by Ball State football ends the 2025 homestand Saturday, Nov. 25, as Eastern Michigan stops at Scheumann Stadium for a noon contest. This will be the Cardinals’ senior day, marking the final game in Muncie for some notable Ball State players.
“It’s bigger than another game. I’m just ready to play that final one in front of the home fans,” Ball State QB1 Kiael Kelly said. “[I want to] leave it all out there for the final time. I’ve played a lot of games here, and since I’ve been here, we’ve never been undefeated at home.”
As Kelly mentioned, the Cardinals are 4-0 on their home turf. If they were to win and end the season unbeaten in Muncie, it would be for the first time since 2013.
Ball State (4-5, 3-2 MAC) currently sits in seventh place of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) while the Eagles (3-7, 2-4 MAC) occupy the 10th spot.
“They’re a typical MAC football team, and it’s going to be a four-quarter game,” Ball State head coach Mike Uremovich said. “It’ll be a good challenge for us.”
The first-year Cardinals’ head coach broke down the entire Eastern Michigan team, saying they are lethal at multiple positions. The Eagles’ starting QB1, senior Noah Kim, has 2,261 passing yards and 15 touchdown throws this season. Uremovich said he is ‘probably the best quarterback’ in the MAC.
The Eagles’ ground game is led by senior running back Dontate McMillan. He has 823 rushing yards on 145 carries and has scored three times.
Defensively, Uremovich said the Eagles will challenge you with their corners and the way they can switch things up with their blitzes. With their last game being played Wednesday, Nov. 5, the Cardinals had last Saturday off to watch the Eagles defeat Bowling Green.
“I liked watching it with the guys because they know the game plan already,” Uremoich said. “They were pointing stuff out as the formations popped up on both offense and defense. It was just like watching [game] film but in real time.”
Ball State defensive end Nathan Voorhis comes into the game with a team — and conference — leading 11 sacks on the season. The program’s season sack record is 13, held by Kelly George (1982) and Craig Newburg (1981).
Though he has said throughout the year that he doesn’t look at personal goals, he believes it is a big achievement. But it
“It does mean a lot. I want to set records and accomplish a lot divisionally,” Voorhis said. “But most importantly is winning games. People say, ‘Oh, we need this many sacks today, or you need this many.’ I want to win, and that’s really all that matters.”
A senior himself, Voorhis said during Monday’s press conference that his final home game is something he’s thought a lot about. However, he noted that he and other Ball State upperclassmen have had to look past that as they know what this game means to the program.
“You reminisce about what got you here,” he said. “I’ve been playing football since the sixth grade, and I’ve played over a hundred games. You think back, but you have to shut that down and focus on the task at hand.”
With four total wins on the season, the Cardinals need two more to automatically earn bowl eligibility. Though there is a chance to get that with five victories, Voorhis said the program’s motto of a one-game season has been built for this moment.
Now, it’s time to see if it will pay off.
“We have a goal and we gotta go to reach it. We didn’t come this far to come this far,” Voorhis said. “We are playing meaningful games in November, and that’s what we want to do. We can still go to a bowl game and still win the MAC.”
When asked about the extended break before Saturday’s game and some Cardinals being banged up at this point of the season, both Voorhis and Kelly said they look past that as football players.
With the goals that Voorhis echoed, there’s no time for that right now, according to Kelly.
“I think just knowing that you have three [games] left,” he said. “You have three weeks, and you can worry about how your body feels. Everybody is banged up and everybody has gone through something … You can’t feel sorry for yourself, because when you do, you’re just going to get run over out there.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
