# 2018 Indiana State Sycamores football team

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.

## Preseason
### Preseason MVFC poll

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

The Sycamores placed six players on the preseason all-MVFC teams.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 30 | 7:00 p.m. | Quincy* | Memorial StadiumTerre Haute, IN | ESPN3 | W 49–0 | 6,243 |
| September 8 | 7:00 p.m. | at Louisville* | Cardinal StadiumLouisville, KY | ACCN Extra | L 7–31 | 44,520 |
| September 15 | 7:00 p.m. | at Eastern Illinois* | O'Brien StadiumCharleston, IL | ESPN+ | W 55–41 | 6,420 |
| September 27 | 7:00 p.m. | No. 23 Northern Iowa | Memorial StadiumTerre Haute, IN | ESPN3 | L 0–33 | 5,487 |
| October 6 | 7:00 p.m. | at No. 3 South Dakota State | Dana J. Dykhouse StadiumBrookings, SD | ESPN+ | L 51–54 $^{OT}$ | 10,318 |
| October 13 | 2:00 p.m. | Missouri State | Memorial StadiumTerre Haute, IN | ESPN+ | L 26–29 | 6,721 |
| October 20 | 3:00 p.m. | at Southern Illinois | Saluki StadiumCarbondale, IL | ESPN+ | W 24–21 | 6,435 |
| October 27 | 2:00 p.m. | at Youngstown State | Stambaugh StadiumYoungstown, OH | ESPN+ | W 43–17 | 10,870 |
| November 3 | 1:00 p.m. | South Dakota | Memorial StadiumTerre Haute, IN | ESPN+ | W 51–48 $^{3OT}$ | 5,816 |
| November 10 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 23 Illinois State | Memorial StadiumTerre Haute, IN | ESPN3 | W 28–23 | 4,016 |
| November 17 | 2:00 p.m. | at Western Illinois | Hanson FieldMacomb, IL | ESPN3 | W 15–13 | 1,813 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time |||||||
* Source: 2018 Schedule

## Game summaries
### Quincy

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

### At Louisville

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

### At Eastern Illinois

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

### Northern Iowa

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

### At South Dakota State

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

### Missouri State

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

### At Southern Illinois

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

### At Youngstown State

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

### South Dakota

| | 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

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

### At Western Illinois

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

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | 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 |