The decade of the 2010s was one of the best in the storied history of the IUP football program. The Crimson Hawks went a combined 90-28, boasting a .763 win percentage with 10 winning seasons. They had four campaigns of 10 or more victories, the most of any decade.
IUP made the NCAA Division II playoffs five times during the 2010s – 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. That's the second most in a decade behind the seven trips in the 1990s.
Three times IUP won shared or outright Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division regular season titles, posting "State Game" victories in 2012 and 2017.
2017 was the best year of the decade as the Crimson Hawks went 13-1 with an 11-0 undefeated regular season, division and conference championships, and a trip to the national semifinals for the seventh time in program history, the first since 1999. IUP also earned a No. 1 national ranking in the D2Football.com Media Top 25 for three straight weeks.
To celebrate the decade, the IUP sports information office – with the help of the coaching staff and local football media – ranked the top 10 games of the 2010s.
IUP Football All-Decade Team: Friday
Top-10 Games: Honorable Mention
2016 – IUP 55, Cheyney 0 | Jack Benedict's 500th game
2017 – IUP 24, West Chester 7 | PSAC Championship
2018 – IUP 21, Ashland 17| Season-opening road win
10. IUP 62, Fairmont State 13 – Fairmont, W.Va. | November 19, 2016 | First round of the NCAA playoffs
Full Recap
Junior
Chris Temple scored four touchdowns and the IUP defense forced six turnovers as the Crimson Hawks dominated all aspects in a 62-13 rout of Fairmont State in the opening round of the NCAA Division II playoffs on Saturday.
Temple ran for 147 yards and those four touchdowns on 20 carries – all in the first half – to help give IUP (10-1) a 42-0 lead heading to the locker room.
Four of Fairmont State's six turnovers occurred in the opening half, with IUP forcing two on the Falcons opening two possessions. FSU advanced the ball inside the Crimson Hawks' 10-yard line on the opening possession, but senior safety
Steve Franco (Tyrone, Pa. /Tyrone ) forced and recovered a fumble to halt momentum.
Six plays later, Temple scored from 58 yards out, and the rout was on.
9. IUP 35, Mercyhurst 28 (OT) – Erie, Pa. | October 28, 2011
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Quarterback Pat Smith led a 73-yard drive with 47 seconds left in the fourth quarter that resulted in a game-tying 18-yard field goal by
Brett Ullman and Teddy Blakeman plunged in from five yards out on the first overtime possession to help IUP to a come-from-behind 35-28 victory over Mercyhurst at Tullio Field in Erie.
The win was the 497th in the history of the IUP football program, as the Crimson Hawks approach the milestone of 500 all-time wins.
8. IUP 48, Slippery Rock 19 – Indiana, Pa. | October 15, 2016 | Homecoming
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The 13th-ranked Crimson Hawks opened with 24 points in the first quarter, and ended up with three touchdowns off of four Slippery Rock turnovers, to post an impressive 48-19 victory over The Rock on IUP Homecoming at George P. Miller Stadium.
IUP used big offensive plays to gain early momentum, while the defense picked off two passes and recovered a pair of fumbles. The Crimson Hawks out-gained 16th-ranked SRU by nearly 100 yards (462-365), averaging nearly eight yards per play.
7. IUP 73, East Stroudsburg 42 – East Stroudsburg, Pa. | September 10, 2016
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10th-ranked IUP football set a program record with 789 yards of total offense in a 73-42 win at East Stroudsburg at Eiler-Martin Stadium.
The game was the season-opener for the Crimson Hawks, who scored 45 points in the opening half, en route to the program's third-highest scoring output. The 789 yards are the second-most in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) history, behind East Stroudsburg's 828 against LIU Post in 2012. The Crimson Hawks tied a program record with 35 first downs, finishing with 395 rushing yards and 394 yards through the air.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Lenny Williams, Jr. threw for a career-high 380 yards and three touchdowns on 20-of-24 passing, while also rushing for 85 yards and three scores on 13 carries. His six touchdowns responsible for tied an IUP record while his 465 yards of total offense are second most – to his own record of 504 yards – in single game program history. Williams' 380 passing yards are fifth most in the history of the program.
6. IUP 47, Charleston 21 – Charleston, W.Va. | November 21, 2015 | Second round of the NCAA playoffs
Full Recap
The Crimson Hawks forced four second half turnovers, blocked a punt, and scored 34 unanswered points to end the game as IUP defeated Charleston 47-21 in the opening round of the 2015 NCAA Division II football playoffs at UC Stadium.
5. IUP 41, Shippensburg 10 – Indiana, Pa. | November 10, 2012 | PSAC Championship
Full Recap
With a fantastic defensive effort that limited the nation's No. 1 offense to just 10 points, 13th-ranked IUP defeated seventh-ranked Shippensburg 41-10 in the 2012 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Football Championship at George P. Miller Stadium.
For his performance on the defensive side of the ball, linebacker
Carl Fleming was named the PSAC Championship Most Valuable Player. Fleming had a game-high 12 tackles, battled down two passes, and returned a fourth quarter interception 40 yards for a touchdown.
The Crimson Hawks (10-1) held a Shippensburg team that entered the game averaging over 566 yards and 53 points to just 271 yards of total offense. Harlon Hill candidate Zach Zulli, Division II's leading passer, completed just 17-of-42 for 205 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
4. IUP 34, Slippery Rock 17 – Slippery Rock, Pa. | October 14, 2017 | Division II Showcase Game
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Third-ranked IUP football ran for 384 yards and held one of the top offenses in the nation in check as the Crimson Hawks took down ninth-ranked Slippery Rock in Division II's game of the week at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
The 384 rushing yards were part of 609 total yards for the Crimson Hawks, who stayed perfect on the year with a 7-0 overall record and a 4-0 mark in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division.
Sophomore running back
Samir Bullock had a game-high 168 yards on 17 carries, including an 84-yarder out of his own end zone in the second quarter. The run was much needed for IUP, which trailed Slippery Rock (6-1, 3-1) 10-0 at the time and faced a second down and 11 at its own one-yard line. Bullock broke a tackle five yards deep in his end zone, and then raced down the IUP sideline to the SRU 15. The Crimson Hawks ended up with a 24-yard field goal by redshirt sophomore
Dillon Sarka to get on the board.
That field goal was the first of 24 straight points for the Crimson Hawks, who scored two more touchdowns in the second quarter and another one to start the third to grab a 24-10 lead.
3. IUP 17, New Haven 14 – West Haven, Conn. | November 24, 2012 | Second round of NCAA playoffs
Full Recap
The IUP defense forced an incomplete pass in the end zone as time expired to hold on to a dramatic 17-14 win over New Haven in the second round of the 2012 NCAA Division II Football Championships.
The play started with eight seconds remaining from the IUP 31-yard line as a slew of Crimson Hawks defenders helped force the incompletion on a Ryan Osiecki pass to Jason Thompson in the back of the end zone.
It capped an exciting last 3:40 of action that saw New Haven begin the drive from its own six-yard line and included a fourth down conversion at the IUP 36-yard line.
2. IUP 26, Ashland 23 – Indiana, Pa. | August 31, 2017
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Redshirt sophomore
Dillon Sarka drilled a 46-yard field goal as time expired to give ninth-ranked IUP a thrilling 26-23 win over visiting Ashland in the 2017 season opener on Thursday night at George P. Miller Stadium.
The hero of the game, Sarka made 4-of-4 field goal attempts, including that career-long, game-winner. He also connected from 22, 23, and 25 yards, and made both of his extra point attempts.
The exciting finish began when sophomore
John McDonald-Horner blocked Ashland's 32-yard field goal attempt with 1:45 to go. The Crimson Hawks used nine plays to march 51 yards to the Eagles' 29-yard line, including runs of 17 and 10 yards by sophomore back
Samir Bullock. Sarka's field goal came after back-to-back timeouts, shrugging off the attempts to "ice" him.
1. IUP 27, Assumption 22 – Indiana, Pa. | December 2, 2017 | Regional final of NCAA playoffs
Full Recap
Freshman
Duane Brown scored the go-ahead touchdown with 1:09 remaining, and the IUP defense knocked down a Hail Mary as time expired, as the Crimson Hawks defeated Assumption 27-22 to win the NCAA Division II Super Region One Championship and advance to the national semifinals.
Assumption moved the ball down the field on the final drive to get in position for that heave towards the end zone. The Greyhounds (11-2) scored on a 44-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds to play, but quarterback Cody Williams was across the line-of-scrimmage when he threw the ball to draw an illegal forward pass penalty. Williams then had one final attempt to win on fourth down, but
John McDonald-Horner (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) and a slew of Crimson Hawks batted down the Hail Mary attempt at the goal line to preserve the win.
The win clinches IUP's seventh all-time trip to the national semifinals. It'll be the first for the program since 1999.
