by The Mid-American Conference (MAC) schedule officially begins for Ball State football (1-3) as the Ohio Bobcats (3-2, 1-0 MAC) make their way to Scheumann Stadium Saturday, Oct. 4, with kickoff set for noon.
It’ll be the first conference game for first-year Ball State head coach Mike Uremovich.
“You guys have heard me say every game is a one-game season, but now that we’re through those first four games, we get a chance to start off at home and hopefully start [conference play] off on the right foot,” Uremovich said.
But while Uremovich will make his MAC debut, redshirt senior Cardinals like QB1 Kiael Kelly and wide receiver Qian Magwood will begin their final conference journey.
Magwood is the longest-tenured Ball State player in the program and reflected on the feeling of beginning his final conference season.
“It’s been every game this season, and I’ve always been a passionate guy, but I’ve been a little bit more lately,” he said. “It’s going to be good with kicking off MAC-play at home. I’m just excited.”
The Cardinals start the conference schedule with a test, as the Bobcats are the reigning MAC champions. Uremovich credited the Bobcats in his opening statement to Monday’s press conference, breaking down each position and how Ohio excels at most spots. Some of the players he mentioned included senior QB1 Parker Navarro and senior running back Sieh Bangura.
Their offense speaks for itself as the Green and White have the second-most yards in the league (2,097), second in rushing yards (1,000) and third in passing yards (1,097).
They’ve also scored the second-most points for a MAC team (144) and average 28.8 points per game. Defensively, the Cardinals and Bobcats are similar regarding statistics.
In the last five matchups with the Green and White, Ball State is 0-5.
“I always tell our team, you want to play a worthy adversary. You want to play somebody that’s really well coached and has good players that you can go out and compete and try to execute and out discipline and out physical and win,” Uremovich said. “So it’s exciting … The teams at the top of the league, they gotta show up every Saturday too. There are always upsets, and it’s really not an upset.
“It’s just that one team showed up ready to play and one didn’t. But in conference play, it’s usually pretty even.”
Ball State comes into the game after closing its non-conference schedule and following a bye week. Uremovich said the schedule couldn’t have been better for the Red and White.
“If I could make the schedule, and I don’t make it, but I would do that every year. Play our four [non-MAC] games and then have a bye,” he said. “You would always want to play those four games, find out what you got, whether it’s your first year or fifth year, to kind of get those four games in. Then you get a bye, regroup and then go attack the MAC. It worked out perfectly for us this year.”
The rare day off on Saturday allowed the Cardinals to watch college football for a change, thus giving them an opportunity to watch Ohio. The Bobcats opened their MAC schedule with a 35-20 win over Bowling Green (2-3, 0-1 MAC).
Kelly said there were multiple things to take away from the game, but one important note was the way they went about playing the game.
“The biggest thing is that they’re aggressive, no matter if the play is big or small. You’re going to feel the hit,” Kelly said. “It’s going to be a physical game, and we’re going to have to strap our helmets up and be ready for a battle.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
