Perhaps the most surprising part of Ball State's 27-20 upset of Indiana on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium was the degree to which the Cardinals' offensive line controlled the game, especially in the second half.
Indiana was unable to generate much of a pass rush all night and there were wide and plentiful holes for Ball State's running backs. The combination helped the Cardinals control the clock, and they had the ball for 21:05 in the second half.
"We knew to win this game, the O-line was going to have to play well," coach Pete Lembo said. "The second half, [I] just really felt good about how we were playing up front."
Ball State rushed for 210 yards, despite playing only one player – quarterback Keith Wenning – who had even one rushing attempt last season. Freshman running back Jahwan Edwards led the Cardinals with 84 yards, sophomore Barrington Scott had 63 yards and Wenning added 61 yards.
Sophomore guard Jordan Hansel credited the offensive line's success to the hard work it had put into conditioning.
"In the second half, we just kept getting even more push on the D-line and we kept moving them back on run plays," he said. "In the second half, our conditioning really showed and our strength and numbers we put up in the summer really showed being able to push a pretty big D-line backwards."
The offensive line also provided plenty of time for Wenning to throw the ball. He used Ball State's advantage at the line to turn in the best performance of his career. Wenning completed 23 passes to eight different receivers for 173 yards. He was not sacked and said he was only knocked down once, on a screen pass.
"Hell of a job," Wenning said. "The combination of getting rid of the ball and them up front, they did a great job."
Even once is too much for Hansel, however. He said the line could take little joy in what they see as simply doing their job.
"We can't be all excited ‘Oh, we didn't get our quarterback hit' because that's our job," Hansel said. "We've got to be upset that he got knocked down even that one time. We got to go out and make sure that never happens again."
Ball State will face a sterner test this weekend when it travels to No. 22 South Florida. In its opener, South Florida beat then-No. 16 Notre Dame (23-20) in South Bend. The Bulls held the Fighting Irish to 117 rushing yards and had two sacks.
Still, Hansel thinks the Cardinals can be effective if they stick to the same strategies that worked against the Hoosiers.
"They're really big, but we can play them with the technique we have," Hansel said. "Using our strengths, our conditioning and stuff like that, then we're going to be able to hopefully run the ball pretty well and protect just as well."
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