Ball State University
Purdue
Purdue 38, BSU 28
September 16, 2006 | Football
Ball State's football team scored first and last, but the Purdue Boilermakers of the Big Ten Conference tallied a 38-28 victory in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday afternoon.
"Our start was good, but we were inconsistent on both sides of the ball," head coach Brady Hoke says. "The third quarter was not a good quarter for us. Our goal is to win each game and we did not do that. There are no moral victories."
Ball State led at 7-0, was tied at 7-7 and was within four points at 14-10 early in the game, but Purdue's offense proved to much for the Cardinals in the second half.
"We need to get back to fundamentals," Hoke says. "We did not play well. We were very disappointed in our play in the third quarter. I did not like our demeanor at all, and we are not where we need to be. We have a lot of work to do."
After falling behind 21-10 at the half, Ball State's Brian Jackson managed a 32-yard field goal with 11:02 left in the third and closed the gap to 21-13. But Purdue responded with a touchdown drive and a 27-yard field goal of their own to claim a 31-13 advantage at the end of three quarters.
The Boilermakers opened the fourth quarter scoring with a TD drive to take a 38-13 lead with 10:21 left to play.
Ball State's Brad Salyer scored on a one-yard run at the 7:16 mark, and Darius Hill caught a 30-yard TD pass from Nate Davis with 3:39 remaining to make the final score 38-28.
"We did not have the right energy today," Hoke says. "Purdue had too many explosive plays. We have to get more pressure on the quarterback, we have to tackle better and we cannot give up so many yards after catches. We did not make plays on offense or defense."
Purdue took a 21-10 lead at halftime, before a Jackson 32-yard field goal closed the gap to 21-13. But Purdue mounted two scoring drives to take a 31-13 advantage with 4:12 to go in the third quarter.
In the first half, Ball State started the scoring with a Joey Lynch to Louis Johnson five yard pass to give the Cardinals a 7-0 lead. Purdue answered three plays later on a 60-yard scoring strike to tie the game at 7-7. Jackson kicked a 41-yard field goal with 4:13 left in the first quarter to close out the first period scoring and give Ball State a 10-7 lead. Purdue closed out the half with two scores to take a 21-10 lead at the half.
"We are a work in progress," Hoke says. "I like the way this team works, but we have a lot of work to do."
Lynch completed 17-of-26 passes for 193 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Davis completed 7-of-11 passes for 98 yards with one TD. Larry Bostic led Ball State in receiving with 10 catches for 99 yards plus added nine rushes for 25 yards. MiQuale Lewis led the Cardinals in rushing with 56 yards on nine carries.
Ball State, 1-2 overall and 1-0 in the Mid-American Conference, will play a non-conference home game vs. North Dakota State Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Scheumann Stadium. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1.888.BSU.TICKETS or online at www.ballstatesports.com.
