MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - When Ball State University looks at the film from Saturday's game against Central Michigan University, it will have no one to blame but itself.
Ball State's five turnovers came courtesy of poorly thrown balls, bad judgment and a not-so-lucky break.
The backbreaker occurred in the beginning of the fourth quarter. Trailing 12-7, the Cardinals forced Central Michigan to punt.
Whether it was the 15-mph wind or human error, B.J. Hill awkwardly lunged at the ball. The ball hit his arm, making it a live ball and the Chippewas recovered. Two plays later the Cardinals were down 18-7.
At the four-minute mark in the fourth quarter with Central Michigan facing a third-and-20, Erik Keys stripped the ball from Ontario Sneed and Trey Lewis recovered for Ball State.
Instead of falling on the ball, Lewis picked it up and tried to run with it. He was then stripped of the ball and Sneed recovered, giving the Chippewas a new set of downs.
There were also some unusual coaching decisions.
All season long Ball State has lived and died with the deep ball. However, the Cardinals rarely went deep. Twelve of Nate Davis' 23 completions were five yards or less and he only averaged seven yards per completion.
"They were so far off-รก[the line of scrimmage], we just took a lot of short stuff," Davis said.
The Chippewas played a lot of deep zone, but the Cardinals chose not to exploit Central Michigan's weak pass defense, only throwing a small amount of pass attempts longer than 15 yards.
"I think the wind was a factor," Hoke said. "The ball floated a little bit more. They did a good job of doing some things to keep Darius [Hill] off-stride, getting a hand on him in the line of scrimmage and things like that."
Needing two scores and trailing 18-7, Ball State decided to go for it on fourth-and-one from the Central six-yard line instead of trying for a field goal and getting one of the two scores. Larry Bostic got two yards for the first down, but the Cardinals didn't get any points as Brad Salyer was stuffed on fourth down at the 1-yard line.
In the second quarter Hoke pulled Davis for a series and brought in Joey Lynch. Unfortunately for Lynch, the drive started on Ball State's 1-yard line.
On the second play, Lynch scrambled to his right and threw an interception on a pass intended for Terry Moss. Lynch did not see the field again.
"We weren't being very productive at the quarterback position early in the game," Hoke said. "We were trying to get a little bit of a spark and get Nate to settle down a little bit."
After a missed Central Michigan field goal, Davis came back in at quarterback. Four plays later Davis threw an interception of his own on a deep pass intended for Moss.
Ball State's final turnover came on the last drive of the game, when Davis was hit from the blind side by Daniel Bazuin and fumbled. Central Michigan's Steven Friend recovered.
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