Saturday against Miami, Ball State is shooting to win following a bye week for the third-straight year.
The Cardinals grabbed their first win of the 2001 season, 35-14 at Eastern Michigan, after an off week. Last season, the Cards emerged from Central Michigan with a 38-21 victory. In both cases, Ball State also won the next Saturday.
Despite the program's recent success after an extra week off, head coach Brady Hoke said he won't know if the bye was worth it until "about 6 p.m. Saturday," when the game between the Cardinals (3-3, 2-0 Mid-American Conference) and RedHawks (5-1, 2-0) is complete.
"That's what we'll evaluate first, how we handled the off week," the first-year coach said. "I've seen teams that have gone out there, lost the momentum you had and played poorly, and in the same place (I've seen) where you had a week off, you corrected some fundamentals and mistakes and you went out and played outstanding."
Certainly, though, the bye let the Cardinals to nurse some injuries. Two weeks ago at Kent State, junior Alan Buckley was summoned to start at middle linebacker because of sophomore Donta Smith's Achilles'-heel injury. Hoke said he thinks Smith will dress Saturday, but the coaches are bringing him back slowly.
"It's a funny thing because of where (the injury) is," Hoke said. "He's doing more, but it's not 100 percent. You're back and forth. How much do you want to push him without hurting?"
At the same time, however, Hoke said he is pleased with Buckley's performance.
"Alan got in there and played well," he said. "At Boston College, I don't think he played near as well, and he needed to step up."
Quarterback Andy Roesch dressed at Kent State -- the first time the former starter has done so since injuring his shoulder in game two -- but Hoke was mum as to whether Roesch could play on Saturday.
"He could, and then he couldn't," he said. "I don't know yet. He's doing more things, and we'll just take it as it comes."
This year Ball State's bye week fell at the midway point, giving Hoke a chance to reflect some on his first season as head coach, he said.
The emergence of younger players -- particularly freshman Bryan Williamson at receiver and freshman Terry Moss and sophomore David Gater on special teams -- has pleasantly surprised Hoke, he said, but the ground game has been a sore spot on both sides of the ball.
The Cardinals stand 11th in the MAC in both rushing offense (110.3 yards per game) and defense (188.5).
"I don't think we've done a good job of stopping the run on defense, and we haven't run the ball like we need to run the ball," Hoke said. "That's disappointing, and we've got a long way to go in both those areas.
"I know we're a better team than we were in the spring. I know we're a better team than we were in the Indiana State game. But with this league, with outstanding coaches and outstanding athletes, we've got to get a lot better."
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