In his weekly teleconference through the Mid-American Conference, Ball State coach Pete Lembo said he was bothered by his team's loss to Kent State, but his focus was on Northern Illinois.
The reason why he was still stuck on the loss was the mental mistakes and the performance of the defense, especially on Kent State's game-winning drive.
"This was one of our most disappointing performances," Lembo said. "Usually by Monday morning I've moved on, but I'm still sick to my stomach about some of the mistakes we made."
Lembo has always prided himself on having a solid special teams unit, and Ball State has been able to get solid kickoff returns from wide receiver Jamill Smith and solid coverage on kickoffs. But the team gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown to Dri Archer, and several times he set up Kent State with excellent field position to start drives.
Despite the poor special teams and defense, Ball State still had an opportunity to win the game.
"Special teams have been a real strength, and we gave up a kickoff for a touchdown and were poor in coverage," Lembo added.
But the focus turns to MAC West rival Northern Illinois, who Ball State lost to on a field goal last season in the final seconds in DeKalb, Ill. The loss ended Ball State's chances at winning the MAC West and a trip to the MAC Championship game.
Ball State also hasn't defeated Northern Illinois since 2008.
The Huskies are now led by quarterback Jordan Lynch, who replaced former quarterback Chandler Harnish, who was drafted with the last pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. Lembo said there isn't much difference in play styles between Lynch and Harnish, which makes Northern Illinois' offense dangerous.
"They really haven't missed a beat, [Lynch and Harnish] both [are] tremendous players," he said. "They have so many weapons on offense and so many guys they can get the ball in their hands. The depth of Northern Illinois and the ability to spread the ball out is really, really impressive."
Ball State has optioned to go with a nickel defense against Northern Illinois, which means cornerback Armand Dehaney will see more playing time Saturday. It's unclear whether the decision to go with a nickel defense is from the performance against Kent State or if it's a better option to defend Northern Illinois' offense.
Either way, Lembo said he expects his team to bounce back and be prepared for Saturday.
"They'll bounce back; I don't have any doubt about that," Lembo said. "The key is we learn from these kind of experiences. I have to keep reminding myself that this is 15 games into this process. We have to keep growing and learning and maturing. Our older guys were part of teams that didn't have a lot of success here in the past. We just have to keep growing up."
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