When it came to things that went wrong for the Indiana State football team in the second half of its season finale against North Dakota State on Saturday the ground was pretty definitively covered.
The ISU offense? Not evident. The Sycamore defense? Not present. The special teams? Not special.
The fireworks? Yes, even the fireworks failed in the Sycamores’ 56-17 loss to NDSU at Memorial Stadium — a salvo was accidentally fired off after the first of the Bison’s four second-half touchdowns.
The pyrotechnic ignominy was just one more grain of salt added to the deep wounds NDSU administered to the Sycamores in a poor second-half performance that ends the season on a sour note.
“It hurts a lot, just like it has after every loss. But spring ball isn’t there this time, so it really hurts a lot,” said ISU senior defensive end Daniel Millington, one of eight Sycamore seniors to finish their careers.
Had ISU won, the Sycamores (1-10, 1-7) would have finished no worse than sixth place in the conference. ISU will now finish in seventh place with Western Illinois having a mathematical shot of tying them for the spot.
“It’s frustrating, especially being a defensive guy. We’ve done well shutting down the run all year. We were missing a lot of tackles and not coming out as hard as we have the last 10 weeks,” Millington said.
The Bison — who made their first visit to Terre Haute after joining the conference in 2008, and who had a sizable contingent of fans on hand — quickly put ISU back on its heels and never completely relinquished momentum.
The Bison (3-7, 2-5) ran the ball down the Sycamores’ throats, amassing 294 rushing yards and 464 yards of total offense overall. That total doesn’t include NDSU’s 248 return yards. All told, NDSU had 712 total yards.
“They went through us like a hot knife through butter. They ran up and down the field on us,” ISU coach Trent Miles said. “That’s what was surprising to me. [The defense] had been consistent most of the season. I thought today [NDSU] would run it down our throat and we’d stop the run the way we had been, but it didn’t happen.”
NDSU tailback Pat Paschall, the nation’s leading FCS rusher, did nothing to hurt his NFL stock. He rushed for 129 yards, had four touchdowns, and averaged 8.1 yards per carry. Paschall had 97 of his yards by the end of the first quarter as the Bison had a 14-3 lead.
“Coach [Craig] Bohl stressed all during the week that it was going to be a dogfight. They’re a scrappy team. If you let them get up on you, we could be in trouble. We came in with the idea we wanted to get started on them early,” Paschall said.
However, ISU’s offense hung in there with the Bison, matching scoring drive for scoring drive. Quarterback Ryan Roberts capped a 10-play, 69-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown dive over the top to make it 14-10 early in the second quarter. After Paschall scored the third of his four touchdowns, ISU responded with a quick drive in response, as Antoine Brown serpentined 42 yards on a touchdown run to make it 21-17 with 2:22 left in the half.
Brown had 111 rushing yards, he was one of the few bright spots for ISU.
That’s where ISU’s competitiveness ended. NDSU responded with a textbook two-minute drill as Matt Veldman’s 9-yard touchdown catch made it 28-17 with less than a minute to go in the half. Having a two-possession lead at the break meant a lot to the Bison, who wanted to take away any hope the Sycamores might have been brewing.
“It meant a lot to us. It showed us that we could score when we wanted to score,” NDSU quarterback Jose Mohler said.
Familiar disaster struck the Sycamores to start the second half. ISU got the ball to midfield before it had to punt. ISU punter Gabe Mullane was pressured and NDSU’s Brock Goin got a hand up to swat Mullane’s punt nearly 40 yards behind the scrimmage line. NDSU’s Kevin Jackson swooped up a gift fumble recovery at the ISU 4 and strolled in for an easy touchdown to make it 35-17.
It is the fourth time this season ISU has had a punt blocked in its own territory that led to a short field for an opponent’s touchdown. It is the second time a punt block directly resulted in a touchdown.
From that point, ISU was listless. NDSU scored touchdowns on its next three drives. By contrast, ISU managed just 67 yards of offense and three first downs after the break.
“It seemed to me we weren’t lining up right. There was a lot of mental mistakes. There were a few where they were just better than us in the hole, they just made us miss,” Miles said. “Our kids never quit, but when things go wrong, they continue to snowball.”
The only spark came when NDSU faked a punt late in the fourth quarter as punter John Prevlitz gained a first down on 4th-and-1, which led to anger from the ISU sideline. Bohl apologized to Miles after the game. Apparently, Prevlitz called an audible when he saw an open lane in ISU’s coverage.
The priority for ISU in the off-season is obvious ... find more talent that can immediately help the program.
“We’ll start working out Monday. We’ve got to get bigger, faster, stronger and we have to get more recruits in here. Our coaches need to do a great job recruiting. We have to have a better understanding of what we’re doing scheme-wise, so we don’t have the communication problems and not lining up right,” Miles said.
Last season, ISU suffered heartbreak in its finale when Missouri State scored on the last play of regulation to force a tie before it won in overtime. ISU suffered a much more definitive loss to end its season this year, but seniors like Millington didn’t have their confidence shaken.
“It’s sour for us because we don’t get a chance to redeem ourselves, but we take a lot of pride in what we’ve taught these younger guys to play hard. We taught them what it means to guys like us to play here. We have all the faith in the world they’ll come back strong and keep working,” Millington said.
College
ISU football ends season on sour note
Sycamores finish 2009 with 1-10 record
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Indiana State connects on all 12 of its 3-point shots vs. SIU and sets three NCAA records in process
When you’re a shooter and you’re in a slump, the boilerplate cure is to summon amnesia, forget about your struggles and keep on shooting.
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ISU's Webb wins heptathlon
Indiana State’s Robert Webb captured the heptathlon Saturday at the Grand Valley State Big Meet as he totaled the second most points in ISU history while dominating the event. Webb scored 5,140 points, which is second only to former Sycamore Anthony Bertoli’s 5,189 points in 2008.
Webb, a senior, established three more personal best efforts enroute to the overall victory as he ran 8.45 in the 60 meter hurdles and 2 minutes, 50.73 seconds in the 1,000 meters while also clearing 13-1 1/2 in the pole vault. Webb entered the second day of the event in the lead with 2,893 points after winning three of the four Friday events and setting personal bests in the long jump and shot put. -
Perfect game: ISU shoots NCAA record 12-for-12 from 3-point range in win over SIU
Indiana State set an NCAA record for 3-point percentage and consecutive 3-pointers made Saturday afternoon in Hulman Center, connecting on all 12 attempts during a 78-68 win over Southern Illinois.
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‘Frustrated’ Sycamores regroup to face Southern Illinois
Indiana State’s men’s basketball struggles have hit one Sycamore senior hard.
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Thomas nets double-double as ISU women end losing streak
The halftime speech is one of the most time-worn clichés in sports, but once in a while, it’s meaningful. It certainly was for the Indiana State women’s basketball team on Friday against Bradley.
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Sycamore women looking to snap six-game losing streak
The Indiana State women’s basketball team is in dire need of a victory in Hulman Center this weekend.
Bradley visits Terre Haute tonight looking to sweep the season series from the Sycamores, who are in jeopardy of the program’s first seven-game losing streak since the 1995-96 season.
“I think it should [add to motivation]. There’s no doubt that group in the locker room in there is very disappointed,” Coach Teri Moren said. “As I keep saying, we’re in a rough patch right now, and there’s no group of kids that wants to get right back on track more than they do.” -
Leonard dominates in first half, but IU, Zeller earn the victory
The first half belonged to Illinois’ Meyers Leonard.
The win belonged to Indiana and Cody Zeller.
The 23rd-ranked Hoosiers (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten) took advantage of a glaring free-throw discrepancy to defeat the Illini 84-71 on Thursday. -
Rose women roll; Dickerson becomes all-time assists leader
Rose-Hulman senior Alisa Dickerson became the college’s career leader in assists as the Engineers cruised past Defiance 60-33 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball Saturday afternoon in Hulbert Arena.
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MVC’s worst a tantalizing option for ISU
Even though the Indiana State men’s basketball team has played better of late, having won three of its last four games, there’s only one team with a worse record in the Missouri Valley Conference standings than the Sycamores.
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Sycamores can’t stop Stutz, Shockers
All or nothing. It was that kind of game for Wichita State center Garrett Stutz. Unfortunately for Indiana State’s men’s basketball team, the “all” came in the second half.
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McWhorter’s fortunes rise with ISU’s
More so than any other Sycamore, Steve McWhorter might embody the decline and the recent rise of the Indiana State men’s basketball team.
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Johnson dominates again for ISU track
Felisha Johnson continued to dominate women’s weight throw while two Indiana State hurdlers moved into today’s finals after solid performances in the preliminaries Friday at the Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame.
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Indiana State women lose at Illinois State
Playing short-handed again, Indiana State’s women suffered their sixth straight Missouri Valley Conference basketball loss Friday night, falling 78-67 to host Illinois State.
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Indiana, Purdue meet with both looking to regain momentum
Indiana University’s stint in the Top 25 may be coming to an end. Purdue is just looking for a winning streak.
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ISU women looking to end five-game losing streak at Illinois State
Within a few points in the final minutes, Indiana State had chances to win women’s basketball games at Missouri State and Wichita State last weekend.
But the Sycamores lost for the fourth and fifth straight games, also losing freshman Jessica Valley for the season at Wichita State. The promising backcourt player tore the ACL in her right knee and began strengthening exercises this week in order to make plans for surgery. -
ISU Senior Day game to be televised on ESPN
The Missouri Valley Conference announced Thursday that Indiana State’s regular season finale against No. 12-ranked Creighton on Feb. 25 in Hulman Center has been chosen as the MVC’s “wild card” game that will be telecast on either ESPN or ESPN2.
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Hoosiers load up on in-state players
With a 1-11 record in his first season as IU football coach, Kevin Wilson knew there were a lot of holes to fill in terms of personnel.
- Wabash Valley verbal commitments
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It’s on: Sycamores, Bulldogs to play at Hinkle on Feb. 18
How badly did Indiana State want to get Butler as its BracketBusters opponent?
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METRO ROUNDUP: Four from Rose receive weekly honors
Four Rose-Hulman athletes earned Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference weekly honors, the HCAC announced Monday.
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Hoosiers reclaim needed offensive momentum
Indiana hadn’t allowed an opponent to shoot better than 40 percent in three straight games heading into Sunday’s home game against Iowa.
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Sycamores will have to match Aces’ toughness
Indiana State men’s basketball coach Greg Lansing has an enduring respect for the toughness Evansville coach Marty Simmons coaxes out of his Purple Aces.
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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Rose, The Woods post weekend victories
Rose-Hulman relied on a balanced scoring attack and a strong defensive effort to earn a 55-44 women’s basketball victory Saturday over Mount St. Joseph.
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ISU's Stacia Weatherford sets school record in 60-meter hurdles
Indiana State junior Stacia Weatherford set the school record in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, while sophomore Greggmar Swift dominated the action in the men’s 60 hurdles during competition Saturday at the Indiana Relays.
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Rose takes first in Engineer Track and Field Invitational
Rose-Hulman relied on nine event victories, 13 top-two finishes and three school records for a strong performance at the ninth annual Engineer Track and Field Invitational on Saturday.
The men’s squad captured first place honors in a meet that featured two of the nation's top 20 NCAA Division III squads and 12 institutions from seven states. The day’s competition also included 10 meet records. -
Mattox’s 31 not enough for ISU women
Indiana State pulled within 63-57 with a 6-0 run with 8 minutes, 50 seconds remaining Friday night at JQH Arena, but the Sycamores lost 84-70 to host Missouri State in a Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball game.
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Mattox, Sycamores staying positive on road trip to Missouri State, Wichita State
Indiana State seniors Brittany Schoen and Deja Mattox are within striking distance of passing 1,000 points in their women’s basketball careers, and they would join classmate Shannon Thomas in that club. Schoen needs just 16 points, while Mattox is 89 points away.
But Mattox has been on a roll of late, scoring a team-high 15.1 points through ISU’s 4-3 start to Missouri Valley Conference play. -
IU triumphs
When Indiana’s Will Sheehey left the floor after receiving his second technical foul, the Hoosier fans cheered.
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ISU women nipped at buzzer
Creighton sophomore Carli Tritz — blanketed by Indiana State senior Brittany Schoen — had just two points at halftime Friday in Hulman Center.
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ISU needs to find chip on its shoulder
When one looks back at the totality of Indiana State’s 2010-11 men’s basketball season, there’s a recurrent theme that tied together the high points in a 20-14 campaign. A recurrent theme that might give ISU a lifeline in what has been a disappointing 2012 season.
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