MUNCIE — Last week, Mike Uremovich picked up his first road win as the Ball State football head coach.
Now, Uremovich has his first winning streak with the Cardinals.
Ball State (3-5, 2-2 MAC) had little trouble against the newest member of the Mid-American Conference, defeating Sacramento State, 34-17, in Ball State's homecoming game. It was the first-ever matchup between the Cardinals and the Hornets, and while Ball State didn't beat up on Sac State (1-7, 0-5 MAC) as badly as the rest of the conference has so far, it was still a pretty comfortable win.
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"Obviously, there's always things you've got to clean up, but it's really hard to win a college football game," Uremovich said. "I also want to thank the fans and the students and the great turnout we had today. I said something last week after we played at Bowling Green about what a great home-field advantage that was, and it was exciting today for our guys to start the game and see all the students there and the fans and alumni and everything like that.
"That makes a difference, it made for a great home-field environment, and we've got to keep winning so people keep coming out."
Ball State's offense continued clicking largely thanks to the play of quarterback Keldric Luster. He threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns and added 68 yards on the ground with a rushing touchdown, marking two-straight weeks with more than 300 total yards.
Luster connected on some explosive downfield passing plays, including a 65-yard touchdown to Isaiah Thacker and a 55-yard touchdown to Jamarion McDougle, and continued to look increasingly confident operating the offense even when under duress from opposing pass rushers.
Luster's 68 rushing yards also contributed to an effective ground game which saw the Cardinals rack up 183 total rushing yards on 43 attempts for a solid average of 4.3 yards per carry. Second-year back Jalen Bonds led the way with 17 carries for 77 yards (4.5 yards per carry), while fourth-year back TJ Horton added 33 yards on nine carries (3.7 yards per carry) and scored two touchdowns. Horton now his nine rushing touchdowns on the year, which leads the MAC.
Outside of two interceptions — neither of which was particularly damaging — Ball State's offense continued to show signs of steady improvement.
"I feel like it started off with last week and continued through practice throughout the week, just us getting the ball rolling," Luster said. "Especially having a win from today, it's definitely going to get us somewhere that we're wanting to be."
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Ball State also showed continued signs of improvement on defense, though Sacramento State's MAC-worst offense had its best conference game yet. Still, the Cardinals held the Hornets to 266 total yards and completely bottled up their rushing attack, limiting them to 54 yards on 27 carries for a paltry 2 yards per rush.
It was the passing game where Ball State still showed some signs of vulnerability. The Cardinals gave up 212 passing yards and two touchdowns, including a 65-yard touchdown where Sac State receiver Jace Wilson got wide open behind the defense. The Hornets' other touchdown also came at the end of a pass-heavy drive in which they converted twice on third down — once via a pass interference flag against the Cardinals and again on a long completion.
"Bad communication on the back end, simple as that," Uremovich said. "We were not on the same page, that play should have never happened, and it pisses me off. That's the stuff we've got to take out, because that happens in a one-score game, you lose. I show teach tape on Sundays of teachable moments, and I'll never show a clip of a guy getting physically beat, that's going to happen when you're playing college football going against other really good guys.
"But the Cardinals can't beat the Cardinals. If we can't get lined up properly, adjust to a motion and switch off a route, then we're beating ourselves. That can't happen."
While they still look susceptible to the occasional explosive play, Ball State did show some signs of life in the pass rush with three sacks of Sac State quarterback Jackson Sharman. Defensive tackle Ameir Glenn got one sack, linebacker Gavin Forsha combined with defensive end Jamar Birden for another, but the biggest sack came from linebacker Kaleb Stewart in the final minutes of the first half.
With Ball State up 13-10, Sac State got the ball with just over two minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Hornets were set to receive the second half kickoff, so a touchdown drive to go up by four before getting the ball back would have been a major momentum swing in their favor. Instead, Ball State defensive coordinator Jeff Knowles dialed up a blitz for Stewart, who flew into the backfield unblocked and blew up Sharman, knocking the ball out of his hand where it was recovered by defensive end Ben Marsh.
Three plays later, Horton was in the end zone to give Ball State a 20-10 halftime lead. Sac State never got it back within two scores.
"We've been working that play all week," Stewart said. "I told Coach Knowles it was going to hit, he called the play, drew it up, and it hit."
In their first two MAC games, Ball State managed zero sacks against Kent State and Toledo. In the last two MAC games, Ball State has racked up seven sacks — four against Bowling Green and three against Sac State. The Cardinals' ability to dial up pressure has coincided with the defensive improvements over the last two weeks, and it's a trend the team will need to continue if the passing defense is going to improve significantly.
"I feel like we came together as a unit," Stewart said. "We know we're a brotherhood. The front-seven has got the back four. As a unit, we're strong right now, and I feel like we're playing together, playing for the person in front of us right now. I feel like the beginning of the year, everyone was kind of selfish, but we kind of cut that out. We want to see everyone win now, everyone wants to see the next guy make plays."
Ball State will now get its long-awaited idle week after eight straight Saturdays of games. The Cardinals' next game will be a nationally televised midweek MACtion game at UMass on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Heading into the week off, the team's primary focus is getting healthy after a game which saw 18 players — including four defensive starters — declared out.
"We're really excited to get to the bye week," Uremovich said. "We've got a bunch of guys that are out, we should get three or four back next week, another couple guys the next week. These guys have earned tomorrow off and a couple of days to recoup. We'll do some developmental practices, then get back ready for UMass."
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Analyzing Ball State football's homecoming victory over Sacramento State