Issue date: 11/10/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jamey Davidsmeyer Wide reciever Jason Horton will be looking to rack up some yards against the 1-9 Indiana State Sycamores this Saturday.

Denver Johnson

As Head Coach Denver Johnson has alluded to many times throughout the 2006 football campaign, there are no easy wins in the Gateway Football Conference.

Indiana State may be 1-9 (1-5 GFC) on the season, but you can throw that all out the window when the Redbirds (7-2, 4-1 GFC) travel to Terre Haute, Indiana tomorrow.

Especially considering how the Sycamores won the last time these two teams met away from Hancock Stadium.

"I don't think we can look over them because the last time we went down there we lost to them in double overtime," ISU defensive back Jesse Caesar said in a press conference on Tuesday.

"It was a game where, I don't think we looked them over, but it's a weird place to go down there and play and it's a weird time and we've got to be prepared. I think it's going to be a real challenge for us."

Two years ago, the Redbirds lost 41-38 in double overtime to Indiana State, a season in which the Redbirds finished 4-7 and just 2-5 in conference play.

"In this business, a couple years is a long, long time," Johnson said. "It's not that there's still a sting from that, but guys that were a part of that remember that. Right now the focus is just on the next ballgame and the next opponent and that happens to be Indiana State. This is a different year, a different team. They're a different team as well."

What a difference a year makes, as last season's meeting at Hancock Stadium went 70-28 to ISU.

The Redbirds throttled the Sycamores, racking up 708 yards of total offense and leading by as much as 56 points in the fourth quarter.

This year, the Sycamores have won just once: a 28-22 defeat of Missouri State three weeks ago. In their nine defeats, the offense hasn't been the problem.

The unit has put up over 28 points four times this season, including 41 last weekend against a solid Western Illinois team.

"We've got another great challenge in front of us," Johnson said.

"They're a team that have, after watching them through the year, they have improved. They score a lot of points. They've been able to move the ball and score points on just about everybody. It's a little bit of a tough trip going to Terre Haute."

The Redbirds earned their seventh win of the season last weekend against Missouri State, moving up one spot in the national rankings to number seven in the process.

A big reason for their success has been their ability to avoid penalties and to hold onto the football, as the Redbirds enter Saturday's contest with a conference leading +12 in turnover differential.

"Two things going into this past weekend that I was very pleased with is that we were the least penalized team in the league and we were leading the league in turnover margin," Johnson said.

"We had a rash of penalties out there on [against Missouri State], way more than normal for us, which I was unhappy about, but we did not turn the ball over."

With Western Kentucky losing last weekend, the Redbirds currently find themselves in a tie for second place in the Gateway.

At 4-1, ISU is tied with Northern Iowa and just a half-game back of 5-1 Youngstown State, who gave ISU their only conference loss.

Tomorrow's game is set to kickoff at 11:05 a.m. at Memorial Stadium in Terre Haute, Indiana.

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