ISU Sycamores set for battle at No. Illinois this weekend

TERRE HAUTE, IN (9-23-2006) – The Indiana State Sycamores continue year two of the “Lou West Era” on Saturday, Sept. 23 when they travel to Northern Illinois for its second contest of the year against a NCAA Division I-A member. Today’s contest is set for a 2:05 p.m. (CT) kick at NIU’s Brigham Field (28,000). Today’s game will carried live on ESPN Radio 1130 & 1300 in the Terre Haute area. Brian Fritz and Pete Emmert will call the action once again for the WTWO NewsChannel 2 Radio Network. The game can also be heard live on www.USA-365.com. Today’s game is also being televised regionally on Comcast Chicago. Dave Kaplan, Tom Waddle and Jim Blaney will call the action live for television.

A Little History: This is the 102nd season of college football at Indiana State University, dating back to 1896. The university did not field teams from 1899-1900; 1908 or from 1910-1919. ISU owns an all-time record of 337 wins, 425 losses and 22 ties on the gridiron. Indiana State is competing for the 22nd consecutive season as a member of the Gateway Football Conference.

Against NCAA Division I-A: Today’s game against Northern Illinois is the second of a pair of games for the Sycamores against NCAA Division I-A opposition. Indiana State opened the season against Big Ten Conference foe Purdue on September 2. ISU is 53-109 against teams that currently play I-A football. The most wins versus any member of that group is the 23 that the Sycamores own over Ball State. The last time the Sycamores defeated an NCAA I-A team was in 2001, when ISU won at Eastern Michigan by a score of 21-14.

Playing In All Directions: Today’s game against Northern Illinois is the second in a series of road contests that will take the Sycamores to all four corners of the state of Illinois in 2006. This season ISU lost at Eastern Illinois, 31-21, plays Northern Illinois today, travels to Southern Illinois next week, and will travel to Western Illinois on Nov. 4.

The Indiana State Coach — Indiana State head coach Lou West is 0-14 with the Sycamores as a collegiate head coach. Today’s game is his first career matchup with Northern Illinois. Coach West is returning to DeKalb, Ill., to face off against his first Mid-American Conference foe as a head coach, after spending 2001-2004 as defensive coordinator at Toledo (another member of the MAC). West was also at MAC schools in 1994 with Kent State and in 1984-85 with Western Michigan.

The Northern Illinois Head Coach — Northern Illinois is led by Joe Novak, who is in his 11th season as the Huskies’ head coach. Novak is 55-62 with NIU. He spent 12 seasons as the defensive coordinator at Indiana, where he helped the Hoosiers to six bowl appearances. NIU has been to one bowl under Novak, the 2004 Silicon Valley Classic. He is 2-3 against members of the Gateway Football Conference with NIU. All three of his defeats have come at the hands of Western Illinois.

The Series — A long dormant series between Indiana State and Northern Illinois is resumed today at Brigham Field in DeKalb, Illinois. The two programs have not met on the gridiron since Indiana State walked away with a 28-10 victory in Terre Haute during ISU’s 1976 Homecoming contest. The Sycamores have won each of the last three meetings in the series to hold a 5-3 mark versus the Huskies. In DeKalb, ISU owns a 1-3 record. NIU’s last win versus Indiana State came in 1973, a 42-24 game. Indiana State and Northern Illinois first met during the 1926 season, a 3-0 NIU victory.

The Injury Report — Out for today’s game are WR Markus Naves (foot) and WR Bryant Kent (neck). Probable for today’s game is RB Darrius Gates (shoulder), PK Kyle Hooper (knee), LB Andy Jones (chest) and WR Ben Schmidt (foot).

The Scouting Report — Northern Illinois is a member of the Mid-American Conference West Division and play their home contests at Brigham Stadium in DeKalb, Ill. The Huskies posted a 7-5 record in 2005, reaching the MAC Championship Game. This season, NIU is 1-2, dropping contests to NCAA Division I-A No. 1 Ohio State as well as MAC foe Ohio. The Huskies picked up their first victory of the season over Buffalo (31-13) one week ago. The Huskies are led by senior tailback Garrett Wolfe, who is quickly climbing the Husky and MAC career rushing yardage lists. Wolfe has posted 630 yards on the ground with four touchdowns scored in just three contests so far this year.

What’s Transpired — Indiana State started off the 2006 campaign with a valiant effort at Purdue on September 2. Although the Sycamores fell to the Big Ten Boilers by a count of 60-35, Indiana State trailed just 26-21 at the half, and were within five points (33-28) late in the third quarter. In the season’s second game, the Sycamores led No. 20 Eastern Illinois by a score of 9-3 at the half, but could not prevail as the Sycamores fell 31-21 to the Panthers in week two. ISU trailed Murray State by a score of 31-14 in week three at the half, and grabbed control of the momentum in the third quarter to get within 31-26, but Murray scored the game’s next 21 points en route to a 59-40 Racer victory.

Kickoff from DeKalb, Ill., is set for 2:05 p.m. (CDT) and will be regionally televised by Comcast Sports Chicago. Live Internet Radio coverage on www.USA-365.com begins at 1:40 p.m., CDT / 2:40 p.m., EDT.