On a hot, clear day in Muncie, Indiana, the Ball State Cardinals (2-3, 1-0 MAC) would best the favored Ohio Bobcats (3-3, 1-1 MAC) with a tough, gritty performance to open MAC play as winners, taking the lead for the first time with 57 seconds remaining to win 20-14 in front of the home crowd.
The game was a tale of two halves, with the Bobcats winning the first half while Ball State owned the second half.
The contest began with some undisciplined defensive play by the Cardinals early in the first
quarter, which aided Ohio QB Parker Navarro in rushing for 63 yards on the Bobcats’ first two drives. However, the Bobcats found issues of their own, with 25 yards worth of penalties, a missed 49-yard field goal, and a stuffed run on fourth-and-short in the redzone by a determined BSU defense.
The missed opportunities would come back to haunt the ‘Cats in the end.
As for the home team, BSU’s offense started deep in its territory and struggled to get any kind of offense going, looking off-schedule early on.
The net result of the early action was a field position win for Ohio, who took advantage of starting at the 50-yard line by scoring a touchdown in just five plays. The key was a 37-yard post pass from Navarro to Chase Hendricks to get to the BSU two-yard line. True sophomore RB Duncan Brune, the pride of Cologne, Germany, left the Bobcats smelling sweet with a short run into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Moving into the second quarter, the game settled once again into a field position battle, with Ohio’s offense overcoming execution errors and penalties to move the ball near midfield before BSU’s defensive end Nathan Voorhis stopped Ohio cold with back-to-back sacks, the first of which was a coverage sack.
The ‘Cats offense kept plugging away, overcoming some stiff BSU resistance and missed opportunities in the pass game to extend the lead to 14-0 on 23-yard touchdown on a strike from Navarro to receiver Rodney Harris II, who powered through defenders for the final few yards. The scoring play overcame a third-and-15 scenario.
In the waning moments of the second quarter, the Cardinals put together their best drive of the first half, getting inside the Bobcats one yard line, first and ten. With its back to the wall, Ohio’s defense responded ferociously, stoning Ball State on four straight plays to preserve the 14-0 lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, the Cardinals gained a momentum they would never relinquish, chipping away at the deficit to get the winning score with just 57 seconds remaining.
The Cardinals late first half offensive momentum continued into the third quarter as BSU rang up 10 points to make the score 14-10 heading into the fourth quarter. The first scoring opportunity arrived at the end of an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Qian Magwood’s highlight reel one-handed catch on third down set up the Cards beautifully, with QB Kiael Kelly bursting through the middle for a 13-yard score on fourth-and-two to help bridge the gap.
Placekicker Carson Holmer would boot a short field goal right after to get BSU within a score.
A big special teams sequence in the fourth proved to be the turning point. A BSU punt was left unfielded by Ohio and eventually downed inside the one-yard line. On the next play, Parker Navarro failed to corral a low, bouncing snap off the turf, leading to a safety after an Ohio player jumped on the errant ball in the endzone to put the score at 14-12.
The score remained the same until the Cardinals’ final possession, where the Cards battled their way down field to take the lead with under a minute remaining. Magwood would prove to be the hero once again, winding his way through several attempted Bobcat tackles to score from 43 yards out and put the Cards up 20-14 after a successful two-point conversion.
Ohio drove down the field in the last minute but was unable to corral a hail mary in the end zone on the game’s last play.
Notes
Hats off to the Ball State Cardinals, who showed their mettle by defeating the defending champs with a great effort. BSU’s defense played a whale of a game, holding one of the MAC’s most explosive offenses to just 14 points.
In the second half, the Cardinals’ defense shut out the Bobcats’ vaunted offense, forcing three punts, a turnover on downs, and a safety. DE Nate Voorhis led the charge with eight tackles and 3.5 sacks.
The home team’s offense found its stride in the second half, scoring 20 points with three out of five drives for points. The whole offense picked it up, led by QB Kiael Kelly’s 96 yards rushing and WR Qian Magwood’s four catches for 92 yards and a touchdown.
The Cards were fearless throughout the game— even at points in the game where they failed to execute. For instance, head coach Mike Uremovich’s decision to go for the touchdown on fourth-and-four instead of kicking the field goal on their last first-half possession felt like the right call based on Ohio’s play to that point, and set the tone for the rest of the contest.
The Bobcats mantra is “Ohio doesn’t beat Ohio,” but, with full respect for BSU’s effort, that’s what seemed to have happened today in a close game. Such a performance had been coming for a while after sloppy play against Bowling Green and West Virginia in previous weeks, but it is shocking it happened so early in the conference slate. In the first half, Ohio was unable to score points with multiple great opportunities. Other drives were impacted by execution errors or penalties at critical times which were not caused by Ball State.
On the positive side, Ohio was excellent defensively in the first half, holding the run-focused Cardinals to negative one yard rushing in the first 19 minutes and holding the Cardinals scoreless on a first and ten inside Ohio’s one yard line.
We will see if Ohio can bounce back at home as the Bobcats host the Northern Illinois Huskies at a time and channel to be determined. Ball State heads to Western Michigan to tangle with a surging Broncos squad next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
