Ball State once again had a chance to win another football game, but could not convert on crucial possessions in the fourth quarter and lost to Northern Illinois 26-20. BSU took a 7-0 lead early on a 4 play, 79 yard drive all from the wildcat formation ending in a 5 yard TD run by Eric Williams. The next 9 minutes were a blur of husky red as NIU scored two touchdowns and BSU took a safety to end the first quarter with a 16-7 deficit. The Cardinals were able to muster two field goals by Ian McGarvey in the second quarter to go into halftime down 16-13. NIU came out firing in the third quarter, using the wind to their advantage for field position. The Huskies kicked a field goal and passed for a touchdown to make the score 26-13 at the end of three quarters. The fourth quarter was crazy as BSU had a 4th and 18 with 6 minutes left. Cards QB Tanner Justice was running for his life and threw the ball up for grabs and Dan Ifft came down with it to score the touchdown. BSU stopped NIU on their next possession and got the ball with 1:58 left and a chance to win the ball game. However, two incomplete passes, a 4-yard desperation scramble by Tanner Justice, and a short 4-yard pass on 4th and 6 were not enough to get the victory.
The BSU defense played well in the final three quarters only giving up 89 total yards, but the 16 points that NIU put up in that first quarter was too much of a deficit for the offense to overcome. The offense did not move the ball well from the middle of the 1st quarter to the middle of the 4th quarter. In those three quarters, the BSU offense ran 39 plays for 73 yards and scored 6 points.
We are a decent team as this is the 7th of our 9 losses that we have had the ball in the 4th quarter down 7 points or less. This is year 1 of 3 in our rebuilding phase. Give these guys a few more games and a few more reps and we will be bowling again befoer you know it.
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