Inside the Chart: Western Kentucky Week

'Inside the Chart' is a 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.

MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME

Saturday sees Western Kentucky's football team face off against a former head coach for the fifth time in program history – four of those coming within the last four years, and twice now in two weeks.

The Hilltoppers first faced off against a defensive quality control assistant named David Elson, and his Indiana Hoosiers, in 2010. It was the second game Elson coached after leaving the Hilltop following 14 seasons, although it's a little bit of a technicality because Elson's role wasn't a true "coaching" position with IU. Regardless, Indiana won, 38-21.

Willie Taggert and his South Florida Bulls were up next in the 2015 Miami Beach Bowl (now the Frisco Bowl). WKU snapped back against their former leader, winning 45-35 before the Toppers saw Elson again – this time as Ball State's DC – last year, winning 33-21. They then fell to Bobby Petrino's Louisville club, 20-17, last week.

Elson's time in Bowling Green was fruitful. The Hilltoppers won the FCS National Championship, with Elson clutching a trophy as Jack Harbaugh's defensive coordinator in 2002. He also led the team to the FBS level as an independent in 2008 and member of the Sun Belt in 2009. But the most lasting legacy of Elson's time there, at least as Ball State fans are concerned, is his understanding of the 3-4 defensive scheme.

The Cardinals have turned their fair share of heads this season with their new and improved defense, with pieces of the credit attributed to the 3-4 switch. All along Mike Neu has mentioned that defensive scheme was the reason he went out and got Elson in the first place, so it begs the question, why is Elson considered such a savant of the 3-4? Where did his expertise come from? The answer lies in Bowling Green.

As previously mentioned, before Elson was the head man at WKU he worked for Jack Harbaugh, father of Jim (Michigan) and John (Baltimore Ravens). Well at the time, John was working for the Philadelphia Eagles (from 1999-2007) as the defensive backs coach for Jim (not Jimmy) Johnson. On third downs the Eagles had a three-down defensive package they'd run and, as happens in coaching, that made its way from Johnson to Harbaugh to Harbaugh to Elson and soon enough WKU was running a 3-4 package on third downs. The next year the Hilltoppers went straight 3-4 and, to oversimplify a likely much more detailed story, Elson became a "3-4 guy" and the Cardinals held Notre Dame to 24 points.

RUN 3MC

In the game notes this week you'll find the stat that Ball State is one of only four teams nationally with three career 1,000 yard rushers (Caleb Huntley, James Gilbert and Riley Neal). The other schools are Georgia Tech (option offense), SMU (all three are running backs) and Syracuse (QB Eric Dungy is among their three). So let's dive into the quarterback piece of that stat a little more.

There is no official record for career rushing by a quarterback in Ball State history, but we can give it a good crack here. In the modern era (since joining the MAC in the 70's), only one other Cardinals QB has run for 1,000 career yards, and that's Art Yaroch. The Hall-of-Famer scampered for 1,173 yards in 1975 and 1976. So heading into Saturday, Neal stands just 60 yards back of becoming the modern (and likely all-time) leading rushing QB in BSU history … and nobody else holds a candle.

As we go back through the history books, the next closest challenger is Dave Wilson in the late 70's with 693 yards. Talmadge Hill racked up 582, Nate Davis 499, and current coaches Mike Neu and Joey Lynch combined to rush for negative 717 yards … but who's counting?

GOOD WILL PUNTING

Nathan Snyder certainly had an up and down week in Bloomington. The sophomore kicked seven times for an average of almost 42 yards with a long of 49. He's currently 50^th nationally in punt average. The only problem is that as good as his highs are, his lows have hurt the Cards.

While Snyder boomed a 45 yard kick with a five second hang time last week, he also did it later with only a three second hang. The latter was returned 86 yards for a touchdown. So the Cards are looking for more consistency out of their punter while also not shying away from his overall potential.

"He has the ability to be an NFL punter," Special Team Coordinator Pat Dougherty said. "He's everything you want in a punter from height to athleticism to all those things."

Lofty praise, but it's almost kind of expected from "Punter U." See, Snyder's just the seventh regular punter Ball State has utilized since 1993 … it's been that consistent around here. There've been almost as many presidential elections (6) in that time, with All-Americans and NFL players in the Ball State fold.

BOWLING WHERE?

So as you may have figured out, Bowling Green State University is not in Bowling Green, Kentucky. MAC school BGSU is in Bowling Green, OH while WKU is, in fact, in Bowling Green, KY. It is a little confusing until you realize there's also a Bowling Green in Indiana (near Terre Haute), Florida (close-ish to Tampa), Maryland (in the panhandle), Missouri (named after the one in Kentucky), Pennsylvania (down near Delaware) and Virginia. There's a park in New York by the name too (home of the Charging Bull and Fearless Girl sculptures).

SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION

WKU is expected to start freshman Davis Shanley at quarterback Saturday, making him the first freshman starter at the position for Western since 2013. Back then a rookie named Todd Porter was under center. Porter'd eventually transfer to a junior college and then land at Eastern Michigan, where he was the starter for the first half of the 2016 season, never facing Ball State. The QB's final game action as an Eagle, however, came against … Bowling Green (the one from Ohio).

We'd love to see you out at Scheumann Stadium this week at 3pm, but if you can't make it, join Rich Spisak, Mick Tidrow and myself on WLBC 104.1 with the Mutual Bank Countdown to Kickoff at 2pm.

Ball State University Athletics

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James Gilbert

Caleb Huntley

Riley Neal

Nathan Snyder

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