INDIANAPOLIS – Since he arrived as Ball State coach back in December, the talk of coach Pete Lembo's hiring was the new offense he was bringing to the Cardinals.
Saturday night against Indiana, it may have been his defense that led Ball State to a 27-20 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The Hoosiers started the game with a 15 play, 76-yard touchdown drive that was no-huddle and at times, a no-signal offense. Lembo said his team has chances to make plays on the first defensive drive but thought his player's emotions took over.
"Some of our older guys are very passionate about playing Indiana," Lembo said. "For whatever reason, they were involved in the game a few years ago or maybe being from the same state, I thought we were a little geeked up early."
Indiana's second touchdown, a 65-yard pass from quarterback Edward Wright-Baker to Demarlo Belcher, may not have happened it Ball State's defense had executed on the previous play.
Had linebacker Tony Martin not dropped an interception that would have gone for a touchdown the previous play, the Cardinals could have gone up 14-7. Instead, it led to 14-7 Indiana lead.
"That's football right there," Lembo said. "That's what we told the kids that tonight would be like. We told them there's going to be highs and lows when you're playing a Big Ten team."
Belcher's touchdown would be the last time the Hoosiers would get into the end zone. Lembo said after that play his defense settled down and found a groove, only allowing a 49-yard field goal with 3:17 remaining for the rest of the half.
In the second half, Ball State's defense gave Indiana problems the rest of the game. The Hoosiers' only points of the second half came off a 27-yard field goal with 59 seconds to play and only a Ball State onside recovery away from sealing the win.
"I thought we got a really good pass rush," Lembo said. "I thought we forced a lot of scrambles."
Even with the defensive effort, Lembo said he thought his team could do a better job on not coming off guys during scrambles.
"But we blitzed a lot tonight," he said.
Perhaps the biggest defensive play of the game came when Indiana had a third down on the Ball State 12-yard line. Wright-Baker scrambled to his left and attempted to receiver Dre Muhammad making a run towards the corner of the end zone. He threw the ball, only to have safety Sean Baker come in and knock the ball out-of-bounds, forcing a fourth down.
The play forced Indiana to kick a field goal and set up a critical onside kick situation, which Ball State eventually recovered.
"That's my job, it's my coverage," Baker said. "Coach taught me the right techniques and I just made a play for my team."
The Lembo era opens with Ball State's second ever victory over a BCS school. While Lembo's offense did 383 total yards on offense, holding Indiana to only a field goal in the second half is what led to Ball State opening its season with a victory.
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