Heartbreak on the Hoosier Home Turf

Ball State came into this game being touted as a top 25 team. The Hoosier Nation scoffed.

We scoff no more.

Even with the terrifying loss of Dante Love, who went down early in the second quarter, and did not move, Ball State was simply unstoppable. Man after man on the Hoosier defense fell. Even in the final moments, starters were on the field, risking injury, despite being down 22 points. Kellen Lewis took a hit with under a minute remaining that simply took my breath away.

I hate to constantly second guess coaching decisions. I’m not a “technical” football person. I’m a fan, with a fair level of knowledge of the game. I’m comfortable calling things like I see them. What I saw here was what was left of our starting lineup at risk for injury when the game was clearly beyond our reach. We had already lost a number of key players, and clearly had lost the game. Why our coaches would continue to put what was left of our starters out there was truly beyond me. The hit on Kellen was the icing on the cake for me on that thought.

Defensively, we were weak and wounded. Offensively, Kellen ran well, but at times looked injured when trying to pass. I could have thrown some of those passes. (I will bravely admit; I am the poster child of “throws like a girl”.) A number of penalties were painful, but again, a coaching decision jumps out at me on one specific flag- Ben Chappell is put in to punch us across the line for a first down on a fourth and one call. We jumped. You have a new guy with a new rhythm in there to call the snap? That’s ASKING for us to jump. Cadence means a lot, and those guys were used to Kellen at that point. Seven penalties. Nearly 80 yards worth. That’s significant.

Statistically, this game was much closer than the score would show. Total yards were neck and neck, with BSU at 461 to IU’s 414. Time of possession was also close, 31:38 vs. 28:22, with a slight advantage to BSU. Two turnovers a piece. Even the passing game looks close on the surface, with Ball State completing 16 of 25, to IU’s 12 of 26. Yardage was the difference there, at 240 vs. 168. You wouldn’t look at those stats and think you had a final score of 42-20. But we did. We got it handed to us.

Also of note: Austin Starr missed a field goal. (Hello. That doesn’t happen. Indicative of the whole game, perhaps?)

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