Although the Ball State University football team all ready played a Mid-American Conference opponent earlier in the year, the team still wasn't done with its out of conference schedule.
Now that it is, coach Brady Hoke is glad that the conference schedule is here to stay.
"There's not a team on the schedule that can't beat us, and there's not a team on the schedule that we can't beat," he said of the remaining opponents.
After playing what he called the toughest schedule in the country, Hoke said the Cardinals are ready to play against conference opponents. Ball State (0-4 overall, 0-1 MAC) will start by traveling to Western Michigan this weekend.
"I think our kids need a win," Hoke said. "It wears on us [coaches], and I think it wears on them a little bit. They need some confidence."
In out-of-conference play, the Cardinals were outscored, 157-3.
"To a degree, we get to wipe the slate a little bit clean and move on from here, hopefully get most of our players back, and then see if we can get better every week through the season," quarterbacks coach Stan Parrish said.
Western Michigan (3-2 overall, 1-1 MAC) has won three games in a row. With one of the conference's better wide receivers, the Broncos have shown signs of turning around a program that finished 1-10 overall last year and 0-8 in the MAC.
Receiver Greg Jennings tops the MAC in several categories so far this season. Hoke said Jennings is as good as Bowling Green receivers Charles Sharon and Steve Sanders, who combined for 239 receiving yards against Ball State on Sept. 10.
"Jennings could play at a Big Ten school," Hoke said. "He's got that kind of ability."
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