Football Suffers 21-7 Setback at Northern Illinois

DEKALB, Ill. - - The Ball State football team fought until the end Saturday afternoon, including creating a late fourth-quarter fumble, but ultimately could not overcome a strong rushing effort from Northern Illinois in a 21-7 setback at Huskies Stadium.

Redshirt senior quarterback Kiael Kelly led the Cardinals (4-4; 2-2 Mid-American Conference) with 86 yards on the ground and 136 through the air. The biggest play being a one-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior Drew Cassens to tie the score at 7-7 two-and-a-half minutes into the second quarter.

It was Cassens' first touchdown in his debut season at Ball State and second of his collegiate career, with the other coming during his 2022 campaign as a redshirt sophomore for the Huskies (2-6; 1-3 MAC).

While the Ball State offense was able to limit Northern Illinois to 65 yards through the air, the Huskies were able to tally 305 rushing yards, with a pair of 100-yard rushers. The biggest play being a 53-yard touchdown run by Telly Johnson Jr. to open the scoring in NIU's first possession.

The Cardinals would hold NIU to just seven points in the opening 30 minutes, with the game tied at the half. Unfortunately, the Huskies scored on a seven-yard rush in the third quarter and a 14-yard pass in the fourth to cap the scoring.

Ball State tried to mount a late comeback, driving to the Northern Illinois 13-yard line with 3:57 remaining before an interception gave the ball back to the Huskies. Sophomore defensive back Eric McClain would give the Cardinals one more shot, chasing down NIU's leading rusher Chavon Wright on a 17-yard run and forcing a fumble with 1:56 remaining which was recovered by redshirt freshman outside linebacker Layton Starks.

The Cardinals would take the ball down to the NIU one-yard line but was stopped twice on rushing attempts to end the game at 21-7.

Along with the late fourth-quarter fumble, the Cardinals were able to force a season-high three turnovers in the game. Redshirt senior defensive back Joedrick Lewis gave BSU its first by picking up his second interception in as many games in the first quarter.

Redshirt junior linebacker Caden Johnson provided the second by forcing a fumble in the second quarter which was also recovered by Starks. Overall, the Ball State defense has recorded seven takeaways over the last three games, after logging just one over the first five games.

Johnson would also tie for team-high honors with eight total tackles, along with redshirt senior linebacker Alfred Chea and senior linebacker Jack Beebe.

Senior defensive end Nathan Voorhis was also credited with his MAC-leading 10th stack of the season to end an NIU drive in the third quarter, one of his two tackles for loss in the game. With the sack, Voorhis becomes just the seventh player in program history to register double-digit sacks in a single season.

Voorhis needs 1.5 more sacks to reach the NCAA recognized single season record of 11.5 established by Anthony Winbush in 2017. He is three shy of the overall single season record of 13 set by Craig Newbury in 1981 and tied by Kelly George in 1982.

The Ball State football team returns to action Wednesday, Nov. 5 when it hosts Kent State at Scheumann Stadium. Game time for the nationally televised contest will be either 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.

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Team Stats

Kiael Kelly

Players Mentioned

Jack Beebe

Drew Cassens

Alfred Chea

Caden Johnson

Kiael Kelly

Joedrick Lewis

Eric McClain

Layton Starks

Nathan Voorhis