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August 29, 2008

Indiana State falls 52-0 to Eastern Michigan in opener

By Todd Golden

Ypsilanti, Mich. — In the wildest dreams of Indiana State’s football players, coaches and fans, the first play of the Trent Miles era couldn’t have been better scripted. Kyle Monroe took the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown. Sycamores jumped up and down in a wild celebration on the sideline.

Alas, the yellow flag sitting near midfield in Rynearson Stadium woke the Sycamores up from their dream start in a hurry.

It never got any better for ISU after the near-touchdown — which was wiped out on a holding penalty behind the ball — as Eastern Michigan asserted its will on both sides of the ball for a 52-0 victory on Thursday in the season opener for both schools.

The Eagles, one of two Football Bowl Subdivision schools ISU plays this season, rolled up a school-record 637 yards in total offense, 413 yards of it on the ground. Running back Terrence Blevins rushed for 176 yards and two touchdowns. Starting quarterback Andy Schmitt was efficient, completing 15 of 20 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown.

While no one on the ISU sideline was happy with the outcome, realistic perspective was the prevailing postgame attitude.

Miles said he’s aware ISU improvement isn’t going to happen in the scope of one game, especially with a young team. To that end, Miles was focused on the small victories gained rather than the lopsided loss and believed that the mistakes ISU made were correctable and also had much to do with EMU’s experience and quicker players.

“I had to tell guys how to put their belts on the right way before the game. When you’re doing those things, you know right then and there you have an inexperienced football team,” Miles said. “We’re not fazed one bit by this. It doesn’t bother me. I understand the situation of the program. It didn’t get like this overnight, it isn’t going to get fixed overnight. We’re going to fight and we’re going to get better.

“This isn’t going to be one of these teams that, because this happened, it takes four or five weeks to get out of it. We’ll play the next game harder than we played this one. Hopefully, we’ll execute better.”

With starter Chuck Dowdell suspended for a game due to an unspecified team rule violation, redshirt freshman Matt Seliger started at quarterback for the Sycamores and played in the first three series. He ultimately completed 3 of 8 pass attempts for 8 yards. Fellow freshman Calvin Schmidtke came in from the fourth series on and went on to complete 4 of 15 passes for 49 yards and three interceptions.

“It was good to get a game under all of our belts. We didn’t play how we wanted to, but we’re going to learn from our mistakes,” Schmidtke said. “We have to keep working hard on everything. We need to improve in all aspects.”

Both quarterbacks sometimes forced passes or chose low-percentage options. Two’s of Schmidtke’s three interceptions were on prayers thrown downfield under pressure as ISU’s line struggled to protect both quarterbacks all night. In other words, it was a typical first-game performance against a team a level up from ISU.

“That’s what you see with young guys who have never played. They try to do too much. We just have to hone in on them and teach them the right things to do,” Miles said.

ISU’s most effective offensive option was running back Darrius Gates, who rushed for 61 yards on 10 carries.

“I’m disappointed we lost, but we did some good things. It was a learning experience. The good thing is the bad things we did are little things and they’re correctable,” Gates said.

EMU moved the ball effectively on its first series, forced into third down just once on an 8-play, 85-yard drive capped by a 3-yard Blevins run.

EMU’s second scoring drive was decidedly shorter. Blevins went up the middle, broke a tackle, and blazed through the secondary for a 61-yard touchdown run on the Eagles’ first play of their second drive and the Eagles led by two touchdowns just eight minutes into the contest.

“Things didn’t go the way we wanted, but you know what? There’s just one or two things that could have turned that score for the better. Just little things that we can get corrected. If we get them corrected, I’ll be shocked at how much better we’ll be,” ISU linebacker Jayden Everett said.

In the second quarter, EMU went for it on fourth-and-10 from the 33 and converted a 17-yard pass to Jacory Stone. Three plays later, Tyler Jones caught a 14-yard TD pass over the middle to make it 21-0. The Eagles marched at will on their next drive — a 10-play, 86-yard series — and scored on a 2-yard Dwayne Priest run to make it 28-0.

After Alex Sewall forced a fumble recovered by Donye McCleskey, ISU had its best drive of the night. Schmidtke engineered a 13-play, 78-yard drive that got the Sycamores to the EMU 8-yard line. ISU couldn’t get it in the end zone and Braulio Martinez’s field goal attempt was blocked with 5 seconds to go in the half.

EMU added two scores apiece in the third and fourth quarters as the Sycamore defense was on the field for an eternity. ISU’s offense — led by both Schmidtke and Seliger — only managed one first down in the second half.

ISU didn’t come away free and clear on the injury front. Sewall and wide receiver Koby Kraemer (hamstring) had to leave the game because of injuries; other players were dinged up, but their status was unknown at press time.

ISU has a week off before it plays at Eastern Illinois on Sept. 13.

“We didn’t quit. No one did that, no one pointed fingers. We did things [wrong] that can be corrected. We have a lot of young men who in two to three years are going to be making plays they didn’t make tonight. It isn’t going to be an eye-opener to go on the field for the first time. The speed of the game isn’t going to effect them as much, they’ve never seen anything like this,” Miles said.

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