Art of play in progress from Ball State vs. Army

More than a hundred individual plays create the makeup of a football game. In the beginning of the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, Ball State had a 37-14 lead over Army when quarterback Keith Wenning found sophomore wide receiver Jordan Williams for a 31-yard gain. However, many other factors contributed to the result of the play. Facing pressure from the defense, Wenning and Williams reacted and improvised to make the play bigger than what it could’ve been.

“We always practice and practice scramble,” Williams said. “It’s in my mind, since we’ve been through it so many times just to go deep when I have to adjust to what he’s doing. It’s just thinking on the run.”

Following the game, the players and head coach Pete Lembo credited the repetition of the play for its success.

“It’s continuity,” Lembo said. “It’s working with each other. It’s the same coaches and players. What you saw is the result of guys being on the same page and reacting in a hundredth of a second exactly the way they’re supposed to react. That was good to see.”



1. Following a 10-yard run by freshman running back Teddy Williamson, Ball State hurries up the line for the next play, rushing Army to get into its defensive set. The Ball State offense faces a first and 10 at the Army 36-yard line.

2. Quarterback Keith Wenning is in the shotgun, with Williamson to the left of him. Sophomore Jordan Williams is split wide right, with senior Connor Ryan wide left and senior Jamill Smith and junior Willie Snead in the slot left.

3. The Army defense was in a variation of its double eagle flex defensive scheme, with three down linemen and three linebackers on the field.

4. At the snap, Williamson engages the defensive line to protect Wenning as he goes through his reads. Ryan runs forward 5 yards and back toward the line of scrimmage. Snead does the same. Smith runs to the 30-yard line, then plants his right foot and begins to run a corner route. Williams also runs 5 yards in route.

5. Wenning surveys the field and rolls to his right. As he runs, he looks at Williams still in his route. Wenning signals for Williams to go long.

6. Williams turns and runs along the right sideline with the defender in chase. Wenning, on the run, throws a pass in Williams’ direction.

7. Williams looks over his left shoulder and locates the ball. He readjusts his course and grabs the ball on an over the shoulder catch.

8. As he makes the catch, he falls out of bounds at the 5-yard line, sliding both feet in bounds to complete the play.