A quick look at Murray State.

2008 record: 1-0

2007 record: 2-9

2007 Sagarin: 229

Conference: Ohio Valley

Coach: Matt Griffin (3rd year, 4-19)
Series: First meeting

IU continues its less-than-overwhelming nonconference schedule with the weakest team on the 2008 slate, Murray State. The Racers won the Ohio Valley Conference and qualified for the I-AA playoffs as recently as 2002, but the Racers have gone only 18-40 with one winning season since then.

Although they never have won the I-AA title, the Racers' coaching history is littered with famous names. Former Arkansas/current Mississipi coach Houston Nutt coached the Racers from 1993-1996, improving the Racers from 4-7 his first year to 11-game winners in years three and four. (I find it hilarious that Murray State replaced Houston Nutt with a guy named "Denver Johnson." Stick with what works, I guess). Virginia Tech legend Frank Beamer coached the Racers from 1981-1986 before returning to his alma mater. Mike Gottfried coached Murray State from 1978-1980 before moving on to Cincinnati, Kansas, and Pitt. As the number of coaches who moved up in the world suggests, the poor record of the last 5 years is anomalous for the Racers.

Still, Murray State shapes up much like Indiana State last year as one of the worst teams in I-AA and as a team that IU should thrash. As noted above, Murray ranked #229 in the Sagarin rating last year, ratings that included only 242 schools (the aforementioned Sycamores were one of the unlucky 13 ranked behind Murray State). Coach Matt Griffin coached at Tennessee-Martin from 2003-2005. After going 2-10 and 2-9 in his first two years, he improved to 6-5 in year three before moving on to Murray State. Year three, in my unscientific impression, seems to be when many coaching finally make an impact on a losing program, so it's possible that Murray will be better. The Racers defeated something called "Lambuth" in the opener, 41-17.

More on Murray's numbers and personnel later in the week.