Just three days away from making his Football Bowl Subdivision coaching debut against Indiana, coach Pete Lembo feels as if he's done this time and time again. After practice Tuesday evening, he sat in his chair in his office calm and collected.
"This is eleven years of being a head coach, it's exciting to be here," Lembo said. "It's business as usual and another day at the office, so to speak."
Ball State spent Sunday's practice installing the game plan for Indiana, and Tuesday was spent furthering the installation. Lembo stressed the importance of the tempo in practice throughout the week and wanted his players to feel a sense of urgency.
To simulate the crowd noises the team anticipates at Lucas Oil Stadium, speakers were brought into practice and blared music and sounds that resembled a crowd cheering with noisemakers. Two notable songs played on the speakers were Kanye West's "Power" and the Indiana school fight song.
"Anytime we'll be going somewhere where we think it will be really loud like South Florida, certainly Oklahoma or even a home game, we'll bring in some crowd noise," Lembo said. "What it does at practice, it forces the guys to focus."
Tuesday's practice was the first time this preseason Lembo brought in simulated crowd noise to practices. He said he was pleased with how focused his team was because there was only one procedural penalty and said it showed the maturity of his team.
The team will practice again today, where it will be similar to Tuesday's practice. Thursday, the team will practice under the lights at Scheumann Stadium so the players can get the experience of playing at the same time of day as Saturday's game.
Lembo said the remaining practices will be more focused on team drills and situations such as third downs, redzones and two-minute offenses.
Friday, Ball State will do a walk-through at Lucas Oil Stadium. Lembo said the walk-through will help his team get used to the environment of an NFL stadium.
"It's important that they see [Lucas Oil Stadium] Friday to get used to the surroundings, so when they come out of the tunnel on Saturday, it's not a big deal," he said.
"The field's the same length and the same width and the hashes are in the same spot. The goal posts are in the same spot, so we're not going to make a big deal out of it."
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