2018 Ball State Cardinals football team

2018 Ball State Cardinals football
2018 Ball State Cardinals football
Conference	Mid-American Conference
	West Division
Record	4–8 (3–5 MAC)
Head coach	Mike Neu (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	Joey Lynch (5th season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	David Elson (2nd season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Scheumann Stadium
	Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Ball State Cardinals football team represented Ball State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by third-year head coach Mike Neu and played their home games at Scheumann Stadium in Muncie, Indiana as members of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 4–8, 3–5 in MAC play to finish in fifth place in the West Division.

2018 Mid-American Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
Buffalo x	7	–	1	10	–	4
Miami (OH)	6	–	2	6	–	6
Ohio	6	–	2	9	–	4
Akron	2	–	6	4	–	8
Bowling Green	2	–	6	3	–	9
Kent State	1	–	7	2	–	10
West Division
Northern Illinois x$	6	–	2	8	–	6
Western Michigan	5	–	3	7	–	6
Eastern Michigan	5	–	3	7	–	6
Toledo	5	–	3	7	–	6
Ball State	3	–	5	4	–	8
Central Michigan	0	–	8	1	–	11
Championship: Northern Illinois 30, Buffalo 29
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
Rimington Trophy^[1]	Andrew Poenitsch	C	JR
Maxwell Award^[2]	James Gilbert	RB	JR
Fred Biletnikoff Award^[3]	Justin Hall	WR	SO
John Mackey Award^[4]	Nolan Givan	TE	SO
Paul Hornung Award^[5]	Malik Dunner	RB/KR	JR
Wuerffel Trophy^[6]	Riley Neal	QB	SR

Preseason media poll

The MAC released their preseason media poll on July 24, 2018, with the Cardinals predicted to finish in last place in the West Division.^[7]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
West Division
1	Northern Illinois	133 (15)
2	Toledo	125 (7)
3	Western Michigan	87 (1)
4	Eastern Michigan	67
5	Central Michigan	58 (1)
6	Ball State	34

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:00 p.m.	Central Connecticut*	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN	ESPN	W 42–6	9,801
September 8	3:30 p.m.	at No. 8 Notre Dame*	Notre Dame Stadium South Bend, IN	NBC	L 16–24	77,622
September 15	12:00 p.m.	at Indiana*	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	BTN	L 10–38	40,240
September 22	3:00 p.m.	Western Kentucky*	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN	ESPN3	L 20–28	15,873
September 29	3:00 p.m.	Kent State	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN	ESPN	W 52–24	9,367
October 6	3:00 p.m.	Northern Illinois	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN (Bronze Stalk Trophy)	ESPN3	L 16–24	7,159
October 13	3:00 p.m.	at Central Michigan	Kelly/Shorts Stadium Mount Pleasant, MI	ESPN3	W 24–23	10,255
October 20	3:00 p.m.	Eastern Michigan	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN	ESPN	L 20–42	14,022
October 25	7:00 p.m.	at Ohio	Peden Stadium Athens, OH	CBSSN	L 14–52	13,774
October 31	7:30 p.m.	at Toledo	Glass Bowl Toledo, OH	ESPN2	L 13–45	15,214
November 13	6:00 p.m.	Western Michigan	Scheumann Stadium Muncie, IN	ESPN2	W 42–41 ^OT	5,503
November 20	7:00 p.m.	at Miami (OH)	Yager Stadium Oxford, OH	ESPNU/ESPN	L 21–42	17,639
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Source:^[8]

Roster

2018 Ball State Cardinals football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OL	`55`	Chris Beech	So
OL	`68`	T. J. Beltavski	So
WR	`37`	RJ Benkelman	Fr
OL	`62`	Curtis Blackwell	So
QB	`10`	Elliot Charlebois	Fr
WR	`1`	Antwan Davis	Jr
TE	`82`	Keidren Davis	So
RB	`4`	Malik Dunner	Jr
WR	`83`	Luke Endsley	So
RB	`30`	Tye Evans	Fr
WR	`25`	Jaylen Flemmons	Fr
WR	`80`	Justin Gibbs	Fr
RB	`34`	James Gilbert	Jr
WR	`13`	Brennan Gillis	Jr
TE	`88`	Nolan Givan	So
TE	`41`	Bryson Haft	Fr
WR	`12`	Justin Hall	So
WR	`84`	Trevor Hohlt	Fr
QB	`15`	Riley Neal	Jr
WR	`14`	Khalil Newton	So
TE	`43`	Wes Obermeier	Fr
QB	`18`	John Paddock	Fr
OL	`75`	Danny Pinter	Jr
QB	`9`	Drew Plitt	So
OL	`64`	Andrew Poenitsch	Jr
RB	`39`	Rashaad Poindexter	So
WR	`19`	Devin Reece	Sr
OL	`71`	Zac Ricketts	Jr
FB	`8`	Cody Rudy	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OLB	`51`	Christian Albright	So
S	`10`	Lamar Anderson	Jr
S	`23`	Brett Anderson II	So
OLB	`44`	Brock Burns	Fr
DB	`41`	Vince Campbell	Fr
OLB	`98`	Mitchell Carter	Fr
CB	`36`	Hunter Causey	Fr
S	`5`	Bryce Cosby	So
DT	`42`	Chris Crumb	Jr
OLB	`27`	Jimmy Daw	Fr
ILB	`47`	Sid Fox	Fr
CB	`38`	Nik Giles	Jr
ILB	`50`	Hank Grenda	Fr
DE	`56`	Shannon Hall	Jr
DE	`90`	Sean Hammonds Jr.	Jr
S	`20`	Myles Hannah	Fr
OLB	`54`	Sam Helm	Fr
CB	`15`	Verenzo Holmes Jr.	So
CB	`16`	Tyler Potts	Fr
ILB	`37`	Shahid Reece	Fr
OLB	`33`	Michael Robinson Jr.	So
DL	`55`	Tuni Ropati	Jr
OLB	`58`	Davion Tyson	Fr
ILB	`57`	Trey Uetrecht	Fr
DL	`96`	Tre Underwood	So
CB	`25`	Amechi Uzodinma II	Fr
S	`31`	Romero Wade	Jr
CB	`7`	Marc Walton	Sr
ILB	`2`	Jacob White	Jr
OLB	`11`	Ray Wilborn	Jr
OLB	`13`	Jordan Williams	Fr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LS	`45`	Joseph Greenwood	So
K	`22`	Morgan Hagee	Sr
K	`97`	Ryan Rimmler	Jr

Head coach

Mike Neu

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster

Game summaries

Central Connecticut

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Devils	0	0	0	6	6
Cardinals	7	14	14	7	42

At Notre Dame

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	3	3	0	10	16
No. 8 Fighting Irish	7	7	10	0	24

At Indiana

Ball State Cardinals (1–1) vs Indiana Hoosiers (2–0) – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	3	0	7	0	10
Hoosiers	3	21	7	7	38

at Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, Indiana

Date: September 15, 2018
Game time: 12:00 p.m.
Game weather: Sunny, 84 °F (29 °C)
Game attendance: 40,240
Referee: Ron Snodgrass
TV announcers (BTN): Chris Denari (play-by-play), Bobby Carpenter (analyst)
Sources:

Game information

First quarter

(11:01) BALL – Morgan Hagee 31-yard field goal (Drive: 11 plays, 61 yards, 3:55; Ball State 3–0)
(7:47) IU – Logan Justus 21-yard field goal (Drive: 12 plays, 70 yards, 3:03; Tied 3–3)

Second quarter

(14:55) IU – Stevie Scott III 1-yard run, Logan Justus kick (Drive: 12 plays, 89 yards, 4:39; Indiana 10–3)
(12:26) IU – J-Shun Harris 86-yard punt return, Logan Justus kick (Drive: 5 plays, 22 yards, 2:07; Indiana 17–3)
(0:22) IU – Peyton Ramsey 5-yard run, Logan Justus kick (Drive: 9 plays, 72 yards, 2:51; Indiana 24–3)

Third quarter

(8:52) IU – Ronnie Walker 18-yard run, Logan Justus kick (Drive: 11 plays, 68 yards, 3:42; Indiana 31–3)
(2:08) BALL – James Gilbert 27-yard run, Morgan Hagee kick (Drive: 7 plays, 60 yards, 2:26; Indiana 31–10)

Fourth quarter

(10:11) IU – Stevie Scott III 11-yard run, Logan Justus kick (Drive: 3 plays, 38 yards, 1:39; Indiana 38–10)

Statistics	BALL	IU
First downs	18	26
Total yards	347	457
Rushes/yards	39–204	44–255
Passing yards	143	202
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	14–28–1	24–32–0
Time of possession	27:17	32:43

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Ball State	Passing	Riley Neal	12/24, 115 yards
	Rushing	James Gilbert	16 carries, 89 yards, TD
	Receiving	Corey Lacanaria	4 receptions, 40 yards
Indiana	Passing	Peyton Ramsey	20/27, 173 yards
	Rushing	Stevie Scott III	18 carries, 114 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Luke Timian	5 receptions, 56 yards

Western Kentucky

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	0	7	7	14	28
Cardinals	7	3	3	7	20

Kent State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Flashes	7	10	7	0	24
Cardinals	21	14	7	10	52

Northern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Huskies	7	7	7	3	24
Cardinals	0	6	3	7	16

At Central Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	0	7	0	17	24
Chippewas	3	17	0	3	23

Eastern Michigan

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	7	14	14	7	42
Cardinals	0	6	7	7	20

At Ohio

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	7	0	0	7	14
Bobcats	0	31	21	0	52

At Toledo

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	0	7	0	6	13
Rockets	21	7	3	14	45

Western Michigan

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Broncos	7	10	3	15	6	41
Cardinals	7	14	7	7	7	42

At Miami (OH)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	14	7	0	0	21
RedHawks	7	14	14	7	42

References

^ "Rimington Trophy Press Release". May 30, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
^ "2018 Maxwell Award Watch List". July 16, 2018. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
^ "2018 Biletnikoff Award Watch List". July 19, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
^ "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
^ "43 PLAYERS NAMED TO 2018 PAUL HORNUNG AWARD WATCH LIST". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
^ "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
^ "NIU & Ohio Picked as Divisional Winners in 2018 MAC Football Media Preseason Poll".
^ 2018 Ball State Cardinals football schedule. ballstatesports.com. Accessed February 27, 2018.

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[1] "Rimington Trophy Press Release". May 30, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.

[2] "2018 Maxwell Award Watch List". July 16, 2018. Archived from the original on July 16, 2018. Retrieved July 17, 2018.

[3] "2018 Biletnikoff Award Watch List". July 19, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018.

[4] "2018 John Mackey Award Preseason Watch List Released" (PDF). July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.

[5] "43 PLAYERS NAMED TO 2018 PAUL HORNUNG AWARD WATCH LIST". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.

[6] "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.

[7] "NIU & Ohio Picked as Divisional Winners in 2018 MAC Football Media Preseason Poll".

[8] 2018 Ball State Cardinals football schedule. ballstatesports.com. Accessed February 27, 2018.

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2018 Ball State Cardinals football

Conference	Mid-American Conference
Division	West Division
Record	4–8 (3–5 MAC)
Head coach	Mike Neu (3rd season)
Offensive coordinator	Joey Lynch (5th season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	David Elson (2nd season)
Base defense	3–4
Home stadium	Scheumann Stadium
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →