DEKALB, Ill. – In a game that saw Ball State score a long touchdown on fourth down and have a fake punt run of 68 yards, it still couldn't overcome Northern Illinois' high-scoring offense on Tuesday evening.
After Ball State took a 38-35 lead earlyin the fourth quarter, Northern Illinois engineered two drives from its own 20-yard line and converted two field goals, one from 23-yards, the other a game-winning 34-yarder with eight seconds left on the clock.
"We put ourselves in a position to have a chance to win it," coach Pete Lembo said. "We tried to make all the stops to make it happen. In the end, they were able to make more plays than we were."
Throughout the season, Ball State has been conservative when deciding on going for it on fourth down. Facing a fourth-and-three from the Northern Illinois 38 in the second quarter, Lembo decided to go for it.
The decision paid off, as sophomore quarterback Keith Wenning found sophomore wide receiver Jamill Smith for a deep pass, scoring a 38-yard touchdown to take a 21-14 lead.
"It wasn't designed like that," Wenning said. "Jamill and I made communication together and took a chance. We've done that in practice a few times, so it was just us being on the same page and making a play."
The second risky decision Lembo made was a fake punt call on fourth-and-five from the Ball State 30. Junior punter Scott Kovanda ran the ball down the left side and nearly took it the distance before being tripped up at the Huskie's two-yard line. Three plays later, Wenning found sophomore wide receiver Jack Tomlinson for a touchdown to put Ball State's lead at 17 points.
Lembo said he was comfortable making the fake punt call.
"We came in and had it prepared," he said. "Our players knew there was a good chance we were going to call that play."
After the touchdown, Northern Illinois, led by quarterback Chandler Harnish took control of the game, scoring touchdowns on three of its next four drives.
Tied at 38, Ball State took possession at its own 35-yard line with 2:46 left in the game. The offense played hurry up, but the drive stalled once it got inside Northern Illinois territory. Northern Illinois got the ball back with 1:44 left and two timeouts, just enough time to work a game-winning drive and ultimately ending Ball State's chances at a Mid-American Conference Championship.
"We were eight-of-nine on two minute drives coming into the game," Lembo said. "We had our chance to go down and kick our field goal and we didn't get it done. What you hope going into a game like this is that you can make enough plays to win it in the fourth quarter and we did that."
Northern Illinois is a win over Eastern Michigan away from defending its MAC West Division Championship. Lembo acknowledged it will be some time before his team will be at the level of Northern Illinois.
"We have a lot to learn and a long way to go before we become like the program we just played," he said. "Sometimes you need to be in these situations, sometimes you break through and sometimes you don't. We certainly won more than our fair share of close games this year. This particular one we didn't make enough plays down the stretch to get it done."
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