When students in Scheumann Stadium chirp as Ball State's defense lines up on third down, they expect the Cardinals to get the ball back to its offense.
More often than not this season, however, the defense has stayed on the field, unable to come up with a stop.
Sometimes it's a typical third-down conversion, and the opponent picks up the couple of yards it needs to extend the drive.
Sometimes it isn't quite so normal, such as when a third-and-17 for Purdue became a 76-yard touchdown pass after the ball was tipped the wrong way.
No matter how it happens, Ball State's opponents are converting on third down more often than coach Stan Parrish would like.
On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals aren't extending enough of their own drives.
"If you hold a team in the 40s on defense and you can be in the 40s on offense, you'll be among the best in the league," Parrish said. "I think we can make a dramatic improvement in that in the conference."
Ball State hasn't hit 40 percent on conversions or stops this year. The Cardinals rank 113th in the country in third-down defense, allowing opponents to pick up a first down 55.26 percent of the time. Their offense is doing slightly better, converting 36.84 percent of the time, 77th in the country.
Third down is a problem Ball State has spent the past couple of weeks trying to fix. To Parrish, the problem on offense is simple. The Cardinals have had too many third-and-longs.
"We cannot play offensively from behind the chains," he said. "We're just not equipped for that right now. I don't know who is."
The answer isn't as clear on defense. The Cardinals feel they have put opponents in situations where they can get stops and get off the field, but that hasn't happened.
Defensive end Robert Eddins is willing to shoulder the blame. The senior said he hasn't performed as well as he was expected to and needs to create more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
"I want to say it's me more so," Eddins said. "A lot of guys depend on me to make plays, and as you can see I haven't shown up the past few weeks."
Parrish also said the Cardinals need to put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Other members of the defense said the problem runs deeper than just the lack of pass rush from Eddins. Cornerback Jason Pinkston said they have to play more fundamentally.
"We've got to first off know the down and distance," he said. "We have to wrap up tackles and get off the field."
Third down is one of the areas Ball State wants to show improvement in when it plays Iowa on Saturday. Eddins said with the way the defense has played as a whole, it should be able to turn around its problems on third down.
"I want to say it's an easy fix because a lot of those third downs have been third down and long," he said. "We've been getting pretty decent turnovers with Sean Baker and Charlie Todd back there. Those guys have been doing their jobs."
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