Virginia might be a team from the Bowl Championship Series, but that doesn’t phase Ball State as it prepares for this Saturday’s game.
In the last two seasons, the Ball State (4-1, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) has won three games against teams from BCS qualifying conferences — twice beating Indiana and a win over South Florida.
In the week’s practice leading up to Saturday, the Cardinals are preparing for the Cavaliers (2-2, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) just like any other team.
“To me football is football,” defensive end Jonathan Newsome said. “You can sit here and say BCS, but to me that really doesn’t mean anything. There’s teams from the 1-AA level that beat BCS level teams. You just have to treat every team the same.”
It’s that mindset Ball State takes against BCS level opponents that allows the team to compete and even beat the higher level teams.
Head coach Pete Lembo installed the mindset from the beginning, which saw Ball State beat Indiana 27-20 in his first game with the team back in 2011.
But the impact of a win against Virginia isn’t being ignored even as Ball State prepares.
“It’ll show guys that we can play,” running back Jahwan Edwards said. “It doesn’t matter who the team is, we’ll do what we do. And that’s play hard and with passion.”
Ball State is 3-3 against teams from the BCS under Lembo. The losses include games against Oklahoma and Clemson, who were No. 1 and No. 12 in the country. The third loss came against South Florida in Lembo’s second game at Ball State.
Before Lembo arrived, Ball State had only one win against a BCS-level team — a 42-20 road win over Indiana in 2008.
The Cardinals will be tasked with finding a way to rack up yards and points against a Cavaliers defense that’s allowing only 299.3 yards per game this season.
Virginia’s offense has struggled to score points this season, averaging 20 points a game through four games.
Sophomore quarterback David Watford, who has thrown for 604 yards with three touchdowns and six interceptions, leads the Virginia offense.
“There’s nothing to be intimidated by,” Newsome said. “All it is is a BCS title next to their name. You give us a couple more thousand students and we’ll be a BCS team.”
If Ball State is able to pull off the road win at Scott Stadium Saturday, most might see it as an upset win. Ball State feels they have the talent level to beat Virginia on the road, but if the media will call it an upset, the team will too.
“Just cause they’re at the big level, they get to play on TV and play in front of large crowds,” Edwards said. “Nothing to take away from Ball State, but we are the underdog. We’re just going to go in there like that and try to get this win.”
