The Ball State University football team won by losing Friday in the Mid-American Conference Championship Game to the University at Buffalo. That statement sounds weird, but in a way is true. Let me explain.
If Ball State had won on Friday coach Brady Hoke in all likelihood would be screaming on the sidelines for a school in a BCS conference next season. It's no secret Hoke's stock has done the exact opposite of what the real stock market has been doing lately. He's risen to the point of being one of the most attractive mid-major coaches in the country.
With the loss there is a very high probability that Hoke will still be the Cardinals' coach next season because with the contract situation and the fact that he will likely have a couple BCS conference schools talking to him in the offseason, you just can't guarantee that Hoke will stay.
What will likely keep him here is the fact that he hasn't accomplished the goal he came to Ball State to accomplish. From day one he has preached the importance of a conference championship. By his own admission he has tunnel vision when it comes to each season and his goals, something he may have picked up from Lloyd Carr in his days at the University of Michigan.
With Friday's loss, it's not mission accomplished. Ball State won 12 of 13 games so far this season but lost the game that mattered most. Ask the players or coaches and I would bet every single one would say they would rather have gone something like 8-4 in the regular season and win the championship game than go 12-0 with no championship. They are the New England Patriots of the MAC.
As most of you know by now, Hoke isn't the only one who has a chance to go elsewhere next year. Quarterback Nate Davis announced after the game he is definitely staying for his senior season.
While I don't doubt Davis was sincere in his statement, I can't consider it a lock just yet. I interviewed him over the summer, and he said going pro would be a possibility. Many players have, in the emotion of one of their final games, said they will come back for their senior season but change their minds later.
Kevin Smith, the standout running back from the University of Central Florida, did this last year. Before UCF's bowl game he announced he would be coming back. After the bowl game he reneged on that statement and is now a Detroit Lion (ouch).
There are things an athlete has to consider. Obviously the fear of injury and costing oneself the chance to fulfill a dream comes into play, but for Davis there is another factor that will probably be more important. He has a two-year-old daughter to think about, not to mention his mother, with whom he is very close.
The question he will have to ask himself after the bowl game is "Do I come back and risk losing the chance to take care of my daughter and mother?" I know Davis pretty well between covering the team the last two years and having a class with him, and I just don't think that after the game Friday on he had enough time to fully think everything through.
Still, Davis is the type of person who, when he says something, isn't going to go back on it, so I would say there is a better than 50-50 chance he comes back.
If he does uphold his decree to come back and Hoke gets a good enough contract offer to convince him to stay, Ball State will be loaded to make its mission accomplished next season. The Cardinals will have to replace most of the secondary and most of the offensive line, but when you have a quarterback like Davis and a coach like Hoke, you will be pretty well set (not to mention MiQuale Lewis, Brandon Crawford and Sean Baker). This is all made possible with the loss on Friday, so take it as a sort of consolation prize.
Write to Levin at ltblack@bsu.edu
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