I haven't been following Ball State so thought I'd start a thread so we can begin discussing our next opponent.

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We can expect them to score more than 13 points.

QB Riley Neal is solid. I watched a little bit of them last night against Kent. Also, their RB's are good too. They seem to be more outside runners rather than your traditional pound it up the middle. They are fast.

I also watched a little bit of the Notre Dame game and these guys are going to bring it. Lots of energy and they play to win. It could be another grinder. Not your typical Ball State team. Lots of energy on defense too.

We got to pound Harbs and keep their offense on the sideline.

I haven't been following Ball State either. However, considering their QBs (mostly Riley Neal) were 32 for 52 with 446 yards against Kent St. last week, and we are more susceptible to the pass versus the run, I am expecting a pass heavy attack.

PAIN

Rod says they're the best Offense we've faced this year.

That being said, I expect the Bronze Stalk will be on the bus home to DeKalb.

Continuing my research from the other thread, Ball St is #32 in the country for total offense at 471 yards/game.

The caveat is they did play a few cupcakes in Cent. Conn. St and Kent st along with ND, Indiana and Western Ky.

Their defense sits at #96 giving up 413 yards/game.

Fyi... Toledo and Ohio are worse at #109 and 125 respectively so winning the MAC West is still in play.

I know stats lie but from my perspective NIU is in very good position and if the QB grows and defense stays healthy I'll see you in Detroit in early December.

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This type of game is all about long sustained drives that result in TDs. This keeps the opposing offense off the field while methodically wearing fown the defense. I'm guessing it's all about the run this week.

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(10-02-2018 06:32 PM)NIUTrekker Wrote:  This type of game is all about long sustained drives that result in TDs. This keeps the opposing offense off the field while methodically wearing fown the defense. I'm guessing it's all about the run this week.

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Worked against EMU, in the first half, anyway. Childers had a few good runs for first downs.

(10-02-2018 06:32 PM)NIUTrekker Wrote:  This type of game is all about long sustained drives that result in TDs. This keeps the opposing offense off the field while methodically wearing fown the defense. I'm guessing it's all about the run this week.

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A win

Sounds like if we don't generate turnovers we could be in trouble. The offense will continue to be a problem unless we can find some consistency to sustain drives and create more than just two or three big plays per game. I still don't understand why we don't run more play action. We ran it four or five times against CMU with great success then against FSU and EMU, nothing. (So much for the RPO on every single Harbison run, LOL) Hopefully, we'll see the OL balling to spring Harbison, but I have a feeling Ball State will be ready for a heavy dose of Harbs. Our offensive staff will have to come up with more than give the ball to Harbs 30 times to win this game and I hope they're up to the task.

40% chance of rain in Muncie on Saturday. Might not be the worst thing since they pass and we don't.

(10-02-2018 10:23 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  Rod says they're the best Offense we've faced this year.

That being said, I expect the Bronze Stalk will be on the bus home to DeKalb.

This is coachspeak. Ball State lost to a 1-4 WKU team that lost to FCS Maine, who just got beat badly by Yale. Carey is very effective at building up his opponents. This should be an easy victory.

(10-04-2018 02:26 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2018 10:23 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  Rod says they're the best Offense we've faced this year.

That being said, I expect the Bronze Stalk will be on the bus home to DeKalb.

This is coachspeak. Ball State lost to a 1-4 WKU team that lost to FCS Maine, who just got beat badly by Yale. Carey is very effective at building up his opponents. This should be an easy victory.

How did they stay close to ND? I didn't watch or read much.

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(10-04-2018 02:26 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2018 10:23 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  Rod says they're the best Offense we've faced this year.

That being said, I expect the Bronze Stalk will be on the bus home to DeKalb.

This is coachspeak. Ball State lost to a 1-4 WKU team that lost to FCS Maine, who just got beat badly by Yale. Carey is very effective at building up his opponents. This should be an easy victory.

While I hope you are correct, which you could be....this is the MAC, nothing is every easy it seems. They hung with ND, that could be telling.

The Cardinals' 3-4 defense frustrated senior Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush, who threw for 297 yards but finished with minus 7 yards rushing as Ball State registered four sacks and picked off three of his passes.
"I think we lacked attention to detail and focus, especially in the second half," Wimbush said

ND was up 24-6 entering the fourth.

(10-04-2018 02:28 PM)Teamduh Wrote:  

(10-04-2018 02:26 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2018 10:23 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  Rod says they're the best Offense we've faced this year.

That being said, I expect the Bronze Stalk will be on the bus home to DeKalb.

This is coachspeak. Ball State lost to a 1-4 WKU team that lost to FCS Maine, who just got beat badly by Yale. Carey is very effective at building up his opponents. This should be an easy victory.

How did they stay close to ND? I didn't watch or read much.

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(10-04-2018 02:26 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2018 10:23 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  Rod says they're the best Offense we've faced this year.

That being said, I expect the Bronze Stalk will be on the bus home to DeKalb.

This is coachspeak. Ball State lost to a 1-4 WKU team that lost to FCS Maine, who just got beat badly by Yale. Carey is very effective at building up his opponents. This should be an easy victory.

With our offense, there are no easy victories.

(10-04-2018 05:49 PM)DiehardHuskie Wrote:  

(10-04-2018 02:26 PM)Djud Wrote:  

(10-02-2018 10:23 AM)thxjoenovak Wrote:  Rod says they're the best Offense we've faced this year.

That being said, I expect the Bronze Stalk will be on the bus home to DeKalb.

This is coachspeak. Ball State lost to a 1-4 WKU team that lost to FCS Maine, who just got beat badly by Yale. Carey is very effective at building up his opponents. This should be an easy victory.

With our offense, there are no easy victories.

Agreed. In 5 games we averaged 260 yards and 16.4 points per game. In the 2 MAC games we averaged 320 yards and 25 points per game. If you don’t include the 13 points in the EMU 3 OTs we average 18.5 points per game. With our D we should be in every game, but with those numbers we will not have an easy (comfortable) victory.

Some idiot always says the MAC sucks and NIU should win in a blowout. Have they even watched a single game this year? I think Ball State has a much better chance of blowing us out. I just hope our defense can create enough turnovers for us to win. I believe Ball State will be more than ready for Harbison’s middle runs. They will bring an extra man to stop that play. They will have a set personnel and calls for Harbs. The question is how will our offensive staff react? If we rely on Childers to throw over the extra man in the interior I don’t think we will win. If we seal the interior and get Harbs out to space I think Harbs will create enough big plays for a victory. Childers won’t create enough big plays on his own. We need three or four big plays from the run game and two or three from the passing game. My guess is Ball State 31, NIU 23.
If the offensive staff actually installs a sound game plan: NIU 29, Ball State 24.