Ball State's 48-23 loss at Northern Illinois Saturday seriouslydamaged the Cardinals' chances of reaching the MAC Championshipgame. But coach Brady Hoke and his team have vowed to continuefighting and holding on to that slim chance, or at least thepossibility of sharing a division title.
"We're not in control of our destiny any more," junior safetyJustin Beriault said. "We've got to rely on other people to lose.That's not to say we're going to give up though. That's definitelynot going to happen."
First and foremost, the Cardinals must win out. If thetriumvirate ahead of Ball State — Bowling Green, NorthernIllinois and Toledo — lose the right games and everyonefinishes with a 6-2 league record, Ball State could still advanceto the championship game based on certain tiebreakers.
Hoke said that despite the lopsided score at Northern, he wasnot disappointed with the players' effort.
"I can't say that our kids didn't play hard," the first-yearcoach said. "Early in the game, even in the end, I think thatoffense was playing hard. They were blocking, they were moving theball. Sure, they're going to let you do that a little bit, but Ithought they played hard."
According to quarterback Talmadge Hill, how much the lossaffects the team will be determined by how it plays onSaturday.
"It can be a setback depending on how we take it," he said. "Ifwe don't get better, we go to Western Michigan and we're notprepared, then it'll be a setback. But if we come back, look atwhat we did wrong, work hard this week and get a win, than it's nota setback."
Besides the team's response to another blowout loss, the biggestuncertainty is under center, something that is turning into arecurring theme. Hill has thrown for 1,381 yards this year butsuffered his worst game of the year at Northern Illinois, gettingjust 72 yards but doubling his 2003 interception total — tofour. Andy Roesch threw for 168 yards and two touchdowns in relief.Hoke said both quarterbacks will play at Western Michigan, but whowill get the starting nod is in question to an extent.
"It's not going to be a hard decision, but I want to make surewe've evaluated everything as a staff," he said. "I've got someideas, but I'm not sure."
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