First Look: The Ball State Cardinals
by ccmachine on Sep 26, 2011 8:48 PM CDT
in Oklahoma Sooners Football
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PrintOklahoma's football schedule seems to be just a little bit backwards. The Sooners have already played in a top five match-up, they've played against an in-state rival and they've played against a conference foe. The Sooners are already a battle tested squad that's ready to take on the rest of their Big 12 slate...except for the fact that they are taking a break to play Ball State.
While that may be the perception the actuality of it is that Ball State comes at just the right time. After the big match-up against Florida State followed by the revenge match against Missouri, Ball State provides the Sooners with a game that is just enough to be competitive but also allows Oklahoma to take a breath before another huge game comes up the following week against Texas.
Ball State is 3-1 on the season with all three wins coming in home games against Indiana, Buffalo and Army. Their lone road game of the season was a disastrous trip to South Florida where they lost 37-7 to the Bulls
With an average of 27.5 points scored per game the Cardinals rank seventh in the MAC in scoring offense. Quarterback Keith Wenning has thrown seven touchdowns with no interceptions this season and is completing 73% of his passes. The offensive line has done a fairly decent job of protecting him by only allowing Wenning to be sacked four times in for games but three of those came against South Florida.
Ball State has a quartet of receivers with each of them tallying up between 14-16 catches on the season but Willie Snead is the one the Oklahoma defense won't want to lose track of. Averaging 13.8 yards per reception Snead has 207 yards on 15 catches with two touchdowns. He's the primary down field target.
On the ground the tandem of Jahwan Edwards and and Barrington Scott carry the load. Edwards averages 5.2 yards per carry and has crossed the goal line six times on the ground. Scott on the other hand has rushed for 177 total yards and is averaging 3.6 yards per carry.
Ball State averages 156 rushing yards per game which ranks them 6th in the MAC.
On the defensive side of the ball the Cardinals are giving up an average of 25.8 points per game. Against the pass they're near the bottom of the MAC (11th) with opponents averaging 205 yards per game through the air. They're actually a little worse in run defense where opponents are averaging five yards per carry and 207 yards per game. Ball State has given up eight rushing touchdowns on the season.
Junior linebacker Travis Freeman leads the team in tackles with 36. Safety Sean Baker is just behind him with 33 total tackles and sophomore defensive tackle Nathan Ollie leads the team in tackles for loss (6) and sacks (4).
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Small point of clarification...
The season opener against Indiana was actually at Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play. Granted, there was a huge BSU crowd there and 40k+, but still not a home game.
-Alan
http://www.overthepylon.net
I think you meant MissOUri, not texass
“After the big match-up against Florida State followed by the revenge match against Texas Ball State provides the Sooners with a game that is just enough to be competitive but also allows Oklahoma to take a breath before another huge game comes up the following week against Texas.”
by Ryan Boomer Jackson on Sep 26, 2011 9:22 PM CDT reply actions
I would like to see OU start quick and not let up
I think what we need and what we’ll get in this game is a quick start. I also think that by halftime it will be time to call of the dogs, which probably won’t happen untill the middle of the fourth quarter. I think these guys are embarassed with what happened last week and ball state gets to bear the brunt of that. As long as what happened saturday served as a lesson to them that you can’t let off the gas I think this team will be fine.
"I feel sorry for peple who don't drink, when they wake up in the morning thats as good as they are gonna feel all day long." Frank Sinatra
i don't think bob has a history of really going after a non-con because he's embarrassed
if we’re way up, landry, broyles, lewis, alexander and some others will rest. if nothing else, we have some guys that need some work… finch, lynn, nelson, haywood, o-line roto… maybe we see geneo grissom, chaka, justin mccay. is mcclain RS? danzel williams. i don’t mean to blow off ball state, but with a couple guys nicked up or suspended, and our bye having come week two, this is maybe our only chance to “see what we’ve got” with some of these guys before we need to know for certain.
by evenyoudorn on Sep 26, 2011 11:26 PM CDT up reply actions
No disrespect to Ball State...
…but their defense doesn’t pose much of a threat and it’s not difficult to already smell the State Fair corny dogs.
I just hope we come out of this game without any major injuries.
If you train people properly, they won't be able to tell a drill from the real thing. If anything, the real thing will be easier. --Richard Marcinko
Or any egg on our face
cuz we took ‘em too lightly and came off with a mediocre win that’ll get voters to drop us further in the polls. I can see his happening (the horror, the horror), and I can see ‘bama shellacking the Gators so voters feel ’bama is worthy of a higher rating. just sayin’ ….
You got that right
We have to make statements, at this point. Can’t really fall too much farther cause Bama and LSU look really tough. Granted only one of them will remain undefeated, but staying in the Top 2 really is the wisest option.
What I would really hate is to see someone get all uppity about how good Boise is and see them jump us too. It would take work to climb over Boise and either Bama or LSU down the stretch, especially without a title game.
I doubt subjective polls are foremost on the minds of the coaches and players.
They certainly aren’t with me.
Beating Ball State by 10 or 50 isn’t going to vault OU over LSU or Bama and I doubt it would make them fall further behind, either.
Winning out is what is needed, irrespective of what any other team does.
If you train people properly, they won't be able to tell a drill from the real thing. If anything, the real thing will be easier. --Richard Marcinko
I agree
If OU wins out, there is no way they aren’t #1 or #2 at the end of the year. SCKS, boise st. has already played the toughest part of their schedule, thats it for them, if OU wins out they will have no problem at all passing boise, should they jump OU. Bama and lsu play each other so that problem solves itself.
"I feel sorry for peple who don't drink, when they wake up in the morning thats as good as they are gonna feel all day long." Frank Sinatra
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