Ball State University
1-0
Northeastern
0-1
Football Team Opens Season with 48-14 Win
August 29, 2008 | Football
Junior quarterback Nate Davis completed 21-of-24 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns before exiting the game early in the fourth quarter. His .875 completion percentage is the third highest single-game mark in school history.
Northeastern (0-1) won the time of possession category, but
Junior running back MiQuale Lewis, returning from a knee injury that cut his sophomore season short, looked to be in sharp form in his first game since rushing for 122 yards at
“I think there were good things, especially offensively,”
Lewis paced the Cardinals early, including a 48-yard run on
Following a three-and-out by Northeastern early in the second quarter, the Cardinals immediately added to their lead with a 49-yard touchdown strike from Davis to senior wide receiver Dante Love, making the score 21-0.
Love registered nine catches for 171 yards, three rushes for 22 yards and two total touchdowns. Love's 171 yards mark the 14th highest amount of receiving yards in a single-game in BSU history and his name appears four times in the top 15 in that respective category.
Senior defensive back B.J Hill's career-high 72-yard punt return set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Love with 5:52 remaining in the first half, putting
After the two teams split three-and-outs, Northeastern got on the board for the first time, going 79 yards in nine plays capped off by Greg Abelli's 20-yard touchdown run and shrunk the BSU lead to 28-7.
With just :50 left in the first half, the Cardinals were able to quickly move the ball into Northeastern territory before sophomore placekicker Ian McGarvey kicked a 25-yard field goal for a 31-7 advantage at halftime.
McGarvey added a 46-yard field goal in the second half. Combined with his six extra points, the senior has connected on 15 consecutive extra points and six consecutive field goals dating back to last season.
Freshman running back Cory Sykes scored his first career touchdown from six yards out, extending the BSU lead to 45-7 before McGarvey's field goal later in the quarter capped the Cardinals scoring.
Northeastern put the game's final points on the board with :38 remaining with a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback John Spezzara to tight end Conor Gilmartin-Donohue.
The Cardinals, playing in front of 13,068, including 6.957
“I think we need more community involvement but that's hard to bring out on weeknight games,” Hoke says. “The students were awesome. We really appreciate all they do to help these players at our home games.”
Story written by Andrew Lentz of the
Team Stats
NU 0, BSU 7
BSU - LEWIS, MiQuale 2 yd run (McGARVEY, Ian kick), 4 plays, 80 yards, TOP 1:21
NU 0, BSU 14
BSU - HILL, Darius 8 yd pass from DAVIS, Nate (McGARVEY, Ian kick) 9 plays, 96 yards, TOP 3:40
NU 0, BSU 21
BSU - LOVE, Dante 49 yd pass from DAVIS, Nate (McGARVEY, Ian kick) 1 plays, 49 yards, TOP 0:10
NU 0, BSU 28
BSU - LOVE, Dante 2 yd run (McGARVEY, Ian kick), 3 plays, 18 yards, TOP 0:56
NU 7, BSU 28
NU - Abelli 20 yd run (Johnson kick), 9 plays, 79 yards, TOP 1:03
NU 7, BSU 31
BSU - McGARVEY, Ian 25 yd field goal 5 plays, 64 yards, TOP 0:50
NU 7, BSU 38
BSU - IFFT, Daniel 27 yd pass from DAVIS, Nate (McGARVEY, Ian kick) 5 plays, 60 yards, TOP 2:06
NU 7, BSU 45
BSU - SYKES, Cory 6 yd run (McGARVEY, Ian kick), 10 plays, 79 yards, TOP 4:37
NU 7, BSU 48
BSU - McGARVEY, Ian 46 yd field goal 7 plays, 18 yards, TOP 2:57
NU 14, BSU 48
NU - Gilmartin 10 yd pass from Sperrazza (Johnson kick) 8 plays, 81 yards, TOP 3:27
