Inside the Chart: Northern Illinois

'Inside the Chart' is a new weekly column from Ball State radio voice Joel Godett with nuggets, stats and notes from his prep, or charts, for each game. Check it out every game week or weekly during basketball season.
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BIG TIME PASS

For starters, bonus points if you picked up the play on words with the famous Nickelodeon-backed band in the header here. But anyway, with 606 yards of offense, Ball State had its second massive performance of the season last week against Kent State. It marks the first time in Ball State history the Cardinals have put up two 600-yard days in the same season … and nearly in the same decade!

Ball State first eclipsed the 600-yard mark in 1977 against Cal Poly Pomona and didn't pull off the feat again for another 23 years against Central Michigan. They then put up more than 600 against Nebraska in 2007 and now twice in a month. It's easy, although misguided, for some to write off the Central Connecticut State performance because it came against an FCS opponent, but now the Cards have done it twice in the same season and against a conference foe nonetheless. The NCAA website cuts off the list of single game high offensive days for the year at 629 yards, so I can't give a full picture, but the stat places Ball State among the likes of Texas Tech, Cincinnati, and Houston as teams with multiple 600-yard days.

But the record book writing doesn't stop there. The Kent State win marks just the seventh 400-yard passing day in team history and the eighth time a quarterback has put the ball up 50 or more times … four of them belonging to Riley Neal. For what it's worth, the record is 71 attempts by Keith Wenning in 2012 vs. NIU, who happens to be in Muncie tomorrow.

So what changed? That's the question everybody's been asking the last week. What was so different from the Western Kentucky game (20 points) to the Kent State game (52 points)? Well, from a game plan standpoint, nothing really.

"We called two less shot plays against Western Kentucky than we did Kent," said offensive coordinator Joey Lynch. "We were still vertical there, it just depends on what [the opponent] is doing. Sometimes the ball gets checked down even though the primary read is down the field."

A shot play, by the way, is what it sounds like. It's a play when the Cards take a shot downfield. Last week those throws were there and the Cardinals hit them, including three to Riley Miller of more than 30 yards. Ball State has now 13 plays of more than 30 yards in five games this year, equal to its production from ALL of 2017.

IT FEELS LIKE THE THIRD TIME

If it seems like Ball State's been in third down situations a lot this season, well, it has. Only Tulsa and Wake Forest have faced more third downs than BSU's 86 in 2018. The good news is Ball State is also converting at a high clip, 46.5%, and even in long situations.

The Ball State passing offense ranks fifth nationally in third down efficiency with 10 or more yards to gain (11-18 for 220 yards). Now, just avoiding those situations altogether would be better for the blood pressure, but it's a reassuring stat in the meantime.

NIU or UNI or HUSKIES or HUSKYS

Usually at the halfway mark of a season you know who a team is. I'm not sure we can quite say that about NIU, however. The Huskies sit 0-3 out of conference and 2-0 in conference with a gapping divide statistically. If NIU could make like Slim Shady and have the real one stand up, that would be helpful in figuring out an opponent.

In its two games against MAC schools, EMU and CMU, NIU has run for 235 and 180 rush yards. That's really good. Against the likes of Iowa, Utah and Florida State (the formers with Top-5 ranked defenses) they've, well, not. The Huskies ran for six yards on 20 carries in Tallahassee. In fact, NIU didn't rush for a TD until its fourth game of the season. That's not like them.

Never sleep on the Huskies run game. It is who they are and they rank 29^th in the FBS in rushing attempts this year.

SNAP, CRACKLE, LINEBACKER

What kind of long snappers are you recruiting anyway?! It's one of my favorite nuggets about NIU's defense. Linebacker Vinny Labus, who started against Florida State, is a converted long snapper. Cool story and not something that happens every day.

But it gets better. Labus is the second snapper NIU has converted to a linebacker in the last couple years! Boomer Mays made the switch previously and wound up a first team All-MAC performer. Something in the water.

SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION

Jordan Lynch is, if nothing else, the best player at NIU in recent memory … if not all memory. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting behind Jameis Winston and AJ McCarron in 2013 and then returned to his alma mater to coach the running backs until this past January. Lynch is now the head coach at his former high school, Mount Carmel, in Illinois.

Mount Carmel happens to have a pretty rich tradition that also includes former Ball State defensive tackle Nathan Ollie, Donovan McNabb and Simeon Rice. Beyond athletics, however, Mount Carmel also produced the original Don Quixote on Broadway, Richard Kiley. The Emmy winner also had a role in Patch Adams with Erick Vinther, who, in 1995, indeed shared the screen with Kevin Bacon in Murder in the First.

Kickoff Saturday is set for 3pm from the Scheu. If you can't join us in person we'd love to have you on the radio. The Mutual Bank Countdown to Kickoff starts at 2pm with Rich Spisak, Mick Tidrow and I on 104.1 WLBC.

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