KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Ironically, the game's only turnovercame on what had the potential to be the game's biggest play.
Western Michigan converted a Ryan Hahaj fumble after a 43-yardreception into a quick touchdown drive with 5:26 left in the fourthquarter to produce a 15-point lead, and held on for a 28-20 victoryover Ball State.
The Cardinals (4-6, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) lost its secondstraight and fell into a fourth-place tie in West Division with theBroncos (4-6, 3-3), snapping a four-game losing streak.
Two weeks ago, Ball State held its own destiny to the MACChampionship game. Now it must win at Eastern Michigan and againstBowling Green to finish .500. Meanwhile, Gary Darnell's Broncoswere just happy to hang on.
"I don't think it was so much a big win as it would've been atragic loss," Darnell said. "We just had to keep fighting andfighting not to let it get away."
As one play unfolded, though, it looked as if Western would bewitnessing the beginning of a tragedy.
Clinging to a 21-13 lead, the Broncos forced Ball State into athird-and-seven at the Cardinals 33 midway through the fourthperiod. Quarterback Talmadge Hill rolled right only to be flushedhard to the left by the WMU pass rush. Near the sideline, he heaveda bomb that Hahaj leaped for and caught. Hahaj appeared to be downat the Western 24 before the ball popped out on Kevin Ford's tackleand was recovered by Jason Felspausch, but the officials ruledotherwise.
"I didn't (see it)," Ball State coach Brady Hoke. "I reallydidn't. I told him it was a bad call, but I don't know if it was ornot. He saw one thing. It's a good crew."
Hill, who passed for 255 yards and rushed for 51, said he onlysaw the play's result on the replay screen.
"It looked like he was down, to me," he said.
Fumble or not, Ball State did not respond well. Five playslater, from the Cardinals 44, Western QB Jon Drach found KendrickMozley over the middle. Mozley eluded one defeder and sprintedtoward the left sideline, where a block from Greg Jenningseliminated two more Cardinals and sprung Mozley for atouchdown.
Andy Roesch marched Ball State 69 yards in 10 plays, the lastone a 1-yard loft to Michael Steinhaus with 2:29 left. But theCardinals were penalized for illegal touching on the ensuingonsides kick, and Drach sprinted two yards on 4th-and-2 to clinchthe win.
Another aspect of the game that drew Hoke's ire was theCardinals' struggle to slow the Western running game, which enteredthe contest averaging just 69 yards. Despite being stuffed forminus two yards in the fourth quarter, Broncos tailback PhillipReed finished with 109 on 20 tries. Drach's mobility allowed him toadd 46 more yards.
"They did a nice job running the ball, and we didn't do a goodjob defending it," Hoke said. "That's a problem, big-time problem.We obviously didn't play well up front. Not to discredit how(Western) played, but we can play better than that -- I hope."
Drach was much more proficient with his arm, though. The seniorcompleted his final 13 passes, including all 11 in the second half,and finished 20 of 23 for 250 yards and four touchdowns, one ineach quarter.
Drach's first scoring pass went for 7 yards to Antonio Thomas7:13 into the opening period. Hill tied things with a 2-yard sneakat the 3:11 mark in the second. Brian Jackson booted field goals of29 and 27 in the third, sandwiching a WMU touchdown drive.
"We're just not playing with a lot of consistency (on offense),"Hill said. "We'd get something going, we'd have a dumb penalty orsomething would get us out of rhythm. I thought we fought, though,for four quarters. We gave ourselves a shot at the end."
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