2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team

2018 Indiana State Sycamores football
2018 Indiana State Sycamores football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
Ranking
FCS Coaches	No. 25
Record	7–4 (5–3 MVFC)
Head coach	Curt Mallory (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Jeff Hecklinski (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Brad Wilson (2nd season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team represented Indiana State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Curt Mallory and played their home games at Memorial Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 7–4, 5–3 in MVFC play to finish in a tie for third place. Despite being ranked in the top 25 at the end of the regular season, they were not selected to participate in the FCS Playoffs.

2018 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^	8	–	0	15	–	0
No. 3 South Dakota State ^	6	–	2	10	–	3
No. 23 Northern Iowa ^	5	–	3	7	–	6
Indiana State	5	–	3	7	–	4
Western Illinois	4	–	4	5	–	6
Illinois State	3	–	5	6	–	5
Youngstown State	3	–	5	4	–	7
South Dakota	3	–	5	4	–	7
Missouri State	2	–	6	4	–	7
Southern Illinois	1	–	7	2	–	9

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Preseason edit

Preseason MVFC poll edit

The MVFC released their preseason poll on July 29, 2018, with the Sycamores predicted to finish in last place.^[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	390 (39)
2	South Dakota State	270
3	Northern Iowa	258
4	Youngstown State	248
5	Illinois State	248
6	South Dakota	206
7	Western Illinois	163
8	Southern Illinois	139
9	Missouri State	90
10	Indiana State	41

Preseason All-MVFC Teams edit

The Sycamores placed six players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.^[2]

Offense

2nd team

Jerry Nunez – K

Defense

2nd team

Inoke Moala – DL

Derrek Tuszka – DL

Jonas Griffith – LB

Katrell Moss – LB

Rondell Green – DB

Schedule edit

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	Quincy*	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 49–0	6,243
September 8	7:00 p.m.	at Louisville*	Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ACCN Extra	L 7–31	44,520
September 15	7:00 p.m.	at Eastern Illinois*	O'Brien Stadium Charleston, IL	ESPN+	W 55–41	6,420
September 27	7:00 p.m.	No. 23 Northern Iowa	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	L 0–33	5,487
October 6	7:00 p.m.	at No. 3 South Dakota State	Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium Brookings, SD	ESPN+	L 51–54 ^OT	10,318
October 13	2:00 p.m.	Missouri State	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	L 26–29	6,721
October 20	3:00 p.m.	at Southern Illinois	Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	ESPN+	W 24–21	6,435
October 27	2:00 p.m.	at Youngstown State	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	W 43–17	10,870
November 3	1:00 p.m.	South Dakota	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 51–48 ^3OT	5,816
November 10	1:00 p.m.	No. 23 Illinois State	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	W 28–23	4,016
November 17	2:00 p.m.	at Western Illinois	Hanson Field Macomb, IL	ESPN3	W 15–13	1,813
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Source: 2018 Schedule

Game summaries edit

Quincy edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hawks	0	0	0	0	0
Sycamores	14	7	14	14	49

At Louisville edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	7	0	0	0	7
Cardinals	7	0	7	17	31

At Eastern Illinois edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	17	14	14	10	55
Panthers	20	0	7	14	41

Northern Iowa edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Panthers	3	6	14	10	33
Sycamores	0	0	0	0	0

At South Dakota State edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	10	7	7	24	48
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	14	21	6	48

Missouri State edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	7	14	0	8	29
Sycamores	0	10	7	9	26

At Southern Illinois edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	7	7	10	0	24
Salukis	7	0	0	14	21

At Youngstown State edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	3	13	7	20	43
Penguins	7	3	7	0	17

South Dakota edit

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	3OT	Total
Coyotes	7	7	7	10	7	7	3	48
Sycamores	14	7	0	10	7	7	6	51

Illinois State edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Redbirds	10	0	7	6	23
Sycamores	0	21	0	7	28

At Western Illinois edit

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	3	6	3	3	15
Leathernecks	3	0	10	0	13

Ranking movements edit

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	25	RV
Coaches	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	RV	24	22	25

References edit

[1] "North Dakota State Picked to Win 2018 MVFC Title".

[2] "Preseason All-Conf and Team (PDF) - Missouri Valley Football Conference" (PDF).

[1]

[2]