TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State closes out the 2025 season at home this weekend as the Sycamores host Murray State on Saturday, November 22, inside Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET and will be carried live on ESPN+ and 105.5 The Legend.
 
Game Day Activities and Promotions
2025 Senior Day
Indiana State football will recognize and honor the 2025 Senior Day Class in a pregame ceremony on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The Senior Day ceremony is set to begin at 12:35 p.m. as the Sycamores honor a 28-man senior class on the field.
 
Senior Poster Giveaway
Indiana State Athletics will have 300 commemorative posters on hand and will give out to fans at the front gates, honoring the 2025 Sycamore football senior class.
 
Buy One, Get One
Indiana State Athletics is featuring a 2-for-1 ticket promotion for the Saturday game against Murray State. Fans who purchase one ticket to the Indiana State football game on Saturday afternoon, will receive a voucher for a free upper-level ticket to Saturday night's men's basketball game against Ball State starting at 7 p.m.
 
Game Day Raffle
Indiana State Athletics will hold raffles throughout the game with fans able to receive and win a variety of Under Armour prize packs and Sycamore Gear. Fans can receive their raffle tickets at the main entrance gate
 
Clear Bag Policy
Indiana State Athletics clear bag policies are in effect for the 2025-26 athletic year. The policies are consistent with other members in both the Missouri Valley Conference and Missouri Valley Football Conference.
 
Notes
About the Matchup
Saturday marks just the 12th meeting all-time between Indiana State and Murray State dating back to their inaugural matchup in 1990. The Sycamores topped the Racers in the first meeting, 52-0, in Terre Haute and are 5-2 all-time inside Memorial Stadium against Murray State.
 
The home team is usually favored over the series history with Indiana State holding a 5-2 record in Terre Haute, while Murray State is 3-1 all-time in Murray, Ky. Indiana State's 31-27 win last season on October 12, 2024, ended a three-game Murray State winning streak that spanned 2005, 2006, and 2023.
 
Indiana State and Murray State have split the last 10 games in the series with a 5-5 record over the contests. The Sycamores held a three-game winning streak from 2002-04, while Murray's most recent streak occurred over 2005, 2006, and 2023.
 
Murray State joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference as a full member prior to the start of the 2023 season.
 
Last Time Against Murray State
Rocco Ciocca took the handoff from Elijah Owens and rumbled through the Murray State goal-line defense for the go-ahead touchdown with 11 seconds remaining as Indiana State topped the visiting Racers last season on October 12, 2024, at Memorial Stadium, 31-27.
 
The Sycamores put together the game-winning touchdown drive with 1:57 remaining in the contest after Murray State connected on James London's 25-yard field goal to put the Racers ahead 27-24. Owens targeted Rashad Rochelle on back-to-back passes to move the ball to midfield, before Shen Butler-Lawson broke out with a 32-yard carry to move the ball down to the Murray State 1. Three plays later, Ciocca went through the left side and into the end zone for the go-ahead score in the win.
 
Owens went 25-of-34 through the air for 218 yards to highlight the Indiana State passing attack. The Jacksonville, Ill. native connected with nine different receivers on the afternoon with Rochelle the primary recipient hauling in eight catches for 53 yards. Ethan Chambers (47 yards), BJ Wuest (34 yards), and Plez Lawrence (26 yards) all recorded three catches on the day.
 
The Sycamores utilized a four-pronged rushing attack on the afternoon highlighted by Butler-Lawson's season-high 68 yards on seven carries. Owens added 46 yards and a touchdown on 13 attempts, while Devin Nelson (10 carries, 39 yards) and Lawrence (seven carries, 35 yards, touchdown) added to the Sycamores' 188 rushing yards on the afternoon.
 
Garret Ollendieck recorded his fourth double-digit tackling effort of the 2024 season as the senior linebacker posted a game-high 12 stops in the contest. He added a season-high 2.5 tackles-for-loss in the win. Kendrick Milford posted five tackles and added to his team sack lead (4.5) with a solo quarterback takedown in the contest. The Sycamores broke up six passes overall on the day highlighted by Jorge Valdes' three.
 
Scouting Murray State
Murray State heads into the weekend matchup sitting with an 0-11 record on the season, 0-7 in Missouri Valley Football play. The Racers are 0-6 away from Murray, Ky. this season with conference losses at South Dakota, Youngstown State, and Northern Iowa. The Racers are coming off a 35-17 loss to his past weekend at home to No. 13 North Dakota as Murray State was unable to hold on to a 9-7 halftime lead in the loss to the Fighting Hawks.
 
Murray State quarterback Jim Ogle paces the Racers' offense with 1,767 yards and nine touchdowns, while posting 13 interceptions on the season. Running backs Jawaun Northington (543 yards, four TDs) and Jordan Washington (333 yards, two TDs) lead the Murray State rushing attack on the ground.
 
Wide receiver Darius Cannon is one of the most targeted players in the NCAA FCS. The junior leads the MVFC with 6.18 receptions per game, while posting 57 receiving yards per contest. He has added three touchdowns.
 
Defensively, safety Dylan Rowsey leads the nation in solo tackles per game (7.45) and is tied for the MVFC total tackle lead with Indiana State's Kimal Clark with 129 stops on the year. Bryan Pulley leads the MVFC and is seventh in the FCS in passes defended per game at 1.27. The Murray State defense is currently 126th in FCS in Third-Down Conversion Defense (58.6%) and 126th in Fourth-Down Conversion Defense (53.6%).
 
Special teams is a major strength for the Racers with Murray State sitting 14th in the NCAA in net punting (39.92) thanks in part to Valley leader Thomas O'Hara's 43.7 yards per attempt average.
 
Chasing History
Indiana State senior safety Kimal Clark is chasing history on Saturday afternoon as the Lackawanna, N.Y. native moved into the top 20 all-time in Sycamores' single season standings. Clark has recorded nine double-digit tackling games over the 2025 season, including a career-high 19 tackles on November 8 against Illinois State. He is currently tied with Murray State's Dylan Rowsey with 129 tackles, averaging 11.7 tackles per game on the year.
 
Clark's 129 tackles puts him tied for ninth all-time in Indiana State history with Aaron Archie (2012) and Quintin Mikell (1983). Another double-digit tackling effort on Saturday would put him inside the top six all-time in program history.
 
Indiana State Single Season Tackle Marks
171 – Dietrich Lapsley (2002)
161 – Craig Shaffer (1980)
156 – Marty Murray (1976)
147 – Tony Pryor (1998)
145 – Chris Libaire (1995)
137 – Marty Murray (1975)
132 – Mike Bandy (1999)
132 – Jonas Griffth (132)
129 – Kimal Clark (2025)
129 – Aaron Archie (2012)
129 – Quintin Mikell (1983)
 
Mr. 200
Rashad Rochelle accomplished something that had not been done in the Missouri Valley Football Conference since 2021, or at Indiana State since 2017 as the senior wide receiver went over the 200-yard receiving mark this past Saturday at Youngstown State. The Springfield, Illinois native had a first-half to remember, hauling in three passes for 163 yards and three touchdowns, on his way to a six-catch, 224-yard, three TD day against the Penguins.
 
Rochelle's 200-yard effort marked the first 200-yard receiving game in the MVFC since Western Illinois' Dennis Houston had 237 yards in the 2021 season against Ball State. The senior wide receiver's 224-yard game marked the fourth-highest in school history and first since Bob Pugh recorded 260 receiving yards against Liberty on Sept. 16, 2017.
 
Indiana State 200-yard Receiving Games
319 yards – Bill Griffith vs. Evansville (1955)
260 yards – Bob Pugh at Liberty (2017)
253 yards – Chris Johnson vs. Illinois State (1986)
224 yards – Rashad Rochelle at Youngstown State (2025)
 
Rochelle has been on fire over the last month of the season with 534 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns over the last four games. He is currently third in the Valley in all-purpose yards (128.9), third in receiving yards per game (74.3), third in receiving touchdowns (8), and second in yards per catch (19.05).
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on Sycamore Football, visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.