Will Purdue move to 7-0 all-time against the Indiana State Sycamores and get its season off on the right foot? How could this Boiler squad measure up to the one that sent the royal blue and white home after a 56-0 dismantling two years ago on its way to a Big Ten West title?
Let’s see what we can glean from the information available at this pre-Labor Day juncture.
Team Expectations
Though they were picked second to last in their conference, the Sycamores received votes in the FCS coaches Top-25. That’s not an oversight on the part of the Missouri Valley Conference voters, though – every member of the conference garnered votes in the Top-25.
Offense
It’s been six years since Indiana State topped 20 points per game, with an average of only 13.5 last season. That should tell you all you need to know about which side of the ball the playmakers on this team lie.
The team’s best offensive performance last season featured a joint effort from quarterbacks Elijah Owens and Cade Chambers, who is no longer on the team. The two quarterbacks threw for over 100 yards apiece, with Owens’ coming on an efficient 13 attempts, in pushing No. 17 North Dakota to the brink in an overtime loss and recording 388 yards of offense.
Quarterback – The redshirt freshman Owens preserved his eligibility from last season by playing only four games. He averaged 77.5 passing yards per game in that sample and 16.7 rushing, with 6.6 passing yards per attempt. He was a big enough talent in high school to visit Illinois and Northwestern.
Running back – The Sycamores’ top back is redshirt sophomore Plez Lawrence, who averaged 4.8 yards per carry and 45.6 yards last season. Lawrence exploded for 29 rushes for 203 yards and three touchdowns against Murray State last season.
Wide Receiver – Perhaps Indiana State’s most interesting offensive player is Rashad Rochelle. Rochelle is a former three-star recruit who committed to Rutgers in 2022 over offers from a handful of Big Ten schools, including Purdue. Upon landing with the Scarlet Knights he promptly transitioned to running back and played nine games as a freshman.
All told, he rushed for 109 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown in 2022 before taking some kick return duties the following year. At Rutgers he found particular success brutalizing Wagner, against which he gained a career-high 41 rushing yards in 2022 before ripping an 88-yard kickoff return on the Seahawks the following year.
Rochelle, now a 5-foot-11, 185 lb junior receiver, will debut as a sort of reclamation project for the Sycamores on Saturday.
Defense
I alluded to it earlier; ISU’s best players are on defense. The team features four Missouri Valley preseason All-Conference players and one FCS preseason All-American.
Last season, despite the talent, the unit allowed 30 points per game.
Linebacker – We’ll start with the All-American: . Ollendieck finished just shy of 100 tackles with 97 in his second full season with the Sycamores. The Cresco, Iowa native took over as starting middle linebacker early last year. Ollendieck finished the season with four consecutive double-digit tackling efforts, including a 15-stop game against Youngstown State.
He also finished third in the MVFC in sacks (7 ½ ) and second overall in tackles-for-loss (13) in the regular season.
Also at ‘backer is third-team preseason all-conference nod Geoffrey Brown. The senior finished third on the Sycamores in the 2023 season with 76 total tackles and 7 tackles for loss.
Defensive Line – Senior Gianini Belizaire started all 11 games at defensive tackle last year, recording 3 tackles for loss and 1 ½ sacks among his 15 tackles on the season.
Joining him among the notables is redshirt senior Kendrick Milford (check out that hair!). Last year he contributed 25 total tackles for Southwestern Oklahoma State (8 solo, 17 assisted) and added 5 tackles-for-loss, 2 ½ sacks and 6 quarterback hurries.
Defensive backs – Redshirt junior Maddix Blackwell was named MVFC Second-Team. He became the first Indiana State player to post 100-plus tackles in a single season since Jonas Griffith (2019) with 107 stops last year. He gashed Indiana for a 75-yard fumble return touchdown in week two last season.
Cornerback Tony Roberts was highlighted by Indiana State’s media team in fall camp. The redshirt sophomore played four games in his freshman season.
Special Teams
The lead kicker for Indiana State last year was redshirt sophomore Jake Andjelic, who made all eight of his field goal attempts with a long kick of 41. He was second on the team with 29 points scored.
The Sycamores actually beat their opponents on kickoff returns 19.4 yards to 17.8 last year, a rare win in any statistical category for them.
