AUBURN, Ala. - Turnovers have been the story of Ball State University's season.
The Cardinals (0-3) have turned the ball over nine times already this season, while forcing their opponents into three. No turnover was more costly for Ball State than Kelly Page's third interception against Army, which Donovan Travis returned for the winning touchdown in the 24-17 loss.
Coach Stan Parrish said he knows his team's success Saturday night will be based on its ability to protect the ball at Auburn University.
"If we can play more error free, no turnovers," he said. "We've had far too many very inopportune turnovers."
The Cardinals will have to make the most of their possessions because of the skill of the Tigers' offense. Auburn is ranked eighth in the country in total offense and is averaging 42.33 points per game.
Parrish said Ball State focused on protecting the ball in practice this week, particularly making the quarterbacks realize when the best decision was to simply throw the ball away.
"Eighty percent of Kelly's interceptions have occurred on plays that are what I call extended plays, where it doesn't work exactly right" Parrish said. "He's got to be able to have enough wits about him to get rid of the football."
The Travis interception at Army happened when a play broke down inside the Cardinals' 10-yard line. Parrish said all quarterbacks have to learn to not force plays.
"You're not going to complete every pass in college," he said. "It's as much mental as it is physical in this game."
The Tigers have 10 takeaways this season, including eight interceptions. During last season, Auburn forced 18 turnovers all season.
"I think at one point, we used to count, because we weren't getting turnovers, we were counting third-down stops as turnovers," cornerback Walt McFadden said. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad. But getting third-down stops was pretty good for us."
In addition to improving their turnover differential, Parrish said Ball State is hoping to get some momentum headed into Mid-American Conference play next week.
"We get to start over next week into the most important part of our season, our conference season," Parrish said. "We need to continue to get better and give ourselves a shot."
Despite the disappointing start, running back MiQuale Lewis said he is still confident because the Cardinals aren't into conference play yet.
"These out of conference games are not going to affect our goal at all," Lewis said. "We're starting the MAC after we play Auburn and that's when you really need to start winning."
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