Strong 1st half leads Texas A&M to 56-23 win over Ball State

Senior wide receiver Jordan Williams walks off the field after a play during the football game against Virginia Military Institute on Sept. 3 at Schuemann Stadium DN PHOTO MAKAYLA JOHNSON
Senior wide receiver Jordan Williams walks off the field after a play during the football game against Virginia Military Institute on Sept. 3 at Schuemann Stadium DN PHOTO MAKAYLA JOHNSON


Ball State coach Pete Lembo acknowledged that it was a lopsided loss. He believes his team can use it as a learning experience, however.

"Our guys kept competing, and that doesn't surprise me," Lembo said. "I'm very anxious to watch the film. I think we're going to learn a lot about our team."

Texas A&M got the scoring going on its first drive, as Tra Carson rushed for a 1-yard touchdown. Ball State came out firing in its own right with a six-play, 71-yard drive to cut the score to 7-3.

From there, the Aggies took control of the rest of the first half.

Texas A&M scored 42 unanswered points to end the half, highlighted by three Kyle Allen touchdown passes.

The Ball State defense struggled to get off the field throughout the entire first half. Texas A&M converted nine of 14 third downs in the game and went into halftime with a 49-3 lead.

The Cardinals made a change at quarterback to end the first half, going with freshman Riley Neal after Jack Milas finished 1-8 for 5 yards and an interception returned for a touchdown.

"I do think we settled down a little bit at halftime and was pleased about how the guys came out and played in the second half," Lembo said. "I liked the way we were able to fix some of the issues we had in the first half, the biggest one being not being able to convert on third downs."

Neal got the offense going in the second half. He picked up 29 yards on the ground on the first drive of the second half before sophomore Darian Green punched it in for a 6-yard touchdown.

Green finished with 11 carries, 99 yards and a touchdown. Freshman James Gilbert also scored a touchdown on the ground, finishing with 71 yards.

Lembo said the decision on who to start at quarterback next week would come later in the week.

"I thought [my performance] was pretty good overall," Neal said. "Our line is one of the best lines in the league, so that's a good start for the offense to produce in situations when the line is what they are."

Neal finished 11-19 for 116 yards through the air and added eight carries for 64 yards on the ground behind his veteran offensive line.

The line only allowed one sack and two quarterback hits against an explosive defensive front that accumulated nine sacks against Arizona State last week.

"Obviously, as an entire team and an offensive line, we could have done better as well," senior Jacob Richard said. "The fact that we didn't have a lot of sacks or hits really comes down to us and also the quarterbacks and everybody involved."

The Ball State defense racked up three sacks in the game, led by Anthony Winbush, who forced a fumble and recovered it. 

Zack Ryan led the team in tackles with 10. Sean Wiggins was active throughout the first half and finished with nine tackles.

The Cardinals will return to action on Sept. 19 as they travel to begin Mid-American Conference play at Eastern Michigan.

 "There's definitely a lot of room for everybody to improve," Richard said.

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