2023 First Glance Preview: Week 2 Indiana State Sycamores
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Written by: Sammy Jacobs
Week Two: Indiana State Sycamores
Date & Time: Friday, September 8 at 7:00 pm
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, IN
TV: Big Ten Network
Sycamores at a Glance
Head Coach: Curt Mallory
Entering his 7th season as Indiana State head coach
Record at Indiana State: 19-37 (12-28 in Big Ten Conference)
Overall Record: 19-37
Last Season: 2-9 (1-7 in Missouri Valley)
Sycamores Returning Leaders
Passing: Cade Chambers– 65-of-146 (44.5%), 938 Yards 8 TD 3 INTs
Rushing: Justin Dinka– 895 Yards on 155 Carries 6 TDs
Receiving: Harry Van Dyne – 24 Catches for 284 Yards 2 TDs
Tackles: Geoffrey Brown (LB) 84 Tackles , 3.5 Tackles for Loss, 3.5 Sacks
Sycamores Preseason Predictions
Phil Steele: T-7th in Missouri Valley Conference
Impact Newcomers for the Sycamores
Justin Ramsey, DL (Ball State)
Biggest Questions Facing the Sycamores
Who starts at quarterback?
Can they keep up with a Power Five Program?
Program Preview
The Sycamores are lead by the son of Indiana’s all-time winningest coach Bill Mallory, Curt. He is entering his seventh season in Terre Haute, but has not found the success he would like with the Sycamores.
Indiana State is coming off a 2-9 season after three seasons (no season in 2020) that saw ISU win 17 games. However, the Sycamores are 0-6 against the Hoosiers and have not beaten a Big Ten team in their history and last made the FCS Playoffs in 2014. IU and Indiana State last played in 2014, a 28-10 Hoosier victory at Memorial Stadium.
Indiana State is a tough place to win and being an FCS team, there are always a few ‘cash for losses’ games on the schedule.
Offensive Preview
The Sycamores cycled through three quarterbacks in 2022 and never really had much success under any of them. The good news for Indiana State is that they have three experienced quarterbacks in Cade Chambers, Evan Olaes and Gavin Screws. I would not be surprised if all three got snaps against the Hoosiers.
The Sycamores’ strength on offense will be running the ball with All-MVFC running back Justin Dinka who ran for 895 yards last season. He gets the luxury of running behind two All-MVFC offensive linemen in Jose Vazquez and Keagen Trost. Tee Hodge is behind Dinka and ran for 319 yards in 2022.
Indiana State loses their leading receiver in Dante Hendrix (719 yards), but returns the next seven most productive pass catchers. Kevin Barnett averaged 13.3 yards per reception in 2022 and has good size at 6’4” and 200 pounds. Harry Van Dyne is a 6’5” receiver who made 24 cactches for 284 yards last season after coming in from Minnesota. If the quarterback has time to throw and get the ball to receivers accurately, this may be a sneakily good test for IU’s corners against big framed wide outs.
Defensive Preview
The Sycamores return their top five tacklers from a season ago including linebacker Geoffrey Brown and defensive back Rylan Cole who lead the team with 84 tackles each and combined for 9.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. Both also earned preseason All-Conference honors from Phil Steele.
There are more playmakers on the Sycamore defense that earned All-MVFC honors. Defensive lineman Gianini Belizaire, a Southern Illinois transfer, made 8.5 tackles for loss and five sacks for the Sycamores last season. Lucas Hunter is also back on the defensive line after an All-Conference performance is 2022. Linebacker Garrett Ollendieck was a MVFC All-Newcomer Team selection in 2022 after making 53 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss. Jonathan Edwards is also a playmaker on the back end for the Sycamore defense leading the conference in pass breakups with nine.
Even with all of the All-Conference performers, the Sycamores still surrendered 32.7 points per game. As with any lower division team it is the depth that separates them from the FBS. While ISU may have quality starters, can they keep up with the quality depth that IU has on offense?
Special Teams Preview
Indiana State special teamers also litter Phil Steele’s All-MVFC teams. Dakota Caton is a third-team All-MVFC kick returner and fourth-team punt returner after averaging 21.1 yards per kick return and has a career 14.3 yard per return average on punts. Caton is a player who can flip a game on its head if the opponents are not careful.
Punter Harry Traum is back after averaging a paltry 36.8 yards per punt on 51 attempts. Backup Anthony Beacom was much better on his 12 punts averaging 43.8 yards.
In total, the Sycamores only made 5-11 field goals on the 2022 season, something the contributed to their 2-9 record. Ryan O’Grady is back, but he struggled down the stretch and made only 4-of-9 field goals while Stephen Ruiz was not much better hitting one of two.