#7 Ball State averts being knocked out of ESPN’s Bottom 10 with an OT loss at Northern Illinois

            by Howie Baker, THG Sports

October 31, 2004

Ball State’s football team suffered a 38-31 overtime loss to Northern Illinois at home Saturday, their eighth loss in nine tries. 

Game summary from the Ball State football website:

"Our kids fought and fought back," BSU head coach Brady Hoke says.  "You cannot give up big plays, which we did.  The kids played extremely hard and I am proud of those kids.  We had some dumb penalties.  We did not play smart in the first half and to be a championship team you have to play smart."

With the loss, Ball State fell to 1-8 overall and 1-5 in the Mid-American Conference, while Northern Illinois improved to 7-2 overall and 6-0 in league play.

Ball State tallied the first score of the game on a 27-yard Brian Jackson field goal early in the game and then the Huskies managed 21 straight points and took a 21-3 lead with 4:05 left in the first half.  But a Terry Moss 94-yard kickoff return with 3:53 to go in the first stanza pulled the Cardinals within 21-10 at the half.

"Our defense struggled in the first half," Hoke says.  "In the second half we tackled and did a great job defensively.  Northern Illinois played hard."

Ball State started the second half scoring with a 2-yard TD pass from Joey Lynch to Mike Steinhaus with 3:57 to play in the third stanza, but less than 30 seconds later, Northern Illinois answered with an 84-yard TD run and the Huskies maintained a 28-17 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Lynch, who completed 31-of-48 passes for 244 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions, connected with Fred Biletnikoff Award Finalist Dante Ridgeway on a 10-yard scoring strike with 11:22 to play in the final regular period.  The touchdown pulled Ball State within 28-24.

"Joey Lynch did a great job of managing the offense," Hoke says. "He is a student of the game.  Being a coach's son is a part of that.  He knew his time would come around and it came around."

After an NIU field goal with 4:28 to play in regulation gave the Huskies a 31-24 advantage, Lynch led BSU on a 16-play, 84-yard scoring drive that ended with Lynch taking a quarterback sneak in from the one-yard line with 37 seconds to play.  Jackson's extra point tied the game at 31-31 and sent Ball State into the fourth overtime game in the school's history.

Northern Illinois scored on a 9-yard run on the first possession of the overtime period, while Ball State was stopped on a 4th and 3 play to end the game at 38-31 and give the Cardinals their first-ever overtime loss.

True freshman running back Adell Givens led Ball State's offensive attack with 136 yards on 35 carries.  It marked the fourth straight game Givens has rushed for 100 or more yards.  Ridgeway had 13 catches for 114 yards and one touchdown to mark his sixth straight game of at least 100 yards receiving.  In addition, with 114 yards, Ridgeway now has 1,103 receiving yards this season and he has become the only player in Ball State history to have two 1,000-yard seasons in a career plus set the school's single-season record, breaking the old mark of 1,075 he set last year.

With a win, the Cardinals could have moved out of ESPN’s Bottom 10, a list of the worst football schools in Division I-A.  Instead, BSU will more than likely keep their #7 spot in the ranking since all of the schools lower ranked either lost or had a bye week. 

Ball State’s only win this season came against Western Michigan, a 41-14 blowout against the team that is currently ranked #4 in the Bottom 10.  They will try for win number two in two weeks when the take on Bottom 10 #1 Central Florida at 4 pm in Muncie.

The “Mighty MAC” hasn’t been so mighty this year, with Kent State and Buffalo also ranked as two of the ten worst.

To see ESPN’s Bottom 10, click here.

Copyright © 2003-2004 The Hoosier Gazette ● Disclaimer