by Following the 42-3 loss Ball State football suffered at the hands of Auburn Saturday, Sept. 6, first-year Cardinals’ head coach Mike Uremovich met with the team and showed them both the positives and the negatives.
“We went to teachable moments and showed them, ‘Hey, these are seven or eight things we got to fix, and then these are seven or eight things that we did really well,” Uremovich said. “Whether we win or lose, it’s at that point about getting better for the next week.”
The Cardinals finished their second game of the season with just 68 yards of offense. After the game, Uremovich said the offense ‘didn’t execute’ well enough to give the Cardinals a chance. He echoed that once again during Monday’s press conference.
“Offensively, we’ve had issues the first two weeks on first and second down,” he said. “Everybody makes a big deal about third down, and, yeah, it’s important. But we gotta get more production on first and second down so we’re not in the third and long situations that we’ve been in.”
Uremovich said that missed blocks and some Cardinals running the wrong routes have both been mistakes throughout the start of the season. To fix this, he said there will be more time in practice for the starting offense and defense to face each other.
But while the offense struggled, the defense showed promise against the Tigers. The Cardinals recorded five sacks in the loss, and Uremovich praised the unit for its sharpness. One player he talked about was senior defensive end Nathan Voorhis.
“He’s a great leader, and he works his butt off. I’ve said this about a couple of other guys on our team, but all you want as a coach is somebody that’s the same guy every day that when they walk in the door, I know exactly what I’m going to get,” Uremovich said. “He’s going to be the same guy, whether we win or lose, whether he gets beat or gets a sack. And that’s how he is as a player, but that’s how he is as a person as well.”
Now, Voorhis and other Cardinals like redshirt junior receiver Eric Weatherly get to play in front of the Ball State faithful for the first time Saturday, Sept. 13, at 2 p.m. as the University of New Hampshire visits Delaware County. The Wildcats are a top FCS team as they are ranked No. 24 in the country, and they come into this game 2-0.
“We’re excited to play at home this week. Obviously, it’s the first home game for our new staff, and we got a bunch of new players that haven’t had a chance to play a home game [here], so we’re excited about that,” Uremovich said. “Muncie has been great to us since we got here, and we want to play for our local fans. And we have a really good opponent.
“They know how to win football games. They’re 2-0, and they’re a national playoff team … It’s going to be a challenge. They’re a very talented football team, and very well coached. It’ll be a good challenge for us on Saturday.”
New Hampshire is led by sophomore QB1 Matt Vezza, who is 21-for-38 on the season with 315 passing yards and two touchdowns. On the round, the Wildcats are led by senior running back Myles Thomason. After 41 carries, he’s recorded 122 yards on the ground. In its first two games, the team has scored 46 points — an average of 23.0 per game — but also struggled on third down (7-for-25) similar to Ball State.
Though the Wildcats come to Muncie with momentum, the Cardinals said they won’t let that bother them. They are just ready to play at Scheumann Stadium.
“I’m looking forward to seeing all the fans come out,” Voorhis said. “Obviously, home field advantage is huge, and it’s probably going to be a big crowd, so it’s gonna be fun.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
