FOOTBALL GAMEDAY: Cardinals Visit Boilermakers for First Time Since 2010

Ball State (0-0, 0-0 MAC) at Purdue (0-0, 0-0 B1G)
Game 1 - at Purdue	Saturday, Aug. 30 at Noon Live Stats \| Big Ten Network
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Ball State Ticket Information	2025 Season Tickets \| Home Opener vs. New Hampshire (Sept. 13, 2 p.m.) \| Community Day vs. Ohio (Oct. 4, Noon)
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MUNCIE, Ind. -- Ball State opens its 101st season of football while visiting West Lafayette on Saturday to battle Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium. The Cardinals, 3-9 last season, usher in a new era with Mike Uremovich as head coach. Facing his alma mater in his Cardinals debut, Uremovich replaces Mike Neu as Ball State's field general. Neu led the Cardinals for nine years from 2016-24.

-- Ball State welcomes 53 newcomers to its roster since Uremovich commanded control of the Cardinals last December. Twenty-four high school signees and college transfers joined the program last spring, with 29 added to the Ball State roster in training camp this fall. Compared to welcoming 17 total transfers for the 2024 season, 33 college transfers adorn the Cardinals' roster in 2025.

-- Among Ball State's 106-man roster, 25 student-athletes enter their final year of eligibility. Only 15 other programs nationally boast as many as 25 players in their final year of eligibility.

-- Uremovich also serves as offensive coordinator, calling plays for an offense that returns just two primary starters from last season -- offensive tackle Chris Hood and wide receiver Qian Magwood.

-- Redshirt senior Kiael Kelly is QB1 entering the 2025 season, following two trips in and out of the transfer portal and a 2024 campaign wrought with uncertainty. After starting the final six games of the 2023 campaign in which Ball State finished 3-3, Kelly began 2024 as a DB before lining up as offensive utility man at QB, RB and WR. His 898 career rushing yards are third in Ball State history by a quarterback (Art Yaroch: 1,613, 1973-76).

-- The defensive unit returns with four starters in a unit revamped last year by coordinator Jeff Knowles. Nose tackle Drew Hughes and linebacker Joey Stemler return in the defensive middle, flanked by corners Eric McClain and Will Yates who started the last half of 2024 as true freshmen. New faces, and better size and depth, leave the Cardinals optimistic in 2025.

WHAT A WIN MEANS:
-- Ball State will beat Purdue for the first time in history, following eight defeats between 1985 and 2010.
-- Mike Uremovich will log his first victory as Ball State's head coach.
-- Ball State will win its season opener for the first time since a 31-21 win over Western Illinois in 2021. A win would mark the Cardinals' first win over a Big Ten opponent since three consecutive wins against Indiana, in 2008, 2011 and 2012.

INSIDE THE SERIES: PURDUE
-- In a battle of programs with first-year head coaches, Ball State's Mike Uremovich faces Purdue's Barry Odom. Both programs welcome new staffs and re-stocked rosters as part of the 2025 season opener for both teams.
-- In just the ninth meeting between the schools, Ball State faces the Boilermakers in its season opener for the first time in program history. Purdue opened its 1986 campaign with a Sept. 13 win over the Cardinals, 20-3.
-- All eight meetings in the series thus far have taken place at Ross-Ade Stadium.
-- A 10-point difference in 2006, 38-28, was the closest margin in series history.

COACH U & PURDUE | HOW THE COACHING CAREER BEGAN
-- Cardinals coach Mike Uremovich is believed to be the first Purdue alum ever to lead another team against the Boilermakers.
-- Uremovich did not play for Purdue, though the former high school wide receiver did attend a walk-on tryout at Purdue, conducted in the Mollenkopf Athletic Center. It was there he first became acquainted with McCutcheon High School coach Dan Coller, who later hired him to coach the Mavericks' freshman team.
-- Coller also filled in teaching a football class at Purdue which Uremovich attended. Uremovich asked him about a coaching job at McCutcheon and was asked to provide a resume. The college sophomore provided a professional resume two days later, and the rest is history.
-- Ironically, Uremovich was on the Purdue campus again just two weeks ago, dropping off his eldest son, Michael, who is a freshman engineering student.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 -- Ball State returns one rushing TD from its 2024 roster: Kiael Kelly's 9-yard, opening-drive score at Vanderbilt came in a wildcat formation.
33 -- Total transfers on the Cardinals' roster. Among 30 four-year transfers and three JC transfers, five played at Purdue last year.
54 -- Mike Uremovich's full-time coaching staff at Ball State accounts for 54 career appearances in FBS bowl games.
71 -- Coach U's full-time coaching staff has been a part of 71 postseason appearances over all college divisions.

FOOTBALL GAMEDAY: Cardinals Visit Boilermakers for First Time Since 2010

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Players Mentioned

Chris Hood

Drew Hughes

Kiael Kelly

Qian Magwood

Eric McClain

Joey Stemler