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SPORTS

CHIRP: The edge - Ball State vs. Eastern Michigan

Quarterback

Ball State - Keith Wenning, like the Cardinals, has been up and down this season. The freshman followed up the best performance of his career at Central Michigan with his worst game last Saturday. For Ball State to be successful, he must be more consistent and can't continue to throw for 15 yards with two interceptions. How he rebounds this week will be interesting to watch.

Eastern Michigan - Alex Gillett started his career as more of a wildcat quarterback who could make plays with his feet as well as throw the ball. But this season, the Eagles are using the sophomore more as a traditional passer. He is averaging 142.8 yards per game passing and 31.2 yards per game rushing. He has not had a big rushing day since the first game when he ran for 126 yards against Army.

Advantage - Push - This all depends on which Wenning shows up this week. In some ways though, Ball State has to hope it doesn't need to rely on Wenning and can ride its running backs all afternoon.

Running backs

Ball State - Of the five turnovers the Cardinals had last week, their running backs accounted for two of them. Eric Williams fumbled another time, but Ball State was able to recover it. That was the bad news. The good was MiQuale Lewis broke out of a slump to lead the Cardinals with 64 rushing yards. Ball State needs another good effort from Lewis and better ball control from the rest of the group.

Eastern Michigan - The Eagles don't have much of a running attack, averaging 123 yards on the ground. Senior Dwayne Priest leads the team with 340 yards, but he did not play last week at Vanderbilt. Without Priest, Eastern Michigan averaged just 2.8 yards per carry, though that isn't much below its season average of 3.4.

Advantage - Cardinals - Even without Priest's uncertain status, Ball State has the much better position group. The Cardinals must take advantage of the Eagles' porous run defense, which is allowing 250 yards per game.

Wide receivers

Ball State - It isn't really the wide receivers' fault that none of them have more than 99 yards this season or that Williams is the Cardinals' leading receiver. There is talent in this group. Wenning just needs to do a better job getting them the ball. That's especially true for downfield threats like Jack Tomlinson and Otis Brown, who combined have nine catches for 110 yards.

Eastern Michigan - Sophomore Kinsman Thomas leads the Eagles with 319 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He's eighth in the Mid-American Conference in receiving yards per game and averaging more than 22 yards per catch. His stats are even more impressive when you consider he didn't have a catch in the first game and, like Priest, didn't play against Vanderbilt.

Advantage - Eagles - Ball State hasn't been able to use its wide receivers to the best of their talents so far this season. If Thomas doesn't play again, the Cardinals might have the advantage, but so much here depends on Wenning's ability to get them the ball.

Defensive line

Ball State - In last year's victory, defensive end Robert Eddins had seven tackles and a huge punt block that went for a safety. The Cardinals' defensive line has improved a lot this season and has shown a stronger pass rush lately than it had at the start of the year.

Eastern Michigan - Junior Javon Reese leads the Eagles with three sacks and four tackles for loss. He has 18 tackles overall, tops in the position group. The rest of the defensive linemen are not having good statistical seasons and have not been effective in slowing down opposing offenses.

Advantage - Cardinals - If Eddins can dial up another big game against the Eagles, it could be a long day for Gillette and the Eagles' offensive line.

Linebackers

Ball State - At this point in the season, there probably isn't much question that this is the strong point of the Cardinals' defense. Travis Freeman leads the team in tackles, averaging 9.5 per game. Tony Martin and Davyd Jones are both in the top five for team tackles and have contributed in other ways as well.

Eastern Michigan - Seniors Tim Fort and Neal Howey are the top two tacklers this season for the Eagles and provide stability in the middle of the defense. Both have forced two fumbles and are the only defenders with more than 35 tackles for Eastern Michigan.

Advantage - Cardinals - Freeman has turned in two of the best games of his career in the past three weeks and Jones has been able to help Ball State in pass coverage as well.


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