GAME NOTES  (.pdf)

WEEK 1
UIndy Greyhounds (0-0) at Ashland Eagles (0-0)
Thursday, Aug. 30, 7 PM, Ashland, Ohio
live stats  |  audio webcast  |  video webcast  |  WICR 88.7 FM

ON TAP
The Greyhounds kick off the 2012 football season with a tough road game at former-GLIAC-rival Ashland Thursday night.  The Eagles represent the only in-region opponent among UIndy's three non-conference contests.

ABOUT ASHLAND
Picked to finish first in the GLIAC South, Ashland returns nine offensive and five defensive starters from last year's 6-5 team.

Offensively, the team is led by veteran starting quarterback Taylor Housewright.  The senior and hometown product completed 156-of-254 passes (61.4 percent) for 1,798 yards with 15 touchdown passes and three interceptions in 2011.

On the defensive side, the Eagles return a pair of first team all-conference performers in junior linebacker Cody Bloom and junior d-lineman Jamie Meder.

The Eagles are a combined 9-2 at Jack Miller Stadium over the previous two seasons, including a 4-1 mark last year.  Their only 2011 home loss came in a slim 20-17 loss to Ohio Dominican in week 10.

HOUNDS vs. EAGLES
Despite splitting the last 14 meetings with Ashland, UIndy trails AU 20-11 in the all-time series.  The Eagles escaped with a 39-36 quadruple-overtime win versus the Greyhounds in week two last season, a game that proved to be the longest in program history.  Click here for a recap and box score.

MILLER TIME
Catherdral-High-School-product Scott Miller had a career day at Ashland a year ago.  The then-freshman kicker racked-up 18 points on five field goals and three extra points.  Three of those field goals came in overtime, including a season-long 48 yarder, good for the second longest kick in the GLIAC in 2011.  Meanwhile, his five FGs tied the school record for most in a single game (Mark Bohannon, 9/24/83).

FOR OPENERS
The Hounds are 2-0 in season-opening games under Head Coach Bob Bartolomeo, both coming against Kentucky Wesleyan.  UIndy has won each of its last five openers and is 14-2 in the last 16.  Both setbacks were overtime losses on the road (2004, '06).

POLL POSITION
Both of Thursday's combatants received votes in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Preseason Division II Coaches' Poll, with UIndy garnering 70 points and Ashland six.  The Greyhounds were the only GLVC school to appear in the poll.

TURN THE PAGE
The Great Lakes Valley Conference is proud to announce the addition of football for the 2012-13 academic year.  UIndy will be one of nine schools to compete for the first GLVC football crown this fall, along with fellow full-timers Kentucky Wesleyan, McKendree, Missouri S&T, Quincy, Saint Joseph's and William Jewell and associate-members Central State and Urbana.

The fall of 2011 marked the 13th and final season for the Greyhound football team as an associate member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).  A founding member of the GLVC, Indianapolis had been a football-playing member of the GLIAC since the league merged with the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference back in 1999.

The Greyhounds have not cut all ties with the GLIAC however, as the school continues to compete as an associate member in men's and women's swimming and diving.

GLVC FAVORITE
League coaches dubbed Indianapolis the team to beat in the GLVC by voting the Hounds the overwhelming favorite in the GLVC Preseason Poll.  UIndy garnered the maximum eight first-place votes and 64 points (no team could vote for itself).

PRESEASON HONORS
Returning skill-position players Mar'quone Edmonds (WR) and Chris Mills (QB) were named second team and honorable mention, respectively, on the Beyond Sports Network Preseason All-America Team.  Edmonds also picked up second-team honors on the USA Football News All-America squad, while Mills, Max Davis (LB) and Joe Britner (OL) picked up D-II Central Region Pre-Season All-Star Team accolades from USA Football News.

MAX EFFORT
Senior linebacker Max Davis is looking to become just the sixth-ever Greyhound to compile three 100-tackle seasons.  The Cathedral grad heads into his senior season with 298 career stops, 44 shy of tying former-teammate Mike Dum for 10th in the school annals.

BALL SECURITY
One of the biggest keys to the Greyhounds' success in 2011 was their record-setting number of turnovers.  UIndy finished the year with just six giveaways, good for a new Division-II low and a share of the overall NCAA record for fewest turnovers in a season.

The Hounds snapped the former D-II mark of eight, set by Lenoir-Rhyne in 1994 and later matched by Winston-Salem (2004) and Abilene Christian (2010).  D-III teams Mount Union (1995), McDaniel (1999) and Tufts (2009) are the only other NCAA schools to have just six turnovers in a single season.

NOT YOUR RUN-OF-THE-MILL QB
UIndy's lack of turnovers was partially due to the decision making of quarterback Chris Mills.  The sophomore signal caller showed poise beyond his years by finishing with just five interceptions in 381 attempts, good for a 1.31 interception percentage that ranked second in Division II.

In fact, the Lafayette, Ind., native came just short of setting a new D-II record for most consecutive passes within an interception.  Including the end of 2010, Mills threw 274 straight balls without a pick, six shy of the record of 280 set by Jesse Showerda of New Haven in 1996.

LIKE A BROKEN RECORD
A number of individual single-season program records fell last season, especially those in the passing and receiving categories.  Below is a concise list of freshly-set UIndy season benchmarks.

- Pass completions- Chris Mills, 243
- Completion percentage- Chris Mills, 63.8
- Passing touchdowns- Chris Mills, 29
- Passing efficiency- Chris Mills, 152.0
- Receiving touchdowns- Mar'quone Edmonds, 14
- All-purpose yards- Ryan Forney, 1713
- PATs made- Scott Miller, 37
- Field goals made- Scott Miller, 15*

_{*tied Mark Bohannon's 15 FGM in 1984}

TOUCHDOWN MAR'Q
Mar'quone Edmonds was a touchdown machine in 2011, as the 6-2 wideout set a new UIndy record with 14 receiving TDs.  The total snapped the 57-year-old school mark of 10 set by UIndy Hall-of-Famer Dick Nyers back in 1954.  Nyers' record had been tied twice through the years but never surpassed until last season.

With 24 career TD catches, Edmonds enters this season just two scores shy of Nyers' career record of 26.  Edmonds is also within striking distance of the program record for career receptions (40 shy) and career receiving yards (929 yards shy).