Lembo’s Lingo
Lembo's Lingo is a weekly article, where chief football reporter David Polaski dissects statements made by Ball State head football coach Pete Lembo in his press conference.
“Ozzie Mann, the game management type of role he played on Saturday, how do you think he fared in what your expectations were?”
Lembo: “He was Ozzie, which was great … we want to see the same guy every day. Be comfortable with who you are … We need to see that same guy every day.”
David: In Saturday’s win over Colgate, Mann wasn’t asked to make a lot of big plays. He threw mostly quick slants and short passes to the flats, which was what he was asked to do. To Lembo and the coaching staff, the most important factor is that Mann stays consistent. For an offense to run effectively, coaches and players must know what to expect out of every position during each game, especially at quarterback. In order for Ball State to run an efficient offense, Lembo needs Mann to maintain the same style of play and production during both practice and games. The more the coaching staff knows what to expect from Mann, the most comfortable they’ll be.
“Does having [new starting free safety] Martez Hester starting on defense impact how you call the game at all?
Lembo: “We really felt like we had three starting safeties anyway … our depth gets challenged a little bit more [with the injury to Dae'shaun Hurley], but Hester is a very good football player and a great kid, and when we signed him out of Atlanta we really felt like we had something special.”
David: Injuries to a team are never good, but Ball State is in a position where it has depth at free safety. Last season, Hester was the starting safety until he went down, and Hurley took over. After Hester healed, he and Hurley rotated for the rest of the season. Because Hester has so much experience, there shouldn’t be much, if any of a drop off in talent, and showed speed and athletic ability against Colgate. Lembo said there won’t be a change in the way defense is called while Hester is starting, and the extent of Hurley’s injury is still unknown.
“Ball State held Colgate to just 10 points without recording a sack or turnover. Do you think you’ll need to see more of those game-changing plays against Iowa?”
Lembo: “You want to see them every week … you’d like to see some sacks and get some turnovers. That’s something, at least in the turnover category, we had quite a bit last year.”
David: Ball State’s defense played well against Colgate, but didn’t make a lot of momentum-shifting plays. Colgate ran just 53 plays and Ball State forced eight punts, both impressive numbers by normal standards. Iowa brings a much more powerful offense, and Ball State shouldn’t be expected to hold their Big 10 opponent to either of those numbers. In order to contain the Iowa offense, Ball State will likely need to get pressure on quarterback Jake Rudock and make him uncomfortable enough to force turnovers. Those, in turn, would give Ball State a shorter field and allow the Cardinals offense more opportunities to score. Without those momentum-shifting plays, beating Iowa becomes much more difficult.
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