by It was Ball State’s most well attended game of the season thus far, but with two seconds left on the clock and the eyes of over 15,000 fans trained on the Cardinals’ goalposts, you could hear a pin drop inside of Schumann Stadium.
The game was left up to the feet of sophomore kicker Jackson Courville, planted firmly at the 35-yard line for a 52-yard kick that would determine the ultimate fate of Ball State’s Homecoming Weekend. Thus, with the weight of the game on his shoulders, Courville took a shot from a distance he’d never previously reached in a Ball State uniform, booting the ball just over the goalpost and sending the stadium into a sideline clearing frenzy.
Consequently, the game between Ball State and Northern Illinois, which has been dubbed the Battle for the Bronze Stalk since the two interstate rivals began fighting for the trophy in 2008, was won by the Cardinals for the third consecutive year with a final score of 25-23.
Following the post-game pandemonium that ensued in the Cardinals’ locker room, emotions continued to run high as head coach Mike Neu expressed his passion and pride for his Ball State team and their hard-fought win.
“It’s hard to describe,” Neu said. “I love the team. I’m just proud of the guys for fighting all the way to the end.”
Neu noted that he had been preaching the fact that this contest was likely to be a “street fight” throughout the week leading up to the game and praised his team for remaining grounded throughout the game’s chaotic final minutes.
“I wouldn’t want to go to war with anybody else,” Neu said. “We’ve been through some tough moments this year, but hopefully our team is drawing from that, and we’re trying to turn that pain into triumph right now.”
Apart from the joys of the win, Homecoming Weekend was a welcome sight for the Cardinals for another reason. The meaningful but small batch of loyal fans that had traveled to Nashville for Ball State’s matchup against Vanderbilt last weekend was replaced with waves of red and white this week in the stands of Schumann Stadium, and senior linebacker Keionte Newson felt the love.
“It felt so good, and there were a lot of fans there today,” Newson said. “Just being at home my senior year just feels good to me.”
Neu also mentioned the fan support, citing a particularly memorable moment that took place as the Cardinals took the field for the first time earlier in the day.
“We ran down the hill to start the game, and both sides were lined up with kids,” Neu recalled. “There’s nothing more exciting to me than seeing the youth in this community here to try to develop a rapport with the players, to maybe look up at them like, ‘Hey, I’ve got some heroes in my life to look up to,’ because somebody shook my hand or gave me a highfive on the way to the field. I know what that did for me when I was a kid.”
Ball State’s offense surely put on a show for the kids today, earning 170 yards on the ground and 222 yards in the air, with senior running back Braedon Sloan and junior tight end Tanner Koziol leading the charge for the Cardinals.
The offensive identity of Ball State has become clear at this point in the season. Handing the ball off to Sloan and passing it to Koziol has consistently yielded positive results for the Cardinals’ offense throughout the season. Sloan finished today’s contest with 53 rushing yards and a team-high total of 100 all-purpose yards. Koziol, who has caught at least eight passes in each of his last six games, once again earned nine receptions in today’s contest against Northern Illinois for a total of 78 yards.
Redshirt junior Vaughn Pemberton also made a significant contribution to Ball State’s run game today with a season-high 70 rushing yards.
By the end of the contest, the Cardinal offense was credited with scoring the most points and securing the best third-down efficiency mark of any team against the Northern Illinois Huskies this season. The Huskies, who were the NCAA leader in defensive third-down conversion rate heading into this week’s game at 18.8%, gave up a conversion rate of 55.5% to Ball State.
The spotlight of Ball State’s offense, however, would largely be placed on the team’s kicker. Courville converted four out of his five field goal attempts in the game, capped off by a career-long, game-winning 52-yard score.
“Being able to have the opportunity to go out there and prove what I can do and make a big time play when it matters most … that’s everything,” Courville said. “Those are the opportunities you live for.”
Despite a number of trick plays throughout the game, such as a double reverse in the second quarter to redshirt sophomore Cam Pickett that resulted in a 34-yard run to set the Cardinals up for their first of four made field goals on the day, Ball State largely relied on a familiar script to generate a majority of the team’s offense.
The defensive end provided a similarly familiar sight to Cardinal fans, producing a number of highlight turnovers while also giving up a number of highlight plays to the Northern Illinois offense.
In total, Ball State’s defense allowed 372 yards of total offense to Northern Illinois. The day was, however, largely positive for the Cardinals, with the defense forcing three turnovers. Graduate student Riley Tolsma forced a fumble, and graduate student George Udo and redshirt junior Joey Stemler both earned interceptions in the contest.
“It’s just surreal,” Tolsma said, referring to the win. “As the season has gone on, we (the defense) have really gelled together, and I feel like the defense as a whole has really started to pick it up.”
That surreal feeling of a wild finish that resulted in over 15,000 fans erupting inside of Schumann Stadium will now be encapsulated for the remainder of the season by the Bronze Stalk Trophy that once again resides in Muncie, Indiana.
