2019 Indiana State Sycamores football team

The 2019 Indiana State Sycamores football team represented Indiana State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-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 5–7, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in seventh place.

2019 Indiana State Sycamores football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
2019 record	5–7 (3–5 MVFC)
Head coach	Curt Mallory (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Michael Switzer (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Brad Wilson (3rd season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 12,764)

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					16	–	0
No. 5 Northern Iowa ^		6	–	2					10	–	5
No. 7 Illinois State ^		5	–	3					10	–	5
No. 10 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Southern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	5
South Dakota		4	–	4					5	–	7
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Youngstown State		2	–	6					6	–	6
Missouri State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Western Illinois		1	–	7					1	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

Main article: 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team

The Sycamores finished the 2018 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.

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Sycamores were predicted to finish in fourth place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	392 (32)
2	South Dakota State	348 (4)
3	Illinois State	289 (3)
4	Indiana State	279 (1)
5	Northern Iowa	266
6	South Dakota	176
7	Youngstown State	153
8	Western Illinois	128
9	Southern Illinois	89
10	Missouri State	80

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Sycamores had five players selected to the preseason all-MVFC team.[2]

Offense Ryan Boyle – QB Dante Hendrix – WR Wyatt Wozniak – OL Jerry Nunez – K

Defense Jonas Griffith – LB

Preseason All–American team

The Sycamores had one player, Jonas Griffith – LB, selected to the preseason All-American team. Griffith was also named to the Buck Buchanan Award-watch list.[3]

Ryan Boyle was named to the "College Football Performance Award" Watch List.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 31	12:00 p.m.	at Kansas*	No. 16	David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	FSN	L 17–24	32,611	[4]
September 7	1:00 p.m.	Dayton*	No. 14	Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	L 35–42	4,950	[5]
September 14	1:00 p.m.	Eastern Kentucky*		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 19–7	4,590	[6]
September 21	1:00 p.m.	Eastern Illinois*		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 16–6	6,216	[7]
October 5	3:00 p.m.	at South Dakota		DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	L 0–38	5,255	[8]
October 12	1:00 p.m.	Western Illinois		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 20–10	7,243	[9]
October 19	1:00 p.m.	No. 3 South Dakota State		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN3	L 23–42	4,642	[10]
October 26	3:00 p.m.	No. 8 Illinois State		Hancock Stadium Normal, IL	ESPN3	L 7–24	8,510	[11]
November 2	1:00 p.m.	Southern Illinois		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	L 14–23	4,110	[12]
November 9	5:00 p.m.	at No. 5 Northern Iowa		UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN+	L 9–17		[13]
November 16	1:00 p.m.	Youngstown State		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	W 24–17		[14]
November 23	3:00 p.m.	at Missouri State		Robert W. Plaster Stadium Springfield, MO	ESPN+	W 51–24		[15]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Source:[16][17]

Game summaries

at Kansas

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 16 Sycamores	0	3	0	14	17
Jayhawks	7	3	6	8	24

See also: 2019 Kansas Jayhawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	1986	L, 6–20

Dayton

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flyers	7	14	14	7	42
No. 14 Sycamores	7	7	7	14	35

See also: 2019 Dayton Flyers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–1	1976	L, 14–20

Eastern Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
Colonels	0	0	7	0	7
Sycamores	3	7	0	9	19

See also: 2019 Eastern Kentucky Colonels football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–7	2014 FCS Playoffs	W, 36–16

Eastern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	0	6	0	6
Sycamores	10	3	0	3	16

See also: 2019 Eastern Illinois Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
38–43–4	2018	W, 55–41

at South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	0	0	0	0	0
Coyotes	14	10	14	0	38

See also: 2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–3	2018	W, 51–48

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	0	10	0	0	10
Sycamores	0	0	10	10	20

See also: 2019 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–25	2018	W, 15–13

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits	7	28	0	7	42
Sycamores	7	3	7	6	23

See also: 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–7	2018	L, 51–54

at Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	0	7	0	0	7
No. 8 Redbirds	0	7	3	14	24

See also: 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
31–36–2	2018	W, 28–23

Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Salukis	7	10	3	3	23
Sycamores	0	7	7	0	14

See also: 2019 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
27–28	2018	W, 24–21

at Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	3	3	3	0	9
No. 5 Panthers	7	10	0	0	17

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–27	2018	L, 0–33

Youngstown State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Penguins	0	10	0	7	17
Sycamores	3	14	7	0	24

See also: 2019 Youngstown State Penguins football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–22	2018	W, 43–17

at Missouri State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Sycamores	7	14	23	7	51
Bears	0	7	7	10	24

See also: 2019 Missouri State Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–20	2018	L, 26–29

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS	16	14
Coaches	16	15

References

1. "North Dakota State Picked to Win Missouri Valley Football Crown". www.valleynewslive.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
2. "MVFC Announces Preseason All-Conference Team". valley-football.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
3. "MVFC Announces Preseason All-Conference Team". valley-football.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
4. "Indiana State vs. Kansas - Game Summary - August 31, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
5. "Dayton vs. Indiana State - Game Summary - September 7, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
6. "Eastern Kentucky vs. Indiana State - Game Summary - September 14, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
7. "Eastern Illinois vs. Indiana State - Game Summary - September 21, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
8. "Indiana State vs. South Dakota - Game Summary - October 5, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
9. "Western Illinois vs. Indiana State - Game Summary - October 12, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
10. "South Dakota State vs. Indiana State - Game Summary - October 19, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
11. "Indiana State vs. Illinois State - Game Summary - October 26, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
12. "Southern Illinois vs. Indiana State - Game Summary - November 2, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
13. "Indiana State vs. Northern Iowa - Game Summary - November 9, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
14. "Youngstown State vs. Indiana State - Game Summary - November 16, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
15. "Indiana State vs. Missouri State - Game Summary - November 23, 2019 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
16. "2019 Football Schedule". Indiana State University Athletics. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
17. "2019 Indiana State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved July 29, 2019.