SU . L Arkansas State Football Notes vs 2 ASU 0-1/0-0 Sept. 11, 2004 - at Tiger Stadium (91,600) me Baton Rouge, La. / 7:00 PM central Ga vs. LSU 1-0/0-0 Internet television / Radio Flagship is 103.9 FM ASU Head Coach Steve Roberts - Now in his third sea- The Roberts File son as coach of the Indians and his 11th overall. Since as a head coach taking over the reins of the Tribe, Roberts has led the overall 60-48-1 Indians to 11 total wins in consecutive seasons, the best ASU such mark in two straight years since the 1987 and ‘88 2004 0-1 / 0-0 seasons. The Indians have won six Division 1-A games 2003 5-7 / 3-4 (t-4th) in two-plus seasons under Roberts, nearing the nine 2002 6-7 / 3-3 (3rd) won in the prior five years. totals 11-14 / 6-7 Roberts and his staff are credited with one of the most impressive turnarounds in the nation in 2002, tak- Northwestern State ing ASU from 2-9 in 2001 to 6-7 and just 11 points from 2001 8-4 (playoffs) a trip to the New Orleans Bowl. Head Coach 2000 6-5 Roberts started his career with a bang at ASU, Steve Roberts totals 14-9 winning the most games (6) in his first season at ASU as head coach since Gene Harlow went 6-3 in his first season in 1955. Southern Arkansas Among his many accolades, Roberts has been a finalist for the Eddie 1999 9-1 Robinson Award while at Northwestern (La.) State and was named the Gulf 1998 8-2 South Conference’s Coach of the Year while at Southern Arkansas. 1997 9-2 His teams have always fared well in the classroom, not just on the field, 1996 4-6 as evidenced by ASU being awarded a plaque for the top grade point average 1995 4-6 among all football programs in the Sun Belt Conference for the 2002-03 aca- 1994 1-7-1 demic year. totals 35-24-1 alma mater 2004 Arkansas State Schedule / Results Ouachita Baptist (87) date opponent time score/notes assistant coaches/staff 9/4 at Missouri L, 20-52 Indians score third-most points in opener since 1992 Kevin Corless - CDC/LB 9/11 at LSU 7:00 Indians 0-2 in Death Valley Jack Curtis - CDC/S 9/18 Memphis 6:00 Third consec. bowl opp. from 2003 Doug Ruse - OC/QB 9/25 at UL-Monroe* 6:30 Roberts 2-0 vs. ULM Tate Behne - TE 10/2 at Mississippi 1:00 Final game in series Tony Gilbert - CB/RC 10/9 at Mid.-Tenn.* 2:00 ASU 0-2 at Murfreesboro all-time David Gunn - RB 10/16 Troy*! 6:00 First meeting since 1992 Darren Hiller - OL 10/23 at UL-Lafayette* 4:00 Last five decided by a total of 18 pts Mike McCarty - WR 10/30 OPEN Kevin Peoples - DL 11/6 at Idaho* 4:00 ASU has won last three John Arce - Str. & Cond. 11/11 Utah State*^ 6:00 Only second trip to Jonesboro for Aggies Ron Carroll - Trainer 11/18 North Texas*^ 6:00 ASU 2-3 vs NT as 1-A opponents * - Sun Belt Conference Game all times listed are central and subject to change Quick Facts: ! - homecoming location Jonesboro, Ark. ^ - SBC ESPN game enroll. 10,573 founded 1909 2004 Indian Radio Network 2003 rec. 5-7 / 3-4 103.9 KCJF-FM (Earle/Jonesboro) 690 KEWI-AM (Benton) 1380 KDXE-AM (Little Rock) conf. Sun Belt 98.3 KFCM-FM (Cherokee Village) 92.1 KHPQ-FM (Clinton) 1400 KWYN-AM (Wynne) colors Scarlet & Black 92.7 KASR-FM (Conway) 102.3 KQEW-FM (Fordyce) mascot Indian Family 100.7 KAWW-FM (Heber Springs) 105.5 KWAK-FM (Stuttgart) 106.3 KRLW-FM (Walnut Ridge) 1320 KRLW-AM (Pocahontas) nickname Indians The Indians can also be heard on Cox Communications (cable channel 14) in the Jonesboro area. stadium Indian Stadium cap. 30,708 22000044 IInnddiiaann FFoooottbbaallll -- GGaammee 22 vvss.. LLSSUU The Series: LSU head coach Nick Saban : In his fifth season as head coach of the ASU and LSU have Tigers, Nick Saban is coming off a dream season in which LSU won a share met twice on the grid- of the national title after defeating Oklahoma. Saban’s record at LSU is 40- iron, both resulting in 13, including last season’s 13-1 record. Overall, Saban totes a career lopsided victories for record of 83-39-1 in his 11th season of being a head coach. The Indians the Tigers. The two have never faced a team coached by Saban. first met in 1991, when ASU was in the last Sun Belt Conference - The fledgling Sun Belt Conference football league season of 1-AA status, is entering the fourth season of existence, and already the league is making a game that LSU won, waves among the college football ranks. Claiming wins over teams in the 70-14. The other Big 12, SEC, WAC, Conference-USA and the Mountain West, the confer- meeting was in 1998, ence is establishing itself as an up-and-comer in the 1-A pool. a game that ended in This season, the conference will feature nine football teams. ASU, Idaho, a 42-6 final score. Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico Like this season, LSU State and Utah State return from 2003 and Troy University makes its debut was a top-10 team in in the conference this season. Next season, UI, NMSU and USU are mov- 1998. In that game, ing to the Western Athletic Conference, leaving the door open for Florida ASU started the third- Atlantic and Florida International to enter into the mix as SBC newcomers. string tailback and was held to five total Preseason Predictions - The Indians were selected to finish seventh in the first downs. conference in the preseason media and coaches poll. Three-time champi- on North Texas is once again picked on top, while newcomer Troy makes a Preseason SBC bold charge into second in its first season as a conference member. New Predictions Mexico State is third, followed by UL-Lafayette, Middle Tennessee, Utah North Texas (159) Troy (116) State, ASU, UL-Monroe and Idaho. New Mexico State (110) Two seasons ago, the Indians were picked to finish last (seventh) in the Sun Louisiana-Lafayette (107) Belt Conference preseason poll. That was head coach Steve Roberts’ first Middle Tennessee (94) season at the helm. The Indians went 6-7 overall that season, 3-3 in con- Utah State (75) ference play, and finished third in the standings. Amazingly enough, ASU ASU (66) Louisiana-Monroe (47) was just 11 points away from going undefeated in conference play that sea- Idaho (36) son (2002). SBC Teleconference - The SBC will once again host a weekly teleconfer- ence on Mondays featuring all head coaches and Commissioner Wright Waters. All media representatives needing the phone number to dial in and participate should contact Bill Bowen or Gina Bowman at the Athletic Media Relations office at (870) 972-2541. Below is the list of times for each coach. 10:30 AM Announcements 10:32 AM Steve Roberts - ASU Injury Policy Injury reports wil not be 10:40 AM Rickey Bustle - UL-Lafayette given out to anyone, includ- 10:48 AM Charlie Weatherbie - UL-Monroe ing media. Injuries will be 10:56 AM Darrell Dickey - North Texas confirmed only if it is con- 11:04 AM Larry Blakeney, Troy sidered to be a season-end- 11:12 AM Andy McCollum, Middle Tennessee ing injury. All requests for this information should go 11:20 AM Mick Dennehy, Utah State through the Athletic Media 11:28 AM Tony Samuel, NM State Relations Office. 11:36 AM Nick Holt, Idaho (870) 972-2541 - ofc. pg 2 22000044 IInnddiiaann FFoooottbbaallll -- GGaammee 22 vvss.. LLSSUU Fresh Faces - The Indians are very inexperienced for the 2004 season. Current Sun Belt On a roster that features 97 players, 77 of those players have lettered Standings one year or less at ASU. That represents 79-percent of the total number school SBC Rec of Indians on the roster for the 2004 season. The good news is that 54 Troy 0-0 1-0 of those players are sophomores or freshmen, meaning that the future of UL-Lafayette 0-0 1-0 ASU looks bright. Middle Tenn. 0-0 0-0 ASU 0-0 0-1 Idaho 0-0 0-1 Tough Schedule - ASU features one of the most challenging non-con- UL-Monroe 0-0 0-1 ference schedules in the nation in 2004. The combined winning percent- NM State 0-0 0-1 age of ASU’s non-conference foes (2003 numbers) is a whopping 75.5- North Texas 0-0 0-1 percent to rank fourth nationally. Only Oregon State (82.9), Iowa State Utah State 0-0 0-1 (78.9) and Cincinnati (76.9) non-conference opponents have a higher SBC Games This Week winning percentage. (Thanks for the numbers, Chris Burkhalter - ASU at LSU at 7 PM Houston SID) UL-Monroe OPEN According to CollegeFootballNews.com, ASU’s non-conference strength Middle Tenn. at Akron 5 PM of schedule is third nationally, behind only Houston and Southern Miss. Troy vs. Missouri This season is the first since ASU returned to 1-A status in 1992 that the UL-Lafayette at La. Tech 6 PM Idaho at Utah State 7:05 PM schedule has featured three consecutive bowl teams to start the season.