His part of the postgame press conference complete, Sean Baker pushed his chair back from the table and left the room. Attention shifted from the fifth-year senior to a trio of Ball State's offensive stars, both present and future. Quarterback Keith Wenning, a sophomore, fielded questions as wide receiver Willie Snead and running back Jahwan Edwards, both freshmen, waited their turn.
All three had played key roles in Ball State's 48-21 destruction of Army earlier Saturday afternoon. All three had performances that will stand in the Cardinals' record book for a long time, their names joining the program's biggest stars including Nate Davis, Dante Ridgeway and Michael Blair.
Saturday was a day to dream about what the future might hold for Ball State football while still reveling in the present. Even coach Pete Lembo couldn't stop himself from daydreaming.
"Hopefully 2013 will be a lot of fun around here," Lembo said.
What, exactly, had the young trio done to get everyone in Muncie so excited?
Well, Wenning threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns. He became the first Cardinal to throw for 300 yards in a game since Nate Davis did in 2008 and just the 11th in program history. Snead caught 10 passes for 180 yards, the 11th highest total in program history. Edwards ran for 64 yards and three touchdowns, becoming just the fourth player to run for three touchdowns in a game in program history.
This isn't the way Lembo would prefer to be playing games. He has repeatedly said his ideal starting lineup is full of upperclassmen, many of whom spent a year redshirting. That, however, is not an option for his first year as Ball State's coach.
"They're who we have right now, so you have to get them ready and you have to be hard on them," Lembo said. "But you also realize they're 18, 19 years old and you have to be very careful how much you ask them to do. That's the tight rope we walk around here every day."
So far, Lembo's balancing act has been a success. Wenning has yet to throw an interception after throwing 14 of them a year ago. Edwards leads the team in rushing and scoring. And despite only catching one pass in the first two games, Snead leads the Cardinals in receiving yards and is just one reception shy of the team lead in that category.
As good as everything seems right now for Ball State, there are storms coming in the final two months of the season and Lembo knows it. The three teams the Cardinals have beaten have a combined record of 3-9 and two of those victories came against teams from the Football Championship Subdivision. The schedule will get much tougher in the next few weeks as Ball State visits No. 2 Oklahoma on Saturday before playing Mid-American Conference title contenders Temple and Ohio.
"We knew this was a big game for us because we've got some really tough tests ahead of us, both out of conference and in conference," Lembo said. "We felt like if there was some way we could get this one, that would prepare us for some of the challenges and some of the adversity that inevitably is going to arise here."
Should Ball State's surprising success continue this season, it likely will be because of the continued contributions from Wenning, Edwards and Snead. Wenning and Edwards have been a consistent driving force of the offense since Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium, while Snead has only recently stepped into the spotlight.
Snead is aware of his late arrival to the party, but is confident their success can continue, no matter the opponent.
"Game after game, they've just been consistent with their play and I'm just happy to be a part of it," Snead said. "I feel like we can do some great things."
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