The Victory FaceTime, a Tradition Six Wins in the Making

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Danny Pinter and Jacob White may have graduated and moved on, but that hasn't kept them from being a part of every Ball State football victory celebration this year.

Sometime in the hectic moments crammed into each postgame, amidst media duties and addressing the team in the locker room, head coach Mike Neu is handed a phone from BSU football chief of staff Byron Ellis.

Pinter and White are there waiting via FaceTime, eager to congratulate their former coach on the win. They all express mutual gratitude for each other's contributions and excitement for what the program they all hold dear is achieving.

It has become tradition. Six games in a row now as the MAC champion Cardinals embark on this week's Offerpad Arizona Bowl.

"It's been really cool to see their faces because I know how much they invested in this program, how much they care, how much they love this program," Neu said. "I'm forever thankful to them for working so hard to get the culture and the standard set for really how we operate now on a daily basis. I love those guys forever."

It all started after the Eastern Michigan game back in week two. White and Pinter were both locked into the TV broadcast from different places, White from his home in Illinois and Pinter from a hotel in Tennessee where his Indianapolis Colts were preparing to face the Titans the next night.

They were FaceTiming each other throughout the game. When the Cardinals scored late to win it, they sent Ellis a congratulatory text message. The text quickly turned into a FaceTime, and pretty soon Ellis was taking the phone into the coaches locker room so Neu could see just how excited his former players were about the win.

It happened that way again the next week after the victory over Northern Illinois, then again on the road when the Cardinals beat Toledo, and so on and so on, all the way through the MAC Championship Game.

No one is happier for the current team than the guys who used to go to battle with them. It's a physical expression of how tied into the program they remain.

"It's really good to see Coach Neu's face because when you see him on FaceTime, that means the Cardinals won," White said. "It's awesome to still be part of it on some level. I had a great experience at Ball State and loved every second of it. I'm definitely living vicariously through everything they've accomplished this year. I'm really proud of them, proud of how far they've come."

It's fitting for a couple of All-MAC First Teamers who played such a big role in the program's turnaround to remain so invested even after their departure. Pinter, the tight end-turned-tackle who was willing to play whatever role the team needed, and White, the tough-as-nails linebacker and leader of the defense, gave all they had to the program.

Neu has always been quick to credit that 2019 senior class for putting the program back on the right course, for setting standards for future classes in the way they worked and the way the carried themselves.

Like the current seniors, they endured some lean years but always had a vision for what the future could hold. And they made the Cardinals contenders again, laying the foundation for what the current team has achieved.

"It was worth it to go through all that even if I wasn't on the team to see that championship happen," Pinter said. "I would go through that 1,000 times again to see them get to this point.

"It's so cool to watch. We all knew they were capable of it. I'm so happy for the staff and Coach Neu. Through all that stuff, this was always the vision and he stuck to it. That senior class deserves so much credit, just how much they've put into the program, just to watch them finish that off has been awesome."

And it's not finished quite yet. There's still a big one yet on the schedule.

The Cardinals square off with No. 19 San Jose State in Thursday's Arizona Bowl in Tucson. And if they can run the winning streak to seven games, one more Facetime with Pinter and White will be in order sometime around 5:30 or 6 p.m. ET.

"Those guys are everything you could want," Neu said. "Everything that fits into the definition of a True Cardinal, those two guys certainly embody that. I think the world of them. Every time I have a chance, I thank them for everything they've done to get our program to this point."

The Victory FaceTime, a Tradition Six Wins in the Making

Players Mentioned

Danny Pinter

Jacob White

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