Stan Parrish knows part of being a Division I football coach is listening to second guessers at every turn.
He knows better than to think he could silence the critics with a victory when Ball State travels to Purdue at noon Saturday. He merely hopes to change the detractors' tune.
"Our dream would be having everyone going, ‘Damn it coach, you should be 3-0,'" Parrish said.
It won't be easy for Ball State (1-1), which is coming off a 27-23 loss to Liberty last Saturday. Going from losing to a Football Championship Subdivision team at home to defeating a Big Ten foe on the road is a lot to ask from a young team like the Cardinals.
Parrish said Ball State is drawing strength from Northern Illinois's 28-21 victory at Ross-Ade Stadium last fall.
Seeing a fellow school from the Mid-American Conference upset the Boilermakers has many Cardinals believing they have a chance to come away with a similar result.
There also are enough members from the 2008 Ball State team that defeated Indiana in Bloomington to know what it takes to pull off such an upset. The 42-20 victory is the Cardinals only ever win against a school from a
BCS conference. As much as beating Indiana meant to Ball State's 2008 season, Parrish thinks beating Purdue would be even bigger.
MiQuale Lewis agrees with his coach.
"It would mean a lot for the team," he said. "Actually bouncing back and beating an in-state school. Then we can just let the past be the past."
Ball State knows it will take a much better game to beat Purdue than the one it turned in against Liberty. The
Cardinals entered halftime trailing 14-3, only to outscore the Flames 20-13 in the second half. Another poor first half would probably derail any upset chance against the Boilermakers, whose defense is led by Muncie-native Ryan Kerrigan.
Parrish said Kerrigan would likely be an All-American defensive end this season and will require multiple blockers on every play to contain him. Lewis said the best thing Ball State can do to stop Kerrigan is know where he is on the field at all times.
"We've got to block and protect," Lewis said. "We've just got to block, so we can get our quarterbacks some lanes to pass the ball and the running backs some lanes to run."
The Cardinals' offensive line will be working hard to open holes for the running backs and give whoever plays quarterback enough time to make plays. Parrish was undecided Monday whether Kelly Page or Keith Wenning would start Saturday, but said both would play.
Wenning led Ball State's second-half comeback against Liberty, but Parrish is unwilling to write off Page yet.
"He brings a little different dimension to what we can do also, with his legs," Parrish said. "I think having a couple of different ways to go after people is where college football is right now."
After watching many upsets across the nation in college football, and getting surprised by an FCS team themselves, the Cardinals are ready to make their own splash.
"I think it means so much to the team just to know you can compete with those schools," middle linebacker
Travis Freeman said. "I think that's what it really boils down to, the fact that you want to gain respect and these are the type of games you can gain respect from."
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