Inside the Cardinal football complex, today is football Wednesday.
With the season opener against the University of North Texas on Thursday night, Ball State has to reorder their schedules which are normally designed with a Saturday game day in mind.
"The older guys know that," coach Stan Parrish said. "But when I look at the front row I don't have that many older guys."
Parrish's most recent depth chart is littered with freshmen and sophomores, which has left the team practicing many game day situations normally taken for granted.
"We're going to hit all the situations with the kids," Parrish said. "We'll practice how to come out of the locker room properly and all the overtime situations."
The young players are in especially important positions for the offense, where freshman Kelly Page takes over at quarterback behind an offensive line with three freshman starters. Because sophomore Kreg Hunter will change positions to take over at center for All-Mid-American Conference first teamer Dan Gerberry, Parrish plans to limit the number of snaps Page takes in the shotgun formation.
"With young centers I've found you don't want to be in the gun all night," Parrish said. "They've done fine in practice, but we haven't been out there with the lights on yet."
When asked how often he expected to lineup in shotgun, Parrish told the reporter to show up early Thursday night to find out. The need for people out to see the game was a theme Parrish consistently came back to during his press conference Friday.
"I hope we have a great home crowd," Parrish said. "This group needs that boost. Everybody in Muncie needs to put their best foot forward."
Page said he is excited to finally get on the field of Schuemann Stadium in front of a crowd.
"It's a great opportunity to go out with the team and show what we can do," he said. One of the challenges of camp has been getting Page and the rest of the offense to understand fully Parrish's complicated playbook. Parrish will again call plays this season, despite his promotion to head coach.
"I think we have a good feel for what Kelly does," Parrish said. "The key to calling a good game is getting him out of the [tackle] box and getting some completions, so he can get comfortable."
The team began preparations for North Texas last week, but Parrish acknowledged it's difficult to get ready for the first game of the season.
"Opening night, all bets are off," Parrish said. "Teams might try to do what we had trouble with at the end of last year even if it's not their style."
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