Made up of mostly of walk-ons and freshmen who are redshirting this year, Ball State's scout team spends every week of the season preparing the regulars for Saturdays. They take on the appearance of each week's opponent, mimicking their offense and defense in black practice jerseys.
It is always an important job, important enough that the Cardinals give an award to the best offensive and defensive scout team player at its end of the year banquet. But as Ball State (2-1) prepares for its 2 p.m. game against Army (1-2) on Saturday, the scout team has taken on a new level of importance.
Army runs the triple-option offense, a scheme that has been used for more than 40 years in college football. But it has become increasingly rare and is employed by only a handful of schools this year. With just a week to get ready for the Black Knights and their uncommon scheme, coach Pete Lembo is leaning heavily on the scout team.
"That group needs to do an even better job," he said. "The faster they can move and the better they can replicate what Army does the better prepared our defense will be."
Wide receiver Jared Scaringe imitated Army quarterback Trent Steelman, who leads the Black Knights with 302 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
Steelman's play so far this year impressed Lembo when he studied film this week. Steelman is in his third season as the Black Knights starter and led them to a victory in the Armed Forces Bowl last December, Army's first bowl win in 25 years. Steelman was also the quarterback when the Black Knights beat the Cardinals 24-17 in West Point, N.Y., in September 2009.
"He does a great job running their offense and makes very good decisions," Lembo said.
Steelman doesn't throw the ball much, averaging seven pass attempts this season. But Lembo expects Army might try and throw the ball more against Ball State because the Cardinals secondary has proven susceptible to giving up big plays so far this season.
"That's part of what they do in any game," Lembo said. "Run, run, run and then give you a similar look to that run and pull it up and throw it down the field."
Both teams are coming off victories last week. Ball State beat Buffalo 28-25, scoring the winning touchdown with 29 seconds to play. Army beat Northwestern in West Point 17-14 for its first victory of the year.
After losing its season opener and only road game so far to Northern Illinois, Army is hopeful it can build off the momentum it gained last week.
"This time we have to take all that energy and prove we can take it with us when we get on an airplane, and play with the same kind of verve" coach Rich Ellerson said.
Lembo had similar thoughts to Ellerson following Ball State's victory Saturday. While he was happy to get the win to start Mid-American Conference play with a positive, he still sees many facets of the game that can be improved.
"We've got a long way to go," Lembo said. "We've definitely got some challenges and some issues on a lot of fronts that we need to continue to attack here. Things are not going to get any easier starting this week and, of course, down the road."
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