Ball State University
Buffalo
BSU 55, Buffalo 25
October 02, 2006 | Football
Ball State's football team improved to 2-4 overall and 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference with a 55-25 win at league foe Buffalo Saturday afternoon. The 55 points mark the fourth highest single-game total in Ball State history.
"The most important thing for us today was to come out and compete," Ball State head coach Brady Hoke says. "We wanted to execute and compete for the full 60 minutes."
Ball State opened the game with a 6-play, 65 yard drive that lasted 2:18 and ended with a MiQuale Lewis six-yard touchdown run. The Cardinals ran six running plays and took the early 7-0 lead over the Bulls.
"The first drive was big for us," Hoke says. "We have struggled with our running game and we needed to run the ball to help the whole team. Our offensive line did a great job and we made some good runs. We thought we could run the ball, and we need to develop that part of this team."
After taking the 7-0 lead, Ball State kicked to Buffalo and sacked the Bulls on the first play. After a two-yard rush and a Buffalo penalty, Ball State's defense stopped the Bulls for a loss of one. Facing a fourth and 24, Buffalo punted from its own four yard line, but Louis Johnson blocked the punt in the endzone and Terry Moss picked it up to give the Cardinals a 14-0 advantage with less than five minutes played in the game.
"We had lost four straight games and we knew we had to come to Buffalo and compete," senior defensive back Erik Keys says. "Our main goal was to win, but we wanted to make sure we competed and we finished."
The Cardinals closed out the first quarter scoring with a 39-yard Brian Jackson field goal with 2:59 to play in the first stanza.
After a Buffalo field goal started the second quarter scoring and closed the Ball State lead to 17-3, the Cardinals offense took over and scored three more first half touchdowns to take a commanding 38-3 lead at the half.
"Our game plan was to establish the run," Ball State's B.J. Hill, who rushed for 116 yards and two TDs, says. "Our offensive line did a great job and we were able to get some big plays. We needed this win and we came out with an attitude and competed. I got my chance to do some things after struggling to get healthy, and the offense did a great job of moving the ball and making holes for me."
Ball State stretched the lead to 45-3 with a Nate Davis to Darius Hill 29-yard scoring strike with 10:55 to play in the third stanza and then added two more scores in the fourth quarter to claim the win.
Davis, a true freshman quarterback making the second start of his career, completed 11-of-14 passes for 247 yards with three touchdowns. Lewis, a true freshman running back, had 10 rushes for 99 yards and one TD. Darius Hill led all Ball State receivers with four catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cardinals will travel to Mount Pleasant, Mich., for a MAC contest at Central Michigan Saturday before returning home to Scheumann Stadium for its Oct. 21 Homecoming Game against Western Michigan.
