of August. In fact, the Sycamores won their first two August contests (in 1995 and 1996 against Mars Hill), but have lost their last eight played during the month, including last week's 26-20 overtime loss against Quincy. ISU is 2-3 at home in the month of August, with the Quincy game being the first in that month at Memorial Stadium since Aug. 31, 2000 in a 42-24 defeat at the hands of Eastern Illinois.

Working Overtime
The Sycamores have played overtime in each of the past two contests, dating back to last season. The Sycamores concluded the 2008 campaign with a 27-24 overtime loss to Missouri State and began the 2009 season in much the same way with a 26-20 overtime defeat at the hands of Quincy. Those two games are the first time in the history of the program that the Sycamores have played in back-to-back overtime contests since the rule was enacted in 1983at the NCAA FCS level.

Preseason Selections
Senior defensive back Donye McCleskey and sophomore defensive back Alex Sewall were Indiana State's selections on the 2009 Preseason All-MVFC Team chosen by the league's head coaches, media members and SID panel. McCleskey was named All-MVFC Honorable Mention last season and was a co-MVP for the Sycamores. He posted 98 total tackles last season, including 53 total stops. In the conference opener against Illinois State, McCleskey was credited with a career-high 17 total tackles. Known as a big-play defensive threat, he recovered a fumble and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown at Youngstown State. McCleskey had four games in which he recorded at least 10 tackles, including 13 against South Dakota State, 11 in the season finale versus Missouri State, 10 at Western Illinois and the season-best 17 versus the Redbirds.

Sewall was named to the All-MVFC Honorable Mention team last season and was also a member of the MVFC All-Newcomer squad. He was ISU's top newcomer on defense with 90 total tackles, including 52 solo stops. Sewall posted a season-best nine tackles in five different contests: at Eastern Illinois, at Northern Illinois, South Dakota State, at North Dakota State and in the season finale versus Missouri State.

Sycamores Place Two On MVFC All-Select NFL Team
Tunch Ilkin and Vencie Glenn were named to the MVFC's All-Select NFL Team, as announced by the league office. Ilkin was an offensive lineman for Indiana State who graduated in 1979. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers from 1980 until 1993. He played 176 career games for the Steelers over his 14-year NFL career. Ilkin has continued as a radio color commentator for the Steelers since his playing career ended.

Glenn graduated in 1985 and played for the New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants from 1986-95. He played in 153 career games with 35 interceptions.

Up Next
Indiana State returns home to face Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 12 at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for Noon (ET).