FOOTBALL: Ball State drives collapse due to turnovers in loss to North Texas

For the first two games of the season, Keith Wenning had been the model of consistency for Ball State. The senior quarterback had thrown five touchdowns and no interceptions.

Wenning started the game against North Texas as he has played all season, going 17-of-25 for 193 yards and two touchdowns. Then he threw his first interception.

From that throw on, he was 10-of-21 for 140 yards and two picks.

A total of five turnovers and offensive ineptitude doomed the Ball State football team as it fell to 2-1 on the season in a 34-27 loss to the North Texas Mean Green on Saturday.

“We can’t do that,” Wenning said of the turnovers. “We’re killing ourselves. That makes it tougher for our defense.”

In the second half, North Texas had nearly double the time of possession as Ball State, 19:56 to 10:04.

Ball State looked tired and worn out during the second half, needing many substitutes, but neither Wenning nor head coach Pete Lembo could attribute it to the 90 degree heat at kickoff.

“It was hotter in Muncie this past week than it was today,“ Wenning said. “That’s no excuse.“

“We lost a lot of guys today, but I’m not going to point to the heat,“ Lembo said.

Ball State scored a touchdown with 3:26 left in the first half to increase its score to 27-9.

From that point, North Texas outscored Ball State 25-0.

Jahwan Edwards missed his second straight game against North Texas with concussion issues. Also missing the game was cornerback Eric Patterson, due to a violation of team rules.

Without Edwards, Ball State’s running game suddenly stopped working after a quick burst of success on Saturday.

On starter Horactio Banks’ first three carries against North Texas, he ran for 121 yards and a touchdown.

On his next eight, he ran for 20.

“Learn,“ Banks said of his thoughts after the game. “We made a lot of mistakes.“

Many different Ball State players got nicked up during the game, including guard Jalen Schlachter and wide receiver KeVonn Mabon.

“At one point it felt like we had the JV team out there,” Lembo said.

Kicker Scott Secor missed a pair of field goals in the game, both from more than 50 yards away.

“We couldn’t finish drives,” Wenning said. “We moved the ball, we had a lot of good plays. We just couldn’t finish.”