Ball State's football team is state champion...of Michigan.
With a 38-21 win Saturday over the Central Michigan Chippewas, the Cardinals completed a sweep of their three Michigan opponents this season. The Cardinals beat Eastern Michigan 42-17 on homecoming weekend and Western Michigan 17-7 on family weekend.
Ball State jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in Saturday's game. Junior quarterback Andy Roesch led Ball State's potent offensive attack with 304 yards passing and five touchdowns. Roesch's performance made him the only quarterback in Ball State history to have thrown for five scores in a game twice. Roesch accomplished the same feat against Eastern.
"It's just another game for me," Roesch said. "I'm glad we got the win."
Ball State's win was its second in a row. The Cardinals had last weekend off because of a bye week. Roesch said the extra week of preparation helped in the victory.
"That off week was nice," Roesch said. "We put in a lot of new wrinkles. We got their protection down."
Central Michigan head coach Mike DeBord didn't let Ball State's week off become an excuse for his team. DeBord said his team's inconsistency was to blame.
"Anybody can put in a few wrinkles," DeBord said. "We just didn't execute."
Central's defense had trouble executing all game, Ball State head coach Bill Lynch said. The Chippewa defensive backfield left Ball State receivers open throughout the majority of the game. Four of Roesch's touchdown passes went to wide open receivers. One wideout who continued to find holes in the Central Michigan defense was freshman Dante Ridgeway.
Ridgeway had a career day, catching 10 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns.
Lynch knew Ridgeway was having a good game, but it wasn't until afterward that he found out how good.
"Wow!" Lynch said as he looked at the stat sheet. "He had ten catches? He did have a good game."
Lynch did not deny that Roesch and Ridgeway played well, but he also praised the offensive line and the defense. Lynch said there were several things to like about Saturday's game.
The offensive line allowed only two sacks on the game. Roesch took the blame for one of them, though.
The defense also did its share to secure a Ball State victory. It held an offense that averaged 397.6 yards coming into the game to 332 all-purpose yards. Running back Robbie Mixon, who ran for 337 yards against Eastern two weeks ago, struggled to reach 59 yards rushing.
Ball State tailback Marcus Merriweather ran for 129 yards on 29 carries. This was no easy accomplishment because Central boasted the second-best rushing defense in the conference.
"When people think about Ball State, they think about Marcus Merriweather," Lynch said. "We knew Central was the second best run defense in the league coming in, and we didn't have any ideas that we were going to come up here and pound them."
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