by Ball State football is down to its final two games of the 2025 season, and both of those are road games. This comes after the Cardinals were defeated 24-9 by Eastern Michigan in the team’s final home contest.
“[Discipline] cost us the game,” Ball State head coach Mike Uremovich said. “We had a lack of discipline with penalties and alignments. Ball State beat Ball State. I’m not taking any credit away from [Eastern Michigan] … We didn’t deserve to win that football game with the way we played.”
As Uremovich noted, multiple penalties and other mistakes hindered Ball State’s success. In total, the Cardinals were flagged five times in the loss.
The defeat hurt the team’s chances of playing for a Mid-American Conference (MAC) title and was also a setback for a possible bowl appearance.
Defensive backs coach Ray Smith said the team took the loss well and understands what has to change going forward.
“There was some disappointment, and that’s human nature because it was a big game,” he said. “We were talking about MAC title contentions … Now, it’s a win-or-go-home type mentality.”
This week, the Cardinals (4-6, 3-3 MAC) travel to Toledo (6-4, 4-2 MAC) Saturday, Nov. 22, which boasts a 5-0 home record. The game will begin at 2 p.m. With the Cardinals struggling on the road this season — they are 0-5 away from Muncie — players and coaches said this will be a challenge for the program.
“I think they’re the most talented team in the league,” Uremovich said.
The Rockets are the No. 4 team in the MAC, and statistically, they have the top offense and defense in the league. Toledo is averaging 32.0 points per game this season and has 4,247 offensive yards per game. The defense is allowing just 13.4 points, 88.5 rushing yards and 143.0 passing yards per game.
Ball State is averaging 15.7 points per game and has five games where the Cardinals didn’t score over 10 points.
Individually, Toledo is led by senior running back Chip Trayanum in the ground game as he has 728 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. Through the air, senior QB1 Tucker Gleason is having a great season with 2,199 passing yards, along with 17 touchdown passes. He is third and second in the MAC in each category, respectively.
“We’ve got to go out there and get off to a better start than what we’ve seen on the road this year,” Uremovich said. “We haven’t played well on the road, and it’s a good opportunity for us to change that.”
This will be the 49th meeting between the two programs. The Rockets are 15-9-1 at the Glass Bowl and lead the overall series 27-21-1.
Smith, a former MAC football player himself at Northern Illinois, had one message for his unit when they began talks about this game: look at it like a boxing match.
“We are in a heavyweight fight. We’re fighting in our league and were about to fight [Mike] Tyson,” Smith said. “They’re gonna throw some jabs and we gotta eat them. Then we have to throw jabs back, and in the fourth quarter, we have to let it rip … Soft people don’t last. We’re in a tough time and we want to go out there and play these four quarters like it’s a 12-round, heavyweight battle.”
Though the coaching staff believes this is a chance to redeem themselves after last week’s loss, the Cardinals themselves are in the same boat. Redshirt senior wide receiver Qian Magwood said when looking at the film, it was clear what went wrong.
“You look back at the film and it’s like, ‘They didn’t really beat us. We beat ourselves,” he said. “As a competitor, it’s definitely hard to stomach.”
Magwood and Ball State’s other upperclassmen are down to two guaranteed games in their collegiate careers. If the Cardinals want a chance at a bowl appearance, the final two games of the regular season are crucial.
Uremovich has preached all year the mindset of a one-week season. Magwood said that attitude is the only one the Cardinals can afford to use the next two weeks.
“The things that we have going on from our own personal standpoints, forget them,” Magwood said. “We just want to get things right for ourselves and to get this thing rolling to end in the win column. That’s the only goal this week.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
