FOOTBALL: Offense boosts Ball State to 2-0 start

An hour after Saturday’s win over Army, Ball State football head coach Pete Lembo talked to the media about his quarterback, Keith Wenning.

“He’s decreasing some of the bad plays,” Lembo said. “Here we are through two games. ... No interceptions yet. That’s-”

Just then, Lembo was interrupted by a loud knocking.

Two seats over, Wenning had a small smirk on his face as he had rapped his knuckles on the wooden table on front of him.

Wenning has a reason to smirk. For the first time since the 2008 season, Ball State is undefeated through its first two games.

The offense has rolled on all cylinders since halftime of the Aug. 29 game against Illinois State.

In the last six quarters, Ball State has outscored its opponents 75-21. Expanded to the last two games, Ball State has outscored its opponents 91-42.

In the entire 2013 season, Wenning has thrown for 665 yards and five touchdowns, without throwing a single interception.

“He’s not full of himself,” Lembo said of Wenning after Saturday’s win over Army. “He doesn’t have a big ego. He takes criticism very well. He’ll be hard on himself — in a good way — about the things he didn’t do well [Saturday]. Obviously, he did a lot of very good things [Saturday].”

After the first two games of last season, Ball State was getting outscored 78-64, although most of those points came from a 52-27 beatdown by then No. 12 Clemson. Wenning had passed for 395 yards and no touchdowns, while throwing two interceptions.

Wenning and the receiving corps carried some of the offensive load for the offense when starting running back Jahwan Edwards missed Saturday’s game with concussion-like symptoms. Ball State’s rushing attack still managed 109 yards and two touchdowns — despite a lost fumble in the third quarter — but needed 30 carries between sophomore Horactio Banks and freshman Teddy Williamson.

“Other than [the fumble], I feel like I stepped up,“ Banks said.

The 91 points scored by Ball State in 2013 is the most scored by any Ball State team in its first two games.

“I’ll throw the ball to whoever’s open,” Wenning said. “If that’s a running back, if that’s any of the receivers, it just depends on my reads.”

Apparently, the player who has been the most open for Wenning is junior wide receiver Willie Snead. Snead leads the team with 14 catches for 228 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his first two games this season.

After two games last season, Snead had 10 catches for 101 yards and no touchdowns.

In the 2008 season, Ball State continued its undefeated tear through the schedule all the way to December before losing in the Mid-American Conference Championship game to Buffalo.

At 2-0 for the first time since that season, Ball State’s spirits are as high as its hopes for the rest of the year.

Knock on wood.