The Ball State football team has bitter memories of rival Northern Illinois.
Last season, when former Huskie quarterback Jordan Lynch found the end zone with less than two minutes left and Joe Windsor brought an interception back for a touchdown, it was a dagger to the heart of the Ball State football team. Its perfect Mid-American Conference season was over, and its chance to win the MAC West was lost.
Strong safety Brian Jones said he remembers it like it was yesterday.
“It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever felt,” he said. “To be so close and lose like that is heartbreaking. The last few years have been like that, we have a lead and let it slip away in the fourth quarter.”
Jones isn’t wrong. A fifth-year senior, the past three seasons he’s been at Ball State the Cardinals have either been tied or leading Northern Illinois at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
All three times, Ball State ended up on the losing side of the scoreboard.
But this time, there’s still one last shot for Jones to find redemption on the gridiron. He’s turned to former Ball State defenders who he played with last season for advice on trying to win the Bronze Stalk trophy awarded to the victor.
“I’ve talked to Nate Ollie and Travis Freeman, guys who never got the chance to beat them,” Jones said. “To be able to go out and beat Northern Illinois now, it would be a great feeling.”
Of course, Jones won’t be facing off against Northern Illinois legend and now graduate Lynch, a Heisman candidate last season. He’s been replaced by Drew Hare, a mobile quarterback who is no Lynch but does a fine job of running the offense.
Northern Illinois averages 296.4 yards rushing per game, good for No. 13 in the nation, according to ESPN. Hare plays a large role, taking off and running with the ball effectively. He and two Huskie tailbacks have combined for 15 rushing touchdowns this season.
Jones said the key to slowing down the rushing attack is to communicate and make sure everybody is aligned correctly. With successful execution, Jones may finally get his revenge against Northern Illinois.
It’s been a long wait for linebacker Quintin Cooper as well. Also a fifth-year senior, he’s run into the same Northern Illinois team that Jones has.
“Not getting to beat them since I was a freshman, to get one more opportunity is a blessing,” Cooper said.
Ball State head coach Pete Lembo said in a press conference last week that it isn’t easy to automatically consider the Huskies to be a rival, because he thinks both teams must have beaten each other recently for it to be a real rivalry.
But Cooper thinks of the matchup between the two teams differently.
“You try to approach every game the same, but there’s always that one opponent on your schedule that you’ve been wanting to play since last season ended,” Cooper said. “Northern Illinois is a rivalry game for us, even if we haven’t beaten them for a few years.”
Ball State and Northern Illinois kick off at 8 p.m. at Scheumann Stadium.
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