Jahwan Edwards has been relied upon a lot this season. The junior running back’s team-leading 127 carries for 659 yards and 12 touchdowns are evidence of that. In Saturday’s 42-24 win over the University of Akron, Ball State perhaps relied on him more than other games this season.
“Jahwan is feeling pretty good right now,” Ball State head coach Pete Lembo said. “This is his kind of day.”
Despite senior quarterback Keith Wenning’s five touchdown passes, Ball State needed Edwards and the rest of the rushing attack to pound out tough yards and keep the clock running.
Nursing a lead from the opening drive, Ball State rushed for 157 yards on 37 carries. Edwards accounted for 120 of those yards.
On the game’s first drive, the offense moved the ball to the red zone in just six plays. Wenning threw a 12-yard touchdown to junior wide receiver Willie Snead to get on the board first.
On Ball State’s next drive, Wenning hit Snead for another touchdown. This time, it was 6 yards in the back left corner of the end zone on a back shoulder fade.
Snead located the ball over his shoulder and reached out with his right arm, bringing the ball in for a one-handed catch.
“I had a very good view,” Lembo said. “It was pretty neat to see. … Keith put the ball where it was either going to be incomplete or a catch. And it was a pretty special catch.”
Sophomore running back Horactio Banks missed the game. He attended the funeral of Eastern Michigan University wide receiver Demarius Reed, with whom Banks played high school football at Simeon High School.
“It’s totally understandable that Horactio wanted to be home and be with friends and family throughout that tragedy,” Lembo said. “We fully support him.”
He acknowledged that Banks’ absence could affect the offense against Akron.
“You pull one piece out, and you never know if that’s going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back going into these games,” Lembo said. “We already have a handful of guys out, injury wise. So it was very nice to get a win in light of Horactio not being in the lineup.”
Without Banks on the field, freshman running back Teddy Williamson received more carries than he has in past games. Senior tight end Zane Fakes also carried the ball for the Cardinals, rushing three times for 21 yards.
“He was just falling forward, picking those knees up,” Edwards said. “Doing what we do.”
He’s more than capable to do what Edwards does coming out of the backfield. Fakes played running back at Plainfield High School. He rushed for 3,700 yards in high school, adding 50 touchdowns.
“I think he’s averaging more yards-per-carry than I am,” Edwards said, with a smile.
Fakes took his first collegiate carry Sept. 14 at North Texas.
The temperature of the game was reported at 42 degrees with 18 mph wind, which Lembo said factored into thinking for the game.
“It affected some calls,” he said. “I don’t think it hurt Keith a lot in terms of the shorter or intermediate throws.”
Wenning said if a throw affected him, he had to forget about it and move on to another play.
“They did a good job of keeping us warm on the sideline,” Edwards said.
Despite Ball State’s imposing record and the raw offensive numbers it has the ability to post, Lembo wasn’t surprised at the fight Akron was able to put up.
“It sort of played out like we hoped it would,” he said. “I don’t think we had a lot of unrealistic delusions of being a whole lot better than them. We knew how much talent they had.”
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