Ace Hunt
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Eric Heidorn has been named a College Sporting News National All-Star one day after sharing the Missouri Valley Football Conference Special Teams Player Of The Week honor with redshirt freshman Aaron Killebrew. The Sycamores also moved up two spots in both national polls and will face its sixth nationally-ranked opponent this Saturday in the regular season home finale.
Heidorn, a junior placekicker from Avon, Ind., hit a go-ahead field goal of 30 yards with 2:06 remaining against Missouri State and after the Bears answered with a 41-yard field goal of their own, the Sycamores found lightening in a bottle with 42 seconds remaining.
Killebrew, who drew national notoriety this week for his part in a hidden ball kickoff return, set the Sycamores up with a short field at the MSU 38. After four plays from scrimmage, Heidorn finished off the Bears with a 38-yard field goal which proved to be the game winner as he put Indiana State ahead 20-18 with six seconds on the clock.
The hidden ball kickoff play continues to be an internet sensation this week as video of the play has over 1.1 million views less than 48 hours after it happened.
Meanwhile the Sycamores are ranked No. 17 in this week's The Sports Network FCS Top 25 Poll. It marks the sixth consecutive week that Indiana State has appeared in the national poll -- just one week shy of the school-record seven the Sycamores spent in the Top 25 during the 2012 campaign. North Dakota State remains No. 1 while Youngstown State is up to No. 10. Illinois State is No. 12 and the Sycamores are No. 17. Northern Iowa rose to No. 19, while South Dakota State rounds out the MVFC representation at No. 22.
In The FCS Coaches Poll, the Sycamores are No. 19, up two spots from last week. Seven MVFC teams are ranked by the coaches, a poll which has seven teams ranked. NDSU is the unanimous No. 1 while Illinois State is ranked No. 12. Youngstown State checks in at No. 13, Indiana State is No. 19, Northern Iowa is No. 20, South Dakota State is No. 22 and Southern Illinois is No. 24.
No. 17/19 Indiana State hosts No. 22 South Dakota State on Saturday, November 8. The Jackrabbits are the sixth nationally-ranked foe to face the Sycamores in the last seven weeks. It will mark the fifth time this year that Indiana State will be featured in a battle of nationally-ranked FCS opponents. Entering the 2014 season, that had happened just seven times since joining the MVFC 29 seasons ago. Kick-off is set for 1:05 p.m. (ET) inside Memorial Stadium. It is the regular season home finale for the Sycamores.
Notes:
Indiana State junior linebacker Connor Underwood recorded 1.5 quarterback sacks this week in the 20-18 victory over Missouri State to set a new Sycamore career record in that category with 26. He passed Kyle Mitchell's mark of 25.5 for the new school standard. Underwood is averaging 7.4 tackles per game to rank tied for 11th in the league. Underwood is third in the league in quarterback sacks per game with a 1.11 average, a mark which ranks eighth nationally. He has 11 total sacks for a loss of 47 yards. He also has 19.5 tackles for a loss this year which is tops in the MVFC and ranks fifth in FCS football. Underwood has 47 tackles for a loss in his career and needs only 7.5 more to tie Kyle Mitchell's school record of 54.5.
Mike Perish enters week 10 of his senior season, and his third season as the Sycamore starting quarterback, ranked second all-time in career passing yards with 5,267. For his career he is 583-of-826 for 5,267 yards and 39 touchdowns. Perish needs just one more touchdown pass to tie Jeff Miller (1982-85) for career touchdowns thrown at 40 and will need 1,181 more through the remainder of his senior season to top Miller's current mark of 6,448 passing yards.
The Indiana State Sycamores currently stand at 6-3 with a 3-2 record in Missouri Valley Football Conference play. With one more victory the Sycamores will have their seventh victory of the season – a mark just twice (1995 & 2012) in 29 seasons of MVFC play. The Sycamores would also have their fourth league win – a mark achieved just four times (1988, 2010, 2011, 2012 since joining the conference. Indiana State won a school record five MVFC games in 2012.
