With the non-conference portion of the season over, Ball State heads into what could be a wide-open race in the Mid-American Conference.
The majority of teams in the MAC have played only one conference game, but with non-conference results, some teams that were picked high in the preseason poll enter conference play with losing records. The early balance in the conference is something coach Pete Lembo is welcoming.
"Being new to the league, I'm very pleased to see the parity," Lembo said. "I'm pleased to see Central Michigan, who got off to a tough start, beat Northern [Illinois]; pleased to see Kent State who got off to a tough start go down to the wire with Ohio."
The equality brings in a level playing field for Ball State and gives it a chance to come away with wins in some games that would have been difficult in the preseason. Lembo said for a program that has been struggling, the similarity of the each school's season helps his team.
"For us, as a rebuilding program that has struggled the last couple of years, you know that going into any given Saturday you're gonna have a chance," he said.
Temple, Ball State's opponent this Saturday, was another team that had an impressive 38-7 win over Maryland on the road two weekends ago but had a loss at home last Saturday to Toledo 36-13. The Rockets were picked to win the MAC West Division, but a win on the road against a team who had beaten a BCS school shows the equality.
Even though the Owls are coming off a home loss, the Cardinals are expecting to see a Temple team that was capable of beating Maryland.
"You got to expect their ‘A' game," Lembo said. "Coach Addazio is a very demanding guy in a good way. I'm sure he's going to be on his guys this week to make sure that they fix the issues they had against Toledo."
Ball State will also have to make sure it corrects its issues it had from last Saturday's 62-6 loss to then-No.2 Oklahoma. The team had only 214 total yards on offense and committed four turnovers, all leading to Oklahoma touchdowns. Coach Lembo said his team isn't panicking about the struggles on offense.
But that doesn't mean he won't have his team fully prepared for Saturday.
"It continues to be more about us," he said. "You always expect the best from the opponent. You have to prepare and take care of everything so you play a great game."
The main reason Temple was able to beat Maryland was running back Bernard Pierce. Against the Terrapins, Pierce ran for 149 yards and had a school-record five rushing touchdowns. Last Saturday against Toledo, he was limited to 75 rushing yards and no touchdowns.
Lembo said the plan is to slow down Pierce because shutting him down completely is unrealistic.
"You don't stop him, you try to slow him down," he said. "He's comparable to the guys we saw at South Florida and Oklahoma. When you look at the back from Buffalo a few weeks ago, we didn't stop him, but at least he didn't tear us apart."
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