Ball State University Athletics
Football Team Opens Season Saturday at Lucas Oil
September 03, 2011 | Football
GameDay: Ball State will be playing its season opener at Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts . . . The game is the Cardinals home game.
Radio: Ball State Radio Network -- WLBC 104.1 FM Muncie (Morry Mannies, Play-by-Play; Mark O'Connell, Analyst)
Morry Mannies is in his 56th and final season as the play-by-play announcer for Ball State football and men's basketball . . . The "Voice of the Cardinals" announced his retirement from Ball State broadcasts Aug. 27, 2011.
Sports Link Radio on WCRD (Ball State Student Station - FM 91.3)
(Pat Boylan, Play-by-Play; Kyle Binder, Analyst)
Live Stats & Internet Radio: ballstatesports.com
Ball State 2011 Team Captains: Sean Baker (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield H.S.), Kreg Hunter (Lebanon, Ind./Lebanon H.S.), Adam Morris (Dublin, Ohio/Scioto H.S.), Briggs Orsbon (Convoy, Ohio/Crestview H.S.) and Andrew Puthoff (St. Henry, Ohio/St. Henry H.S.) have been selected as team captains for the 2011 season.
The Series: Ball State and Indiana have met five times with the Cardinals winning the last meeting 42-20 at IU in 2008 . . . The Hoosiers had won the previous four meetings in the series which began in 1997 . . . Indiana posted a 33-6 win at IU in 1997 and a 21-9 victory in Bloomington, Ind., in 1999 . . . In 2006, Ball State suffered a 24-23 loss in Muncie, and IU posted a 38-20 win at Indiana in 2007 . . . The teams have never played at a neutral site before this year's game.
The Last Meeting: Ball State posted its first-ever win over a Big Ten Conference opponent when the Cardinals tallied a 42-20 win at Indiana Sept. 20, 2008 . . . The win was one of 12 regular season victories for Ball State that season en route to a perfect 12-0 regular season record . . . MiQuale Lewis rushed 29 times for 166 yards and four touchdowns, while Nate Davis completed 16-of-25 passes for 239 yards and one TD . . . Ball State wide receiver Dante Love suffered a career ending neck and spine injury in the game.
Roster Updates: The following players are out for Saturday's game vs. Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium . . . Odis Prunty (concussion), David Ruffin (leg), Nick Miles (appendix) . . . Justin Cruz (foot) and David Brown (back) are listed as doubtful for Saturday . . . Willie Snead (shoulder), Cory Sykes (hand) and Dwayne Donigan (hamstring) are listed as questionable for Saturday.
Scouting Ball State: The Cardinals return 11 starters from a 2010 team that posted a 4-7 overall record and a 3-5 mark in the Mid-American Conference . . . Ball State's top returnee is Sean Baker, who was named to the All-MAC Second Team plus was the Cardinals John Magnabosco Award winner as the team's most valuable player in 2010 . . . Jason Pinkston (Cleveland, Ohio/Glenville H.S.) returns after starting all 12 games for the Cardinals in 2010 . . . Pinkston was named to the All-MAC Third Team a year ago.
Scouting Indiana: This will mark the season opener for Indiana, which posted a 5-7 overall record and a 1-7 record in the Big Ten Conference.
The Coach: Kevin Wilson (North Carolina '84) is in his first season as the head coach at Indiana . . . Wilson spent the 2002-10 seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma . . . He was the offensive coordinator for the last five years.
The Stats: Indiana returns 13 starters from the 2010 team . . . Darius Willis, who played in the first four games before suffering a knee injury, is the team's top returning rusher . . . He rushed 64 times for 248 yards and four TDs . . . IU returns its top receiver from a year ago . . . Damarlo Belcher had 78 catches for 832 yards and four TDs a year ago . . . Starting quarterback Ben Chappell graduated after starting all 12 games last season.
Ball State Quick Hits
Ball State's football team has played on television 20 times in the last three seasons . . . The Cardinals are scheduled for at least three television games in 2011 . . . Ball State played twice on ESPN2 plus appeared on ESPNU, CBS College Sports and Fox Sports in 2009 . . . In 2010, the Cardinals played on ESPNU once, ESPN Plus once and the Big Ten Network twice.
Ball State has won 16 of its last 27 Mid-American Conference games . . . The Cardinals won their final three MAC games in 2007 and all eight league contests in 2008 for 11 straight conference victories, which ranks as the second longest league winning streak in school history.
Sean Baker intercepted two passes and returned a fumble for a touchdown in Ball State's 20-3 win at Buffalo in 2010 . . . Baker became Ball State's career interceptions leader with his 15th and 16th picks at Buffalo . . . Only a junior in 2010, Baker passed Mike Lecklider (1973-76) and Shafer Suggs (1972-75), who shared the school standard with 14 apiece . . . He has four multiple interception games in his career, including vs. Liberty and at Buffalo in 2010 . . . Baker tied for first in the MAC and tied for fifth in the NCAA in interceptions last season.
Keith Wenning (Coldwater, Ohio/Coldwater H.S.), a true freshman quarterback for the Cardinals in 2010, started the final 10 games last season after appearing in Ball State's first two games in relief . . . Wenning threw a career best three touchdown passes vs. Akron, including a career long 63-yard pass to Jack Tomlinson that went for a touchdown . . . Wenning completed a career high 19 passes on a career best 39 attempts for a career high 224 yards at Toledo . . . He also threw for 217 yards vs. Akron and 200 yards at Kent State . . . Wenning threw 11 touchdown passes in the last six games . . . He rushed for the first TD of his career with 12:07 left in the second quarter vs. Eastern Michigan, and then rushed for his second career TD at Kent State . . . He rushed and threw for a TD in the same game twice in 2010.
