After 10 weeks, Ball State University football players and coaches will receive their first bye week of the fall.
Though football teams have mixed feelings toward bye weeks, Cardinal coach Brady Hoke said his team is in need of a break before playing its last two games of the season.
"I think this is a good break for us," Hoke said. "The kids need to get away from me, and I need to get away from them a little bit."
Even though the Cardinals don't have a lot of players with serious injuries, most of the players have soreness from the physical toll of the last 10 weeks.
Freshman running back Frank Edmonds has one of the more serious injuries with a fractured bone in his wrist from a game at the University of Illinois two weeks ago. Edmonds played last week at Indiana University and will play next Tuesday against the University of Toledo.
Senior captain and starting linebacker Cortlan Booker said the players will use the bye week to recuperate.
"After going through 10 weeks of the season, I feel this bye week is well deserved," Booker said. "We have some people who are banged up, and with football, that's the way it is. I haven't played a game at 100 percent [health] since the beginning of the season, and I'm sure many people are the same way. So it's going to be nice to get a couple days off."
The Cardinals' bye week comes after back-to-back losses to the Illini and Hoosiers, both of whom are Big Ten teams.
More than the chance to rest, junior captain and starting center Dan Gerberry said the players are going to use the bye week to improve after those losses.
"Resting is nice; it's nice to get off your feet for a little bit and take a day off," Gerberry said. "But, more importantly, if the coaches tell us to be working at 6 p.m. on an off night, that's what we'll do. I think we're ready for a win more than we're ready for rest."
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