TERRE HAUTE — The shoe finally dropped for the Indiana State football team when it broke its 33-game losing streak with a 17-14 victory over Western Illinois last Saturday.
Life went on as the Sycamores practiced this week in preparation for today’s home game against Southern Illinois, but there was a clear sense among the team that it had finally marked progress on its way to respectability.
“It meant a lot, especially for the older guys who haven’t won in a while. The confidence level among the guys is much higher than its been. Attitudes have changed. People can see that we can win now, so that’s how we want to continue to come off,” ISU senior cornerback Mike Woods said.
When it was suggested to fullback Brock Lough that the impact of the victory couldn’t have had too dramatic effect on practice, he disagreed.
“It was kind of dramatic change. We feel a lot more confident. We know we can win and we know how to win, in the past, that was one of our problems, we never knew how to win. We have a great opportunity to shock the world this weekend, though it wouldn’t shock us,” Lough said.
Knowing how to win is one thing. Sustaining wins is the next step.
“The coaches have talked about that a lot. They’ve been asking us all week, ‘Now that we’ve had success, how do we handle it?’ They’ve been challenging us this week to learn how to handle it,” Lough said.
Lough was a big part of why ISU was able to drive the field on the Leathernecks. As the lead blocker in ISU’s successful quarterback power play, Lough got the timing just right to create room for quarterback Ryan Roberts, who rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
Timing is everything when it comes to Roberts’ running, something Lough quickly realized.
“We go over that play a lot with coach [Trent] Miles in practice. We do a lot of drills working on our footwork. We rep it to the point where it’s just muscle memory in the game as far as the timing of it. It’s a difficult play, because you have to relax first, to get to the hole right, then you have to go hard,” Lough said.
Lough missed three weeks in September due to a knee injury suffered at Louisville, but his return his helped the Sycamore offense as its been able to be more physical than it was without the Terre Haute native.
“He’s getting better each week and understanding the system. He’s a great person and he does everything right. He’s getting bigger and stronger and his best days are ahead of him,” Miles said.
• No. 3 Salukis visit Memorial Stadium — ISU will have difficulty trying to begin its first winning streak since 2004 as No. 3 Southern Illinois presents a much tougher task than Western Illinois did a week ago.
The Salukis (6-1, 5-0) have an 11-game conference win streak, the second-longest in league history. SIU has the 11th-best offense in the nation (ISU, despite its recent improvement, is still last in the nation at 171 yards per game).
SIU has built on its win streak the hard way, winning 27-20 at Northern Iowa on Oct. 17. After the Salukis face the Sycamores, they have what could be a showdown for league supremacy at South Dakota State next Saturday.
SIU won’t have starting quarterback Chris Dieker, who is out until the FCS playoffs with a broken left clavicle he suffered last Saturday in SIU’s 27-8 win at Youngstown State. Dieker’s left arm was in a sling when the Salukis arrived for a walk-through at Memorial Stadium on Friday afternoon. Dieker had thrown for 1,272 yards and 10 touchdown passes.
He will be replaced by redshirt freshman Paul McIntosh, a transfer from Army who has completed 12 of 17 pass attempts in three games this season.
Last week, ISU put pressure on Western Illinois redshirt freshman Wil Lunt and had success unsettling him in two key late possessions. With SIU running back Deji Karim (1,026 yards, 146.6 per game, best in the MVFC) leading a potent Saluki running attack, the Sycamores will have to choose wisely if they blitz McIntosh.
“I see a lot of running the ball so they can protect their young quarterback. When they pass, I envision a bunch of quick, three-step routes,” Woods said. “Once we get them into passing situations, we’ll pressure and see if we can get him to make mistakes like we got [Lunt] to make mistakes last week.”
ISU has had no significant injuries since its bye week. Miles said the team is healthier than it has been all season.
ISU should also have numbers on their helmets again this week, a new look the Sycamores introduced last Saturday.
Today’s lineups
Indiana State offense Southern Illinois offense
Pos Player Ht. Wt. Yr. Pos. Player Ht. Wt. Yr.
WR Larry Lacotti 5-10 175 Jr. WR Joe Allaria 6-2 195 Jr.
WR Bryant Kent 6-0 155 Jr. WR Jeff Evans 6-0 185 Jr.
LT Josh Jellison 6-5 280 Jr. LT David Pickard 6-5 290 So.
LG Mike Smith 6-3 310 So. LG Blake Brunner 6-5 280 Sr.
C FN Lutz 6-3 275 Fr. C Bryan Boemer 6-2 305 So.
RG Ben Geffert 6-3 285 So. RG John Purdy 6-4 315 Sr.
RT Evan Borchers 6-2 295 So. RT Shawn Smith 6-4 280 Sr.
TE Alex Jones 6-3 235 So. TE Ryan Kernes 6-3 235 Sr.
QB Ryan Roberts 6-4 215 So. QB Paul McIntosh 6-2 205 RFr.
RB Antoine Brown 5-9 200 Jr. RB Deji Karim 5-11 200 Sr.
FB Brock Lough 5-11 215 Fr. FB John Goode 6-2 225 So.
PK Braulio Martinez 5-11 185 So. PK Kyle Dougherty 5-10 177 Jr.
Indiana State defense (4-3) Southern Illinois defense (3-4)
Pos Player Ht. Wt. Yr. Pos. Player Ht. Wt. Yr.
DE Dan Millington 6-2 260 Sr. DE Dolapo Adubifa 6-2 260 Sr.
DT Rod Hardy 6-2 295 So. DT Chris Arthurs 6-0 295 Sr.
DT Nate Brown 6-0 260 Sr. DE Chance Coda 6-2 240 So.
DE Ben Obaseki 6-3 235 Fr. SLB Chauncey Mixon 6-1 215 Sr.
SLB Jacolby Washington 6-1 235 Fr. OLB Fred Wright 5-10 200 Sr.
MLB Aaron Archie 6-0 230 Fr. ILB Ryan Patton 6-1 220 Sr.
WLB C.J. Cook 6-0 230 So. ILB Brandin Jordan 5-11 230 Sr.
CB Larry Carter 6-0 185 So. CB Brandon Williams 5-10 180 Sr.
CB Mike Woods 5-10 185 Sr. CB Korey Lindsay 6-0 190 Jr.
SS Alex Sewall 6-1 210 So. SS Marty Rodgers 5-10 190 Sr.
FS Donye McCleskey 6-0 215 Jr. FS Mike McElroy 6-1 205 Jr.
P Gabe Mullane 6-2 190 So. P Scott Ravenesi 6-0 196 Sr.
ISU-SIU at a glance
The matchup — The Indiana State Sycamores play host to the No. 3-ranked Southern Illinois Salukis in a Missouri Valley Football Conference game.
Kickoff — Noon today.
Site — Memorial Stadium
Broadcasts — TV: Gosycamores.com. Radio: ESPN radio 1130-AM, 1300-AM
Records — ISU 1-7, 1-4 MVFC, SIU 6-1, 5-0 MVFC.
Last game — ISU defeated Western Illinois 17-14 and SIU beat Youngstown State 27-8 last Saturday.
Coaches — Trent Miles (1-18) is in his second season at ISU. Dale Lennon (15-4) is in his second season at SIU.
Series — ISU leads 23-22. It is the only MVFC series the Sycamores currently lead. ISU last defeated SIU in 2002. ISU’s last winning streak occurred in 2004, when the Sycamores won four in a row.
Injuries — For ISU, TE Garrick Dikos (foot) and LB Santino Davis (wrist) are out. For SIU, QB Chris Dieker (arm) is out.
— Todd Golden
College
ISU football's running game follows Lough’s lead
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