FOOTBALL GAMEDAY: Red Bird Rivalry Renewed on Saturday when Cardinals Travel to Face RedHawks

Saturday, November 29

Oxford, OH

12 p.m.

Ball State University

Miami University (OH)

Photo by: Samantha Blankenship / Ball State University

FOOTBALL GAMEDAY: Red Bird Rivalry Renewed on Saturday when Cardinals Travel to Face RedHawks

November 26, 2025 | Football

Ball State (4-7, 3-4 MAC) at Miami (6-5, 5-2 MAC)
Game 12 - at Miami	Saturday, Nov. 29 at 12:00 p.m. ET Live Stats \| CBS Sports Network
Ball State Gainbridge Radio Network	Radio Pre- and Postgame: 11:00 a.m. ET on WMUN 92.5 FM/1340 AM Game Broadcast: 12:00 p.m. ET on WLBC 104.1 FM WMUN Listen Live \| WLBC Listen Live
Game Notes and Media Info	Ball State \| Miami \| MAC \| Media Center
Social Media	X (Twitter) \| Instagram \| Facebook
TOGETHER - A Ball State Sports Link Documentary Series	Episode 1 \| Episode 2 \| Episode 3 \| Episode 4 \| Episode 5 \| Episode 6 \| Episode 7 \| Episode 8 \| Episode 9 \| Episode 10

MUNCIE, Ind. -- Ball State plays its final game of the 2025 season and renews its Red Bird Rivalry with Mid-American Conference rival Miami. The series was granted rivalry status by the MAC in 2017, with the programs playing each of the past nine seasons (since 2016). At stake is the Red Bird Rivalry Trophy which features logos of both schools surrounding a football that tops a two-foot golden cylinder. The trophy has had residence in Oxford since the RedHawks' season-opening victory on Nov. 4, 2020.

-- The Cardinals absorbed a 38-9 defeat at Toledo last week, which dashed any hopes of an appearance in the MAC Championship Game, and ended thoughts of Ball State bowl eligibility for the first time since 2021.

-- An unheralded offensive star emerged at Toledo, however, with true freshman running back Jalen Bonds leading the Cardinals in both rushing yards, 58, and receiving yards, 54. The freshman from Indianapolis Cathedral High School carried 16 times for 58 yards on the ground, and caught a short pass before taking it up the left sideline for 54 yards. It was the Cardinals' longest pass play of the season.

-- Injured during his senior year of high school and again to begin his freshman season, Bonds made his college debut with six yards on four carries against Eastern Michigan. He is expected to pair with TJ Horton in Ball State's backfield 1-2 punch this week.

-- Entering his final college game, Ball State defensive end Nathan Voorhis remains tied for fourth nationally with 11 total sacks and 1.0 sacks per game. He is tied with fellow MAC star Nadame Tucker of Western Michigan (11, 1.0). Within two sacks of the Cardinals' program record, Voorhis' 11 sacks are the most since Anthony Winbush recorded 11.5 in 2017. The Ball State record of 13 is shared by Kelly George (1982) and Craig Newburg (1981).

-- Offensively, quarterback Kiael Kelly leads the Cardinals with 547 rushing yards and 1,383 passing yards. Kelly's 1,383 pass yards this season already have surpassed his first three seasons combined (608), more than tripling his career total to 1,991. On the ground, Kelly's 1,445 career rushing yards are 169 from breaking the Cardinals' career rushing mark (1,613) by a quarterback.

WHAT A WIN MEANS:
-- The Cardinals will win their fourth MAC game for the first time since a 4-4 mark in 2021.
-- Mike Uremovich can lead the Cardinals to a two-win improvement over last season's three wins, with a Saturday victory over Toledo.
-- Ball State will snap a five-game losing skid against the RedHawks.

INSIDE THE SERIES: MIAMI
-- Overall, the Cardinals and Redhawks have met 38 times since 1931. The schools have met on the gridiron 36 times since Ball State joined the MAC in 1975.
-- Saturday marks the 12th time in the last 13 meetings that the two rivals meet in November.
-- The Cardinals and RedHawks have played in nine consecutive seasons, since 2016, with Miami prevailing in 8 of 9. Miami has won five straight meetings against the Cardinals, and owns a streak of four-in-a-row at Yager Stadium. Ball State's last road win in the series was a 31-24 win in 2012.
-- Ball State and Miami were granted rivalry status by the MAC in 2017. The cross-division foes play each year for the Red Bird Rivalry trophy. BSU has been known as the Cardinals since 1927, while Miami adopted the RedHawks moniker in 1997.
-- At stake is the Red Bird Rivalry Trophy which features logos of both schools surrounding a football that tops a two-foot golden cylinder. The trophy has had residence in Oxford since the RedHawks' season-opening victory on Nov. 4, 2020.
-- The Redhawks have won seven of last eight meetings, including three of the last four played in Muncie.
-- The RedHawks and Cardinals met on the final day of the regular season in both 2022 and 2023 -- with each game decided on the game's final series and by a total of just three points (18-17 and 17-15).
-- Each of Ball State's past five losses to the Redhawks have come by a single possession -- 38-31, 24-17, 18-17, 17-15 and 27-21.

TWO-WIN IMPROVEMENT IN FIRST SEASON
-- Mike Uremovich can lead the Cardinals to a two-win improvement over last season's three wins, with a Saturday victory over Miami. Since World War II, no coach has ever recorded more than a two-win improvement in his first year.
-- Former Ball State coaches with a two-win improvement in their first season: George Serdula (1953), Ray Louthen (1962), Bill Lynch (1995), Pete Lembo (2011).

LIMIT THE FLAGS
-- The MAC leader for almost the entire season in fewest penalties (49), fewest penalties per game (4.45), fewest penalty yards (416) and fewest penalty yards per game (37.82), the Cardinals have slipped to second in all four categories behind conference frontrunner Western Michigan (46 | 4.18 | 371 | 33.73).

   MAC Rk   FBS Rk
Fewest Penalties   2nd   15th
Fewest Penalties/Gm   2nd   15th
Fewest Penalty Yds   2nd   13th
Fewest Penalty Yds/Gm   2nd   13th

TURNOVER CARDS: FIRST FIVE VS. LAST SIX
-- Over the past six games, the Ball State defense has forced TWELVE turnovers (9 INTs, 3 FRs), compared to just ONE in its first five games.

LEWIS LEADING CARDINALS AIR DEFENSE
-- Ball State has intercepted a pass in six straight games, the longest streak in one season by a Cardinals team since a six-game streak to end the 2020 campaign.
-- The Cardinals had zero interceptions in their first five games, with NINE over the last six.
-- The last time Ball State had a longer streak, overall, was a seven-game stretch over the 2020 and 2021 bowl seasons.
-- Joedrick Lewis had interceptions in three straight games against Akron, Northern Illinois and Kent State. Other picks over the past five games have come from Eric McClain (WMU & Toledo), Roman Pearson (Akron), Michael Gravely Jr. (EMU), Muheem McCargo (EMU) and Will Yates (Toledo).

VOORHIS: FOURTH AMONG FBS SACKS LEADERS
-- Nathan Voorhis (pronounced VORR-is) currently ranks fourth among FBS leaders for sacks per game (1.00) and total sacks (11), and is two shy of Ball State's single-season program record of 13.
-- Voorhis has had a sack in seven of Ball State's 11 games and boasts eight sacks over five Cardinals' home games, including a career-high 3.5 in a victory over MAC-leading Ohio.
-- His 3.5 sacks against Ohio are tied as the most in any game by an FBS player this year, (Isaiah Smith of SMU had 3.5 against Boston College; and Western Michigan's Nadame Tucker who had 3.5 against Ball State.)

FBS Sacks Leaders
Player   Gms   Sacks   Yds   SPG
1.   David Bailey, Texas Tech   11   12.5   114   1.14
2.   Cashius Howell, Tex A&M   11   11.5   80   1.05
   John Henry Daley, Utah   11   11.5   91   1.05
4.   Nathan Voorhis, Ball State   11   11.0   74   1.00
   Nadame Tucker, W. Mich.   11   11.0   86   1.00
6.   Anthony Smith, Minnesota   11   10.5   85   0.95

CARDINALS' ALL-TIME SACKS LEADERS
-- MAC sacks leader Nathan Voorhis boasts 11.0 sacks on the year, twice as many as last year's leader, Riley Tolsma, who had 5.5.
-- Voorhis is just the second Ball State player since 2000 to record at least 10 sacks in a season. His current total of 11.0 is the most in a season for a Cardinals' defender since Anthony Winbush registered 11.5 in 2017.
-- Anthony Winbush is the Cardinals' "NCAA-recognized" official record-holder with 11.5 sacks in 2017. Sacks have been officially recognized as an NCAA statistic since 2000. Ball State sack records date to 1978. Ball State sack yardage records date to 1990.
-- Since sack yardage was first recorded at Ball State in 1990, Voorhis' 74 yards in sack yardage this year is second in program history to Toby Beagle who had nine sacks for 82 yards in 1990.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: BONDS. JALEN BONDS.
-- Jalen Bonds was a household name in Indianapolis prep circles while leading powerhouse Cathedral High School, but following an injury as a senior and another in fall camp at Ball State, the freshman didn't debut until Nov. 15 against Eastern Michigan.
-- His debut vs. the Eagles was inauspicious: four carries for six yards.
-- But game two, last week at Toledo, cast the freshman into a lead role while carrying 16 times for 58 yards; and turning a short pass into a 54-yard gain that is the Cardinals' longest pass play of the year.
-- Playing behind TJ Horton, himself thrust into a starting role the past two weeks while Qua Ashley has been sidelined in concussion protocol, Bonds looks to ride his momentum at Miami this week -- alongside Horton again, or possibly as part of a three-back rotation with Ashley, too.

RUSHING-RECEIVING FRESHMAN MILESTONE
-- Bonds' 112 scrimmage yards (rushing plus receiving) marked the most by a Ball State freshman since Carson Steele reached that figure three times as a true freshman in 2021.
-- Bonds became the 10th Ball State freshman since 2000 to eclipse 110 scrimmage yards in a game.

KELLY AS QB1
-- Kiael (pronounced ky-ELL) Kelly appears in his final college game this Saturday. Kelly has appeared in 35 career games and been a starter in 20 overall (twice at WR, once as utility QB).
-- In the 17 games in which he has started as Ball State's primary QB, Kelly has amassed 1,184 rushing yards on 298 carries, for an average of 69.6 yards per game.
-- The Cardinals are 6-7 in the MAC with Kelly as QB1, including a 3-3 mark to end the 2023 season. He finished his home career with a 6-3 career mark as QB1.
-- With Kelly at the helm in 2023, Ball State averaged 235.3 rush yards over its last six games.

CAREER RUSHING BY A CARDINALS QB
-- Kiael Kelly is always a threat to gain yards with his legs, and he enters the Miami game 169 yards shy of breaking the Cardinals' career record for rushing yards by a quarterback. He is currently second in career rush yards by a QB.
-- It is worth noting his career rushing high was 136 yards in his prior start against the RedHawks, in the final game of the 2023 season when he and Marquez Cooper both rushed for 136 yards. That figure was the third-highest single-game rushing figure by a Ball State QB.
-- His 724 yards over six games in 2023 stand as a Ball State single-season record for a quarterback.
-- He boasts 1,445 career rush yards overall through 11 games of the 2025 season. He is one of just three Ball State QBs ever to rush for over 1,000 yards in their careers.

Ball State Career Rushing Yards by a Quarterback
Player   Yards   Carries
1.   Art Yaroch, 1973-76   1,613   421
2.   Kiael Kelly, 2022-present   1,445   373
3.   Riley Neal, 2015-18   1,363   325

MAGWOOD'S LAST STAND
-- Qian Magwood is the longest tenured player in the Ball State program, arriving in Fall 2020 as a high school freshman. After participating on the Cardinals' 2020 MAC championship team, Magwood led all receivers in 2023 with a career-high 358 yards.
-- He currently leads Ball State with 302 receiving yards and needs 57 on Saturday to eclipse his old mark.
-- Magwood boasts 867 career receiving yards and six touchdowns. He has averaged 10.8 yards per catch over 34 career games.

MAGWOOD & KELLY CONNECTIONS
-- Fifth-year senior Qian Magwood is Ball State's only returning player from the Cardinals' 2020 MAC championship season and he currently leads Ball State with 18.9 yards per catch. His 16 receptions are second to Eric Weatherly among wide receivers and he is always a favorite target of best friend and QB Kiael Kelly.
-- Kelly and Magwood both play the final games of their respective careers on Saturday.
-- In the Ohio win, Kelly found Magwood for a 43-yard game-winning TD down the left sideline with 57 seconds remaining in the game.
-- On the final play of the first quarter at UConn, Kelly found Magwood on a screen pass. Magwood sprinted the right sideline for 53 yards for what was the longest catch of Magwood's career and the longest pass of Kelly's.
-- To open the second quarter, Kelly handed to Magwood on a reverse and ventured into his own route in the right flat. On the first pass of his career, Magwood found Kelly for a 19-yard TD, reaching the end zone for Ball State's first score.
-- In those two consecutive plays at UConn, Kelly & Magwood connected for 72 yards with career longs and career firsts for both of them.

STRONG IN RUN GAME IS UREMOVICH MANTRA
-- Since hired last December, head coach Mike Uremovich has preached a strong run game.
-- His newest rushing weapon, Jalen Bonds, may have emerged in last week's game at Toledo.
-- Ball State has rushed at least 33 times in nine of 11 games this season, averaging 136.5 yards per game on the ground. The Cardinals have tallied at least 170 rushing yards in four games, most recently with 216 yards in the win over Akron.
-- The Cardinals' 47 carries last week at Toledo were a season high, and the most by a Ball State team since the final game of 2023, in a 17-15 defeat to Miami. In that game, Marquez Cooper and Kiael Kelly both rushed for exactly 136 yards.
-- Ball State's season high 308 rushing yards against New Hampshire were the most Ball State rush yards in a game since 2019.
-- The Cardinals had 243 yards on just 15 carries at halftime against UNH. It was just the 15th 300-yard rushing game in Ball State's 101-year football history.

CONSECUTIVE GAMES WITH A RECEPTION
-- Wide receiver Eric Weatherly has caught a pass in 34 consecutive games, counting 23 over every game with Bucknell in 2023 & 2024. Only seven FBS players have caught passes in more consecutive games.

BALL STATE BY THE NUMBERS
11 -- Sacks by Nathan Voorhis are the most by a Cardinal since Anthony Winbush had 11.5 in the 2017 season. The program record is 13.
12 -- Takeaways by Ball State over its past six games -- 9 INTs and 3 fumble recoveries. The Cardinals collected just one in their first five games
112 -- Scrimmage yards (58 rushing plus 54 receiving) by Jalen Bonds were the most by a Ball State freshman since Carson Steele in 2021.
169 -- Kiael Kelly needs 169 rushing yards to pass Art Yaroch (1,613 from 1973-76) with the most career rush yards by a Ball State quarterback.