INDIANA — Indiana entered the game banged up, but Slippery Rock was the team hurting afterward.

The Rock managed just 143 yards offensively in suffering a 17-0 loss to IUP in a mutual PSAC West college football opener Saturday at Miller Stadium.

The game marked the first time SRU (3-1, 0-1) was shut out in 160 games, a streak that began the season as eighth-longest in NCAA Division II. The Rock had not been blanked since a season-opening 22-0 loss at Youngstown State in 1996.

"All credit goes to Indiana," Rock coach George Mihalik said. "The made our offense totally non-existent today. The controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

"Clearly, they wanted this game much more than we did."

The Crimson Hawks (3-1, 1-0) played without quarterback Pat Smith, tailback Harvie Tuck, receivers Mychal Skinner and Roy-al Edwards, all sidelined with injuries.

Bo Napoleon, making only his second career collegiate start, completed 10 of 15 passes for only 79 yards.

"We figured our best chance to win today was to play ball control," IUP coach Lou Tepper said. "Trying to shorten the game and keeping the ball away from them was key."

IUP put together two lengthy scoring drives on the day. Teddy Blakeman's 2-yard run capped an 11-play, 65-yard drive that ate 6:47 off the clock in the first quarter.

The score remained 7-0 until a Crig Burgess 25-yard field goal with 14:54 left in the game capped a 13-play, 61-yard drive that took 5:53 off the clock.

"The way our defense was playing, I liked our chances once we got to 10 points," Tepper said. "Our front four is the strength of our defense.

"They were coming off blocks and making plays along the line of scrimmage to control their running game."

Akeem Satterfield was the only running back The Rock used all day. He was limited to 56 yards on 27 carries. Quarterback Ryan Sabo was sacked four times, dropping SRU's net rushing yardage to 24 for the day.

"There was no need to change backs. Akeem wasn't doing anything wrong," Mihalik said. "He just didn't have any room.

"Our defense did a good job of keeping us in the game. But when we needed to get the ball back (late), we couldn't get our defense off the field."

Sabo completed only 10 of 30 passes for 119 yards.

"Our defense gave us chances to win. We just didn't get the job done," Sabo said. "Plays were there in the passing game, but our execution wasn't."

With less than a minute to play, Tobias Robinson capped the scoring by returning an interception 75 yards for a Crimson Hawk score. The SRU receiver fell to the turf while trying to complete his pattern on the play.

The Rock's best scoring opportunity occurred late in the first half. Sabo found Demetrius Young for a 45-yard bomb down to the IUP 5-yard line. Satterfield was nailed for a 3-yard loss on first down and two incompletions followed.

Sabo was flagged for intentionally grounding on the second incompletion and C.J. Bahr's 37-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left. Burgess missed a 42-yard attempt wide left from that same end of the field earlier.

Robert Doiley, who had 95 yards in punt return yardage for The Rock, returned a punt 42 yards to the IUP 26 with six seconds left in the half. Mihalik elected to try a pass to the end zone rather than a field goal from there.

"The wind was affecting the kicking game too much there" he said.

SRU travels to Clarion for a 2 p.m. kickoff Saturday.

"We'll see how we handle adversity now," Sabo said. "This is a character test for us because we haven't faced adversity like this until now."

Notes: Both teams punted eight times. ... IUP had not blanked SRU since a 38-0 decision in 1991 at Miller Stadium. ... Zach Sheridan led SRU with 12 tackles and Andre Freeman recovered a fumble for The Rock.

Indiana 17, SRU 0Slippery Rock 0 0 0 0 — 0Indiana 7 0 0 10 — 17SRU IUP11 First Downs 1133-24 Rushes-Yards 41-158119 Passing Yards 7910-30-1 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 10-15-0143 Total Yards 2374-2 Fumbles-Lost 3-26-67 Penalties-Yards 7-83

First QuarterIUP — Teddy Blakeman 2 run (Craig Burgess kick), :48

Fourth QuarterIUP — Burgess 25 field goal, 14:54IUP — Tobias Robinson 75 interception return (Burgess kick), :45

Individual StatisticsPassing: SRU, Ryan Sabo 10-30-119-1. IUP, Bop Napoleon 10-15-79-0.

Rushing: SRU, Akeem Satterfield 27-56, Ryan Sabo 6-(-32). IUP, Teddy Blakeman 24-87, James Johnson 13-52, Pat Brewer 2-15, Bo Napoleon 2-4.

Receiving: SRU, Devin Goda 5-52, Akeem Satterfield 3-14, Demetrius Young 1-45, Mike Bongivengo 1-8. IUP, Javon Rowan 4-40, Larry Federoff 3-26, Darryl Herod 3-13.