Wasn’t a lot of blitzing in long passing yard situations. Some cover 2, but mainly cover 3 is what you saw. McKendree had a O line, and at times, open up some big lanes for their backs. They had 2 quality backs in my opinion. Get them in the film room, work on the mistakes, especially on defense.
Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
McKendree Game Thread (8/28/25 @ 6PM)
- Thread starter Sycamorefan96
- Start date
WANTED: Passionate Sycamore Fanatics. That You?
Register NOW to join our community of die-hard Sycamore fans.
Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
WhenSycamoresWereIndians
The Sycamore Level
Yes
How we looked in the second half against a D2 opponent is how we should have looked against them all game. I would not take anything from that second half as indicative of what they will look like agaisnt a real team.
Murray State is the only remaining game we are favored in currently.
If they have a first half like that against a real team it won't matter how the second half looks because they'll be down 30+ the the half.
Can we stop running that dumb play where the tailback goes up behind a guard, stops, and three seconds later we hand the ball off to him? That never works.
bent20
The Odum Level
I used to be a diehard supporter of this team. How little do I care now? Checked in tonight and didn't even realize we already played last night. Was slightly relieved to learn we at least won.
Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
Pacercolt99
The Blue Level
For those of you who have been watching ISU since the late 70's like myself, it is obvious the Sycamores have been left behind the other teams we used to be competitive with. The stadium is way below average. The coaching is always suspect. I will not blame the players because at least they are here and I believe they all want to win. Terre Haute is not a football town. How many of you realize Terre Haute is the largest city in Indiana that has never won, or even played, in an IHSAA state championship? The problems with the football program are complex and difficult to correct. Heck, even the band is weak. (Coming from a former Marching Sycamore from the mid-70's when we marched 200 instruments and got standing ovations AT Ball State and a Bengals game.) I could not believe they marched in t-shirts and shorts last Saturday. I presume due to the low 80 degree temps with low humidity which dropped to the 70's before the game ended,someone decided to go the high school look. Geesh! I watched probably all of, or parts of, a dozen games...not one band did not wear their uniforms. There are not even 100 members in the band this year. I know complaining about the band is not a priority to the readers of this forum, but I believe it is a big part of the overall experience of collegiate football and a good collegiate band has a big place in tthe atmosphere. Somewhere along the line, the ISU music department has forgotten they are to be a collegiate band and not a high school band. Looks like I will spend my time watching a quality program again this season - Wabash College. The one hour drive to watch the mess at Memorial Stadium is just not worth it. My hope is that we now have a president and A.D. that understand what a good football program looks like. I hope they can somehow figure out how to make the needed changes.
The problems aren’t too complex. But they’re deep and institutional. I’m going to refer to certain prior administrators and BOT members as “they.”
—They probably kept Raetz too long.
—They did untold damage when they botched the clandestine attempt to go non-scholarship in the early 2000s.
—Fuel to the fire was the Lou West hire (hey that rhymes!).
—Sanford up and leaving on that whim with his son hurt.
—Playing in a one-sided stadium is just embarrassing. It’s a laughing stock. But they won’t do anything about it and didn’t do anything about Hulman Center until they absolutely, positively had to.
—Extending Mallory may not pan out and was a questionable call at the time. The last two years were the easiest schedules ISU will ever see as MVFC members and he still couldn’t win let alone make the playoffs.
—Sanford and Miles proved you CAN win at ISU.
—Agree T.H. isn’t a football town but you can still draw 5000-6000 when they’re winning.
So:
—renovate or replace the stadium.
—If Englehart has a big year and ISU goes sub-.500 buy out Mallory and bring Steve in to excite and energize the alumni and locals. If Presby has a winning season someone may very well snatch him up as he will have proven he can build a D1 FCS program from scratch (at a school with only 1000 undergrads no less). He just beat #11 Mercer at Mercer.
—Keep raising money and work the portal. I just read there are a bunch of folks that have joined the ISU Investor Society and the Capital Campaign was a success. The money is there.
—And no one expects to beat IU/Purdue but get to the point where you put a scare into them like Sanford and Miles did (I’m still pissed at the PI no-call at IU all those years ago. Would’ve beat them).
—Be in the playoff discussion every other year or so.
If Mallory can beat EIU, take the IU paycheck, not get embarrassed at Montana, and win four MVFC games I would say the program is finally on an upward trajectory. Anything less? See my Englehart plan, above.
Well written!
It’s hard to get 6,000 fans when your enrollment is only hovering around 6,000 students. Funding for the football program requires student athletic fees and our enrollment needs to be addressed first. Even with an enrollment at 12,000 we would need a sugar daddy, or two, to resurrect football.
This is a dream. We need a plan
Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.
What part is so far-fetched to make you say that?
Great post. Steve should have been hired last time around. Quite a few of us advocated for him to no avail. State has this uncanny ability to look past their own alumni for positions.
One thing that I cannot stress enough is fans need to start donating if they want to program to remain. You can't just be a passive fan anymore. Before the drop football narrative really emerged, I tried to explain this (pre NIL environment) and people sat on their wallets. Even when other schools have down years or bad periods, their die hards are keeping the money coming to help assist in rebounding.
—renovate or replace the stadium. - not sure where the funds would come for this. I can't imagine a complete rebuild or enormous reno costing any less than $50m these days. where would you even put a new stadium? and if we renovate Memorial we are still 3 miles away from. Investing that much $$$$ in a sport that has such an uncertain future (talking FCS football and landscape in general) seems like a bad game
—If Englehart has a big year and ISU goes sub-.500 buy out Mallory and bring Steve in to excite and energize the alumni and locals. If Presby has a winning season someone may very well snatch him up as he will have proven he can build a D1 FCS program from scratch (at a school with only 1000 undergrads no less). He just beat #11 Mercer at Mercer. - This is the most logical part of the post. Englehart looks like he'd be a good/realistic hire
—Keep raising money and work the portal. I just read there are a bunch of folks that have joined the ISU Investor Society and the Capital Campaign was a success. The money is there. - What money? what portal? how much money are we talking here? us sycamorepriders seem to have a pretty good grasp on the college basketball NIL landscape but in all honesty I haven't seen one post that even hints at what a FCS playoff roster costs? let alone a quarterback, running back, linebacker, lineman, etc. I haven't seen a single figure on what they are getting at the FCS level.
—And no one expects to beat IU/Purdue but get to the point where you put a scare into them like Sanford and Miles did (I’m still pissed at the PI no-call at IU all those years ago. Would’ve beat them). agree here
—Be in the playoff discussion every other year or so. ideally yes, we are in playoff contention every year. But history suggests that that is just borderline impossible at ISU and in all honesty even if we are in playoff contention what does that do for the university? FCS has turned into a money drain and creates a strain on the entire athletic department. 95% of college football fans (every division) couldn't tell you who won the FCS national title last year without looking it up. FCS is just in a horrible position and ISU is positioned horribly in FCS
3ColumnsOf11
The Sycamore Level
Clinkscales being gone puts Englehart back in play, but if he gets Presbyterian in/near the playoffs this year, he'll likely have better opportunities.
Gotta Hav
The Wade Level
And 96% of all college football fans couldn't instantly tell you who won the FBS Title last year, or who won it the year before. And 99.9% of all Track and Field and CC fans couldn't tell you won those Titles last year either. And 99% of college Baseball fans couldn't tell you won the ncaa title for that sport this year and that was just recently! And it's 99.999% of all fans who follow ncaa women's sports couldn't name one school champ for any women's sports. Heck, and if we're such a diehard basketball school not one person on this board or 99.9% of all ncaa men's basketball couldn't instantly recite who won the title last year, or the last two or five men's titles without looking that info up either. So in comparison, your 99.5% claim about who's following FCS titles is actually very complimentary.
Become a Supporting Member to remove this ad and help support the site.