In Muncie, Ball State has a knack for upsetting strong Toledoteams, including 34-14 last season. Unfortunately for theCardinals, though, the past four trips to the Glass Bowl haveresulted in losses.
Ball State (1-3, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) will try toreverse that trend in Saturday's game with the Rockets (2-2, 1-0).Actually, playing a competitive road game would be a first, sincethe Cards lost at Purdue and Missouri by a combined 107-7.
"We haven't played good away from home," head coach Brady Hokesaid, "and that's our big challenge -- our focus, intensity andpoise."
Another challenge has been deciding who will start atquarterback. Sophomore Joey Lynch has started all four games, butfreshman Cole Stinson replaced him after two series Saturdayagainst Western Michigan. The move was planned, but Stinsonperformed so well -- 17-of-31 passing for 294 yards and threetouchdowns -- that he remained in the game, and the Cards romped,41-14.
On Monday, Hoke said a decision would be made later in the week,but Thursday he stated that the staff was still evaluating the twoand will make a game-time decision.
"It will depend on our plan offensively and what's best for theprogram," Hoke said Monday. "You want to evaluate every day, andsee who has the best ability to help your game plan."
Who will line up behind the quarterback is more settled, though.Freshman tailback Adell Givens was suspended for the first halfSaturday, but ran for 38 yards in the second half. Senior ScottBlair (65 yards against Western) and junior Charles Wynn (63) arecapable backups.
"I don't foresee it being running back-by-committee," Hoke saidafter the 41-14 victory over Western, "but we've got three guys whoare different and we like to have."
They will go up against a Rockets defense that yielded 63 pointseach to Minnesota and Kansas. On the season, the average yield is44 points and 522 yards, but that isn't what the Cardinals arelooking at.
"I don't pay attention to all that," junior receiver DanteRidgeway said. "I worry about our team and what we're doing."
The Cards' defense is coming off its best performance, havinglimited the Broncos to 89 yards on the ground 298 overall. TheToledo offense spreads the field and attacks similar to Purdue andhas put up 30.5 points per game.
Last year, BSU used sure tackling to keep the Rockets frombreaking big plays, and Hoke knows that will be the key thistime.
"When you play defense, you have to get 11 hats to the ball,"Hoke said. "You have the guys who are supposed to force the ballback inside to all the help. We'll probably be simple to somedegree because they give you a lot of formations and do a lot ofthings."
Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski has completed nearly 70percent of his passes for 1,031 yards and eight touchdowns. His topreceiver, senior Lance Moore, has 30 catches for 284 yards. QuintonBroussard and Trinity Dawson have combined for 320 yardsrushing.
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