Brutal back-to-back defeats at the hands of Oklahoma and Temple have turned Ball State coach Pete Lembo – by his own admission – into a broken record. His plan for rebuilding the Cardinals includes no magic fixes or hidden shortcuts. Changing the culture of an entire program takes time and patience.
It also means making practices more like games and allowing the coaching philosophies of the new staff take hold. Lembo also said the Cardinals must learn how to handle success as well as failure.
"A lot of these kids have not had success before," Lembo said. "You could argue that some of the wins we got earlier this year were pretty meaningful but not common to a lot of these guys. Sometimes bad habits, or reverting back to the way, maybe, I acted a year ago or two years ago, that's easy. Being persistent and fighting through adversity, that's hard."
Ball State faces another difficult game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. when it visits Ohio. Though Ohio (4-2, 1-1) is coming off a 38-37 loss at Buffalo, the Bobcats were expected to contend for the Mid-American Conference East Division championship and remain a dangerous team, especially on offense.
Quarterback Tyler Tettleton has thrown for 1,395 yards and rushed for 176, while leading Ohio's offense to an average of 33 points per game.
"Tettleton is a very good athlete at quarterback," Lembo said. "They've got some very good skill players to get the ball in their hands."
Ball State (3-3, 2-1), meanwhile, has struggled mightily since beating Army 48-21 three weeks ago. In losing back-to-back games, the Cardinals have been outscored 104-6 and were shutout on Homecoming for the first time in 35 years.
Senior captain Aaron Morris said he thinks going on the road might be best for the Cardinals right now.
"Just to have the team to have that bus ride to really think about it," Morris said. "Just be with the team, be with the coaches, because this really is a family here. I think it'll be really great for us."
Ball State is 0-2 on the road this season, but both losses came against ranked opponents. Saturday's game will be against a much more familiar team, and one that Lembo has had great admiration for since he was hired and began looking at the other MAC programs.
"I think it's a program that does it right, has a lot of class to it and will be a big challenge come Saturday," Lembo said. "I'm looking forward to the test that lies ahead."
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