In his 2nd season at Indiana State, Mike Sanford has led the Sycamores to their first FCS playoff appearance since 1984. ISU finished 7-5 and 4-4 in the Missouri Valley, the top FCS Conference this season. In non-conference games, Indiana State won at FBS Ball State, a member of the MAC. This means ISU has as many FBS wins as UNLV. The Sycamores also beat Liberty, which finished 8-4, won the Big South auto-bid and are headed to the playoffs. This was only the 3rd time in 29 years of playing in the MVFC that Indy State has won 7 games overall. Also, just the 4th time the team has won 4 Conference games in a single season. To put it bluntly, Indy State has long been the doormat of the MFVC
In the MVFC, the Sycamores beat Northern Iowa (8-4/6-2 a perennial playoff team in the playoffs again this year). Both UNI and Indy State played 2 FBS schools in their 4 game OOC schedules.
The losses for Indy State were at Indiana, 20-18 at Illinois State(11-1/7-1..MVFC Co-Champs and #5 seed in FCS playoffs)...34-17 at 3 time defending FCS Champion North Dakota State(11-1/7-1..MVFC Co-Champs and #2 seed in playoffs..won at Iowa State to start season), South Dakota State(8-4/5-3 and at-large playoff team), and the loss this past weekend at WIU.
Indiana State(8-4) plays at Eastern Kentucky at 1pm Eastern, this Saturday on ESPN3.
EKU(9-3/6-2 OVC), finished 2nd in the OVC, and won at FBS Miami, OH this season. This will be the 3rd playoff appearance for ISU, with the other 2 coming in 83 and 84. It will be the 21st playoff appearance for EKU, but only the 3rd time since 1997... T
he FCS playoffs started in 1978 with 4 teams, and now have 24 teams. 11 Auto Bids for Conference Champions and 13 at-large bids. Top 8 seeds get a first round bye. EKU played in the National Championship Game in 79,80,81,82, winning the Title in 79 and 82. Georgia Southern is the all time leader in NC's at the FCS level with 6... Youngstown State is next with 4... North Dakota State has 3, having won the last 3 years in a row App State also has 3, winning in 05,06 and 07.... NDSU moved to FCS in 2008... Montana and Marshall each have 2 FCS National Titles
Indy State passes alot. Their QB, Mike Perish is a Senior and transfer from Western Michigan. He led the MFVC in passing yards per game at 268 yards. Threw for 17 TD's and only 8 INT's and 2,957 yards, a new school record.... Indy State also has a quality RB in Buck Logan, a Senior who gained 743 yards on 143 carries.
Indiana State has a relatively young team... On offense only 7 players on the 2 deep roster are Seniors. On defense, there is only ONE Senior on the 2 deep chart. Only ONE Senior on 2 deep chart for Special Teams, and he is one of the Seniors on the 2 deep chart for offense. So, only 8 Seniors on this years team.
Indiana State finished 3rd in all of FCS in TO Margin at +12... They finished 9th on TO's gained with 37. I watched Indy State play YSU. They do not do anything that wows you. The possible exception could be creating TO's, limiting their own TO's, and then turning the TO's created into points. They also play very, very hard, and are a well conditioned team. The key for ISU is the TO margin. In this weekend loss, Indy State threw 4 INT's that WIU turned into 28 points, while WIU had ZERO TO's... In the win over YSU, Indy State won the TO battle 4-1, and outscored YSU 14-0 on pts of TO's.... ISU outscored their opponents 112-52 in pts of TO's.
In the MVFC, the Sycamores beat Northern Iowa (8-4/6-2 a perennial playoff team in the playoffs again this year). Both UNI and Indy State played 2 FBS schools in their 4 game OOC schedules.
The losses for Indy State were at Indiana, 20-18 at Illinois State(11-1/7-1..MVFC Co-Champs and #5 seed in FCS playoffs)...34-17 at 3 time defending FCS Champion North Dakota State(11-1/7-1..MVFC Co-Champs and #2 seed in playoffs..won at Iowa State to start season), South Dakota State(8-4/5-3 and at-large playoff team), and the loss this past weekend at WIU.
Indiana State(8-4) plays at Eastern Kentucky at 1pm Eastern, this Saturday on ESPN3.
EKU(9-3/6-2 OVC), finished 2nd in the OVC, and won at FBS Miami, OH this season. This will be the 3rd playoff appearance for ISU, with the other 2 coming in 83 and 84. It will be the 21st playoff appearance for EKU, but only the 3rd time since 1997... T
he FCS playoffs started in 1978 with 4 teams, and now have 24 teams. 11 Auto Bids for Conference Champions and 13 at-large bids. Top 8 seeds get a first round bye. EKU played in the National Championship Game in 79,80,81,82, winning the Title in 79 and 82. Georgia Southern is the all time leader in NC's at the FCS level with 6... Youngstown State is next with 4... North Dakota State has 3, having won the last 3 years in a row App State also has 3, winning in 05,06 and 07.... NDSU moved to FCS in 2008... Montana and Marshall each have 2 FCS National Titles
Indy State passes alot. Their QB, Mike Perish is a Senior and transfer from Western Michigan. He led the MFVC in passing yards per game at 268 yards. Threw for 17 TD's and only 8 INT's and 2,957 yards, a new school record.... Indy State also has a quality RB in Buck Logan, a Senior who gained 743 yards on 143 carries.
Indiana State has a relatively young team... On offense only 7 players on the 2 deep roster are Seniors. On defense, there is only ONE Senior on the 2 deep chart. Only ONE Senior on 2 deep chart for Special Teams, and he is one of the Seniors on the 2 deep chart for offense. So, only 8 Seniors on this years team.
Indiana State finished 3rd in all of FCS in TO Margin at +12... They finished 9th on TO's gained with 37. I watched Indy State play YSU. They do not do anything that wows you. The possible exception could be creating TO's, limiting their own TO's, and then turning the TO's created into points. They also play very, very hard, and are a well conditioned team. The key for ISU is the TO margin. In this weekend loss, Indy State threw 4 INT's that WIU turned into 28 points, while WIU had ZERO TO's... In the win over YSU, Indy State won the TO battle 4-1, and outscored YSU 14-0 on pts of TO's.... ISU outscored their opponents 112-52 in pts of TO's.
