Hall Breaks Receiving Record in Loss to Toledo

MUNCIE, Ind. - - Ball State fifth-year senior wide receiver Justin Hall entered Saturday's football game versus Toledo 66 yards shy of the breaking the program's career receiving record.

The nation's active career leader in receptions (281) and the FBS's leader in consecutive games with a reception (47), Hall wasted little time breaking the mark. With 6:01 left in the second quarter, he made a 30-yard connection with fifth-year senior quarterback Drew Plitt to climb atop the all-time list.

Hall finished the day with game-high 97 receiving yards, including a 35-yard snag on BSU's first drive of the game, upping his career total to 3,061 and passing Dante Ridgeway's (2002-04) career mark of 3,030.

Hall was just as effective in the running game, leading the Cardinals (1-3, 0-1 MAC) with 64 rushing yards, six shy of his career high set versus EMU in 2020. His longest run was a 34-yard scamper in the fourth quarter to help set up BSU's fourth field goal of the afternoon, cutting Toledo's lead to 17-12 at the time.

Unfortunately, despite a solid day from Hall, the Cardinals would suffer a 22-12 setback to the Rockets (2-2, 1-0 MAC) in front of 14,902 on Family Weekend inside Scheumann Stadium.

"I'm disappointed we couldn't deliver a win today. I felt good going into the game. I felt good about the preparation. The guys played hard. I was really proud of the defense for keeping us in the game, because offensively, we were struggling to find the end zone."

Aided by Hall's 35-yard catch on the opening drive, Ball State was able to pull ahead early thanks to a 45-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Jacob Lewis. It was Lewis' first of two makes on the day, including 47-yarder for BSU's final score in the fourth quarter.

Toledo was able to counter, however, as quarterback Carter Bradley found an open Devin Maddox for a 69-yard touchdown pass on its third play from scrimmage.

After a 27-yard field goal by Ball State redshirt senior kicker Jake Chanove brought BSU back within one, the Rockets opened the second quarter with a 70-yard touchdown run to push the lead back to eight.

Another field goal by Chanove, this time a 29-yarder with 8:26 left in the second quarter, cut the lead to 14-9. Unfortunately, BSU would get no closer the rest of the way. Following a scoreless third quarter, Toledo sandwiched Lewis' third field goal with two of their own, while adding a safety on the final play to give the game its final score of 22-12.

Remove the two long touchdown plays, which accounted for 139 of UT's 444 total yards, the Cardinals defense did a solid job stopping the Toledo offense, limiting them to just two field goals otherwise.

Junior inside linebacker Clayton Coll led the defense with a career-high 15 tackles, one more than he had in the first three games of the season combined.

Jaylin Thomas also came up with a big interception on Toledo's first drive of the second half, giving Ball State the ball on its own 38 yard line. Thomas also had clutch fourth-and-one stop early in the second quarter giving BSU the ball at the Toledo 31 yard line to setup Chanove's second field goal.

On offense, Plitt finished the day 21-for-35 for 190 yards. He hit eight different targets and also ran for 26 yards.

The Ball State football team returns to action next Saturday (Oct. 2) when it hosts Army for a 5 p.m. kickoff at Scheumann Stadium. The game will also be broadcast live on ESPN+.

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Team Stats

Drew Plitt

Players Mentioned

Jake Chanove

Clayton Coll

Justin Hall

Jacob Lewis

Drew Plitt

Jaylin Thomas

Players Mentioned

Jake Chanove

Clayton Coll

Justin Hall

Jacob Lewis

Drew Plitt

Jaylin Thomas