TOLEDO, Ohio - Keith Wenning took the snap and ran around the pocket trying to buy time for his five wide receivers to run 65 yards to the end zone. Finally, he could wait no longer and fired a pass as far downfield as possible, a prayer for a fourth touchdown pass, a pass interference call, anything to extend the game a little longer for Ball State.
Wenning's Hail Mary would be unanswered. The pass fell a few yards short of the end zone into the waiting arms of Toledo cornerback Desmond Marrow. The clock expired and the Rockets (5-3, 4-0) could celebrate their 31-24 victory Saturday night against the Cardinals (2-6, 1-3).
The Cardinals' sixth loss of the season was a compilation of everything that had gone wrong in the first half of the season.
There was the blown 17-0 lead, a throwback to last week's loss to Eastern Michigan that saw Ball State blow two 21-point leads. There was a failed second-half comeback attempt led by Wenning, a scene lifted from the loss to Liberty. The poorly timed turnovers that haunted Ball State at Purdue were back, as were the missed tackles that characterized losses to Western Michigan and Iowa.
Despite the familiarity, Stan Parrish was left without many answers Saturday night.
All he could say was the obvious: A three-game losing streak in Mid-American Conference play has done nothing good for the Cardinals.
"Losing doesn't give you any positives," he said. "You just do what we did this week. We were ready to play. I don't think [Toledo] thought we were going to be. I think we caught them. We just don't make enough plays."
Parrish offered no ideas as to what possessed fifth-year senior MiQuale Lewis to try and switch the ball from his right to left hand a yard away from the goal line with four seconds to play in the third quarter. The decision resulted in a fumble that rolled through the back of the end zone for a touchback.
If Lewis had scored and Ian McGarvey had made the extra point, Ball State would have tied Toledo at 24. Instead the Rockets marched 80 yards downfield for the touchdown that put the game away.
Lewis was not made available to the media after the game, but later tweeted "I lost the game for the team!"
With the Rockets playing prevent defense, Wenning was able to lead the Cardinals on a 79-yard drive resulting in a 12-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tori Gibson with 12 seconds to play. The score brought Ball State within seven, and after recovering an onside kick, the Cardinals had another chance to try and tie the game.
But Wenning's first pass of the drive was incomplete, necessitating Parrish to call for the freshman to throw the failed 65-yard Hail Mary. Time expired and Ball State was once again on the wrong end of the scoreboard.
The Cardinals' most recent loss will most likely be remembered as another missed opportunity by the team, though they would prefer to just forget Saturday night.
"This definitely will stick with us a little bit," linebacker Davyd Jones said. "But we have to move on to the future."
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