Ball State University Athletics
Football Team Hosts Navy Friday in ESPN Game
September 04, 2008 | Football
Ball State (1-0)
vs. Navy (1-0)
Game Presented by Pizza King
Fri., Sept. 5, 2008
7 p.m.
Scheumann Stadium, Muncie, Ind.
ESPN
Chris Spielman
and Rob Stone
Ball State Radio Network: All of Ball State's football games will air this season on WLBC FM 104.1, one of Backyard Broadcasting's seven stations in Indiana . . . This marks the 53rd season Ball State and WLBC have aired the Ball State football games . . . Morry Mannies will be in his 53rd year as the "Voice of the Cardinals" . . . Mark O'Connell, a former Ball State quarterback and punter, will provide the color commentary for the eighth straight season . . . The pregame show begins one hour prior to kickoff, and will be hosted by Jeff Weller, Ball State's director of corporate sales and broadcast services . . . This year's games can also be heard on 1380 AM in Fort Wayne and XL950 AM in Indianapolis.
Ball State Head Coach Brady Hoke: Brady Hoke (Ball State ?82) is in his sixth year as the Cardinals head coach and his sixth season as a collegiate head coach . . . A former football student-athlete at Ball State, Hoke helped the Cardinals to the 1978 Mid-American Conference Championship . . . As one of four captains on the 1980 team, Hoke led the Cardinals and ranked sixth in the MAC with 150 tackles . . . Hoke guided Ball State to a 7-6 overall record and the MAC West Division Co-Championship last season and led the Cardinals to the International Bowl . . . Hoke owns a 23-37 career record, including a 19-20 mark in MAC action.
Quick Hits: Brady Hoke is one of only 18 coaches in the country to be the head coach of their alma mater in 2008 . . . Ball State tallied seven wins in 2007 for the first time since its 1996 team posted an 8-4 record and played in the Las Vegas Bowl . . . Ball State opened the 2008 season with a 48-14 home win over Northeastern . . . In the season opener, the Cardinals scored 28 unanswered points to start the contest, including 21 points in a 6:40 span to start the second quarter . . . Ball State quarterback Nate Davis was named the Mancino's Player of the Game after completing 21-of-24 passes (.875) for 290 yards and three touchdowns before leaving the game in the fourth quarter . . . Ball State placekicker Ian McGarvey has successfully connected on 15 consecutive extra points and six straight field goals dating back to last season . . . The Cardinals advanced to the International Bowl after the 2007 season, marking the school's first bowl appearance since the 1996 campaign . . . Ball State ranked in the top 35 in the nation in five statistical categories in 2007 -- turnover margin (4th), passing offense (22nd), passing efficiency (24th), net punting (29th) and total offense (31st).
Little Known Trivia: Ball State's preseason attention extends to the school's fight song, which was selected as the 13th best college football fight song in the country by www.bleacherreport.com.
Trivia Part Two: This week's game will mark the first Ball State home football game ever televised nationally by ESPN . . . ESPN2 visited Scheumann Stadium last season for Ball State's 41-20 over Toledo. Leading the Offense: Nate Davis (Bellaire, Ohio/Bellaire H.S.), a junior quarterback who ranked 15th in the nation in total offense (300.31) in 2007, has thrown a Ball State record 51 touchdown passes in his career . . . Davis opened the 2008 season completing 21-of-24 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns . . . He completed .875 percent of his passes, which ranks as the third best single-game mark in school history . . . Davis, who ranked 27th in the country in passing efficiency (138.84) last year, threw for 3,667 yards and 30 touchdowns with only six interceptions as a sophomore.
Career Passing Yards: Nate Davis has thrown for 5,932 career yards in three seasons, including a school record 3,667 last season . . . He needs 340 yards to set the Ball State all-time mark and surpass the 6,271 by Mike Neu from 1990-93.
The Play Maker: Dante Love (Cincinnati, Ohio/Withrow H.S.), a senior wide receiver, has caught at least one pass in 34 straight games and in 36-of-37 outings in his career . . He ranked second in the country in all-purpose yards (206.92) plus was sixth in the nation in receiving yards per game (107.54) and seventh in the country in catches per game (7.69) in 2007 . . . Love had 1,398 receiving yards last season and is only the fifth player in Ball State history to reach the 1,000-yard plateau . . . Love has 2,489 career receiving yards and is only the fourth player in Ball State history to register over 2,000 receiving yards in a career . . . He started the 2008 season with a team-high nine catches for 171 yards and one touchdown . . . The 171 yards were the 14th most in single-game history at Ball State and marks the fourth time Love has posted one of Ball State's top-15 single-game efforts.
The Tight End: With 12:32 remaining in the second quarter last Thursday, Darius Hill (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs H.S.) caught his school record setting 25th career touchdown . . . He surpassed the mark of 24 held by Brian Oliver (1991-94) . . . Hill, a senior tight end, led the team with 11 touchdown catches in 2007. . . Hill tied the Ball State single-season record with 10 TD catches in 2006, and set the school mark last fall . . . He was one of eight semifinalists for the 2007 John Mackey Award, which goes to the nation's top collegiate tight end, and is on the Mackey Award Preseason Watch List this season . . . Hill managed five catches for 45 yards and one TD in the 2008 season opener.
The Grizzled Veteran: Brandon Crawford (Fort Wayne, Ind./South H.S.), a 32-year-old junior defensive end and former Marine, led the Cardinals with 17 tackles for loss and eight sacks and tied for 36th in the nation in tackles for loss in 2007 . . . Crawford was a 2007 All-MAC Third Team selection . . . He worked in an automotive factory after high school graduation and before joining the Marine Corp in 1999 . .. Crawford received an honorable discharge from the Marine Corp in 2003 and enrolled at Ball State in the summer of 2004, but returned home prior to the start of school . . . He returned to Ball State in the fall of 2006 and was a freshman member of the football team during the 2006 season.
Crawford and the Navy: In last year's meeting between Ball State and Navy, the ex-Marine Brandon Crawford played a huge role in the Cardinals 34-31 overtime victory . . . On the final play of regulation with the game tied at 31-31, Crawford blocked the potential game-winning field goal attempt by Navy, which propelled Ball State to the overtime win . . . Crawford received the Terry Courage Award from the Central Indiana Chapter of the National Football Foundation last spring. Ball State's Next Prodigy at Punter U.: Chris Miller (Libertyville, Ill./Carmel H.S.), a senior punter, ranked third in the nation with a 45.44 average and was named to the American Football Coaches Association All-America First Team in 2007 . . . Miller is a two-time Playboy Magazine Preseason All-American, having been named to the team in 2007 and 2008 . . . Ball State has two punters currently playing in the National Football League . . . Brad Maynard (1993-96) is in his 13 NFL season and is a member of the Chicago Bears . . . Reggie Hodges (2000-04) is in his fourth year in the NFL and is currently on the Seattle Seahawks' roster.
Leading the Secondary: B.J. Hill (Lanham, Md./Riverdale Baptist H.S.), who was playing his first season on defense in 2007 after playing tailback his first two years, and Trey Lewis tied for 40th in the nation in interceptions per game with 0.38 per game . . . Hill was a 2007 All-MAC Second Team choice and has played in all 36 games in his first three seasons . . . Lewis tallied the fifth interception of his career vs. Buffalo last season and returned it for the first touchdown of his career.
Hill Returns to Return Game: After leading Ball State in punt returns in 2007, B.J. Hill returned to form in the season opener last Thursday vs. Northeastern . . . Hill returned a punt a career-long 72 yards in the second quarter to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by the Cardinals and give Ball State a 28-0 lead . . . It marked the second punt return for a touchdown in his career . . . He also accomplished the feat as a freshman in 2005 with a 54-yard touchdown return vs. Akron.
Tackling the Issue: Bryant Haines (Piqua, Ohio/Piqua H.S.) led BSU and ranked 36th in the nation in tackles with 9.62 per game last season . . . A 2007 All-MAC Second Team selection, Haines started all 13 games a year ago . . . Haines managed five tackles, including one tackle for loss, and one pass breakup in the season opener vs. Northeastern.
Local Product Does Well: Davyd Jones (Muncie, Ind./Central H.S.), a sophomore linebacker, led the Cardinals with a career-high eight tackles in Ball State's season opener vs. Northeastern last Thursday . . . Jones was making the first start of his career after playing in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2007 . . . He also added 1.5 sacks for the Cardinals last Thursday.
Anchoring the Trenches: Seniors Robert Brewster, Dan Gerberry and Andre Ramsey anchor the offensive line which blocked for an offense which tallied a school record 5,640 yards in total offense, including a school best 3,704 yards passing in 2007 . . . Brewster was a 2007 All-MAC First Team selection and started all 13 games at right tackle last season . . . Gerberry has started all 37 games at center in his career . . . Ramsey played in 12 games last season and started seven contests, including the last five of the season at left tackle.
MiQuale Lewis Returns in Top Form: MiQuale Lewis (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider H.S.), a junior H-Back for the Cardinals started the first four games in 2007 before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Nebraska . . . Lewis led Ball State with 95 yards rushing on 11 carries with one touchdown last Thursday vs. Northeastern . . . Lewis rushed for 122 yards on 19 carries at Nebraska last season before leaving the game with the injury . . . He tallied 447 yards and two touchdowns on 92 rushes in only four games last season . . . As a true freshman in 2006, Lewis rushed for 280 yards on 48 carries with one touchdown before being sidelined with a season-ending shoulder injury.
Freshman Backs Up Lewis: Cory Sykes (Harvey, Ill./Thornton H.S.), a redshirt freshman H-Back for Ball State, rushed for 31 yards and his first career touchdown on six carries in the season opener vs. Northeastern . . . He tallied his first career TD with 14:38 remaining in the game . . . Sykes graduated from high school in May of 2006, but did not enroll at Ball State until January of 2007 and redshirted for the Cardinals last fall.
Just for Kicks: Ian McGarvey (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove H.S.), a sophomore placekicker, connected on two field goals and six extra points vs. Northeastern last Thursday . . . He has now made 15 consecutive extra points and six straight field goals dating to last season . . . McGarvey made a 46-yard field goal vs. Northeastern, which tied for the second longest of his career . . . His career long is 47 yards, which came in last year's International Bowl.
