Ball State University
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North Texas
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Football Drops 2009 Season Opener To North Texas, 20-10
September 04, 2009 | Football
MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State football team opened its 85th season Thursday night with a 20-10 loss to visiting North Texas in front of 16,035 fans at Scheumann Stadium. The loss is the Cardinals' first regular season loss in 14 games since Nov. 3, 2007 at Indiana after posting a 12-0 regular season record last year.
"The sun will shine tomorrow in our locker room," head coach Stan Parrish said. "We were tied up and had a chance to win, but I didn't feel we played great in any area tonight. We have to get ready for New Hampshire next Saturday night. We have a lot of young guys that will get better every week."
Senior H-back MiQuale Lewis (Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider) posted his 13th career 100-yard rushing contest in the loss as he ran for 103 yards on 15 carries. Redshirt freshman quarterback Kelly Page (Sunnyvale, Texas/Mesquite) made his first career start and threw for 140 yards as he was 15-of-34 in his debut.
North Texas took the first lead of the evening following a strong opening drive led by freshman quarterback Riley Dodge and the rushing attack. The Mean Green ran six times on the opening drive for 32 yards, including a three-yard touchdown run by running back Lance Dunbar giving North Texas the opening 7-0 lead.
The Ball State defense came up with a big play in the second quarter as North Texas drove deep into the Cardinals' territory looking to take a two-touchdown lead. Dodge had Mean Green inside the Cardinals' five-yard line, but sophomore safety Sean Baker (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) stepped in front of a Dodge pass in the end zone for his seventh career interception to thwart the North Texas drive.
After the Cardinals were forced to punt, North Texas turned in its best drive of the half as it went 81 yards on 15 plays to set up a 24-yard field goal by Jeremy Knott to take a 10-0 lead with 1:19 left in the half.
After North Texas missed a field goal to open the second half, the Cardinals got their first crack on offense and turned in their strongest drive of the night behind the arm of Page. He ignited the offense with a 19-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Daniel Ifft (Dover, Ohio/Dover) and completed the longest pass of his young career as he scrambled out and completed a 34-yard strike down the sideline to sophomore Briggs Orsbon (Convoy, Ohio/Crestview) to take the Cardinals into the red zone.
North Texas was able to keep the Cardinals out of the end zone with the help of the BSU penalty that nullified a Ball State touchdown. The Cardinals were forced to kick a 21-yard Ian McGarvey (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove) field goal to narrow the margin to 10-3.
The Ball State defense stepped up on the ensuing possessions as it held the Mean Green to three straight three-and-out possessions to close the third quarter. The Cardinals continued their strong defensive play on North Texas' first possession of the fourth quarter as defensive end Robert Eddins (Detroit, Mich./Crockett) came up with the big hit on Dunbar to force a fumble that Sam Woodworth (Elkhart, Ind./Central) recovered deep in Mean Green territory.
The Cardinals took advantage of the second North Texas turnover as they needed just three plays to go 35 yards for the game-tying touchdown. Lewis capped the quick drive as he broke free for a 27-yard scoring run for his first score of the season. The run was the 26th touchdown run of his career moving him into a tie with former Cardinal Bernie Parmalee for fourth place all-time in career touchdown runs.
North Texas responded to the BSU touchdown with a quick-scoring drive of its own to re-take the lead at 17-10. The big play for the Mean Green was a 59-yard pass from Dodge to Jamaal Jackson down to the two-yard line that set up a Dodge touchdown pass to Michael Outlaw for the go ahead score. Ball State fumbled on the following possession allowing North Texas to add on a 19-yard field goal to extend the lead to 20-10.
Ball State made one final push as it drove inside the Mean Green 20-yard line before missing a 19-yard field goal with under six minutes left in the game to seal the North Texas victory.
North Texas' rushing attack led the way as it ran for 296 yards against the Cardinals with Cam Montgomery leading the way with 149 yards on 17 carriers. Dodge added 73 yards on the ground and Dunbar chipped in 63 yards rushing.
Ball State returns to action Saturday, September 12 when it hosts New Hampshire at 7 p.m. at Scheumann Stadium.
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Team Stats
NT 7, BSU 0
NT - Dunbar, Lance 3 yd run (Knott, Jeremy kick), 8 plays, 55 yards, TOP 3:32
NT 10, BSU 0
NT - Knott, Jeremy 24 yd field goal 15 plays, 81 yards, TOP 6:51
NT 10, BSU 3
BSU - MCGARVEY, Ian 21 yd field goal 9 plays, 66 yards, TOP 3:44
NT 10, BSU 10
BSU - LEWIS, MiQuale 27 yd run (MCGARVEY, Ian kick), 3 plays, 35 yards, TOP 0:41
NT 17, BSU 10
NT - Outlaw, Michael 4 yd pass from Dodge, Riley (Knott, Jeremy kick) 4 plays, 66 yards, TOP 1:48
NT 20, BSU 10
NT - Knott, Jeremy 19 yd field goal 7 plays, 25 yards, TOP 2:46
