by MUNCIE, Ind. — When Qian Magwood heard his name called near the end of Ball State football’s game against Ohio Saturday afternoon, he knew what to do.
“Keep it simple,” he said. “Like we talked about earlier this week, just keep it simple. Go make a play.”
The Ball State redshirt senior receiver did just that, running a route on the sideline. Redshirt senior QB1 Kiael Kelly hit Magwood. After cutting up the field, he went for the end zone.
Touchdown.
Eight plays later, Ball State’s defense stopped the Bobcats on a final hail mary throw. Once the ball hit the turf, the Cardinals stormed the field after capturing their first MAC win of the season, and the first triumph over Ohio in five-straight matchups (2012).
The 20-14 final was also the first MAC victory of the Mike Uremovich era.
“Really excited for the kids. A lot of them were saying they hadn’t beaten Ohio before, so it’s fun,” the first-year Ball State head coach said. “Excited for them and the coaches… They work really hard.”
The contest did not start with much offense as both teams struggled to get anything going. But once the Bobcats found an edge, they didn’t give in, jumping to a 14-0 lead at halftime. Though the Red and White couldn’t get much going offensively, there were some areas where the Cardinals excelled.
Senior defensive end Nathan Voorhis was one of these areas, recording 3.5 sacks, eight tackles and five solo tackles.
“I think it was the whole defense. I don’t want to say anything nice about him in front of him,” Uremovich said, laughing. “He had, what, three sacks? I don’t know what a half sack is. But he played his butt off and really played hard. Our whole defense did. We played a lot of guys on defense, which you have to do because they were out there a lot today.”
Voorhis himself said he just wanted a win.
“It’s cool to have a good individual performance,” he said. “But if there’s no W in the [win] column, it doesn’t mean anything.”
As a whole, the defensive unit made adjustments throughout the game that thwarted the Ohio game plan. From forcing a safety in the fourth quarter, holding Ohio redshirt senior QB1 Parker Navarro to just four completions throughout most of the second half and some other noteworthy plays, it was a performance the team has been looking for since the season started.
“We settled down and we treated them like a triple option team because of what they do with the read zone quarterback running in the flat,” Uremovich said. “And it’s like playing Army or Navy. You can never coach against a service academy team, no matter how much you practice it, until you go out there and see them doing it at full speed.”
Despite Ohio’s offensive success this season, the Cardinals didn’t waver from their goal. With so many new names and faces across the program, the Red and White believe this is the type of result they can earn when all facets of the game come together.
“I wouldn’t say it’s motivation. It’s more like, I’ll say, more morale,” Magwood said. “Now, guys are buying in. If you’re bought in now, you’re buying in even more. So it’s just more of a morale type of win.”
Kelly finished the game going 17-for-33 for 185 passing yards and the game-deciding touchdown throw. He also had 96 rushing yards and a 13-yard touchdown. Magwood ended the win, leading the Cardinals with 92 receiving yards.
Ball State will return to the field to face Western Michigan Saturday, Oct. 11. The game is set to start at 3:30 p.m.
Though Uremovich highlighted the team’s happiness following the win — and this could be heard outside of the locker room ahead of the postgame press conference — he was very limited on talking about what the win meant to him.
But following the game and the team’s celebration, the players answered about what it meant to them seeing their new coach defeat the defending conference champions for his first MAC victory.
“He’s not going to say it, but I know it means a lot to him. He’s never going to talk about himself, but anybody would feel that way,” Voorhis said. “To come up to an FBS level and play your first conference game and you win it.
“That means something … Ohio is a great team. They won the MAC last year. So they’re coming in as defending MAC champions, and we beat them at home. That means a lot to the program. It means a lot to players and coaches.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
