Check out a photo gallery of the game against Temple.
Looking across the field, coach Pete Lembo saw what he would like the future of Ball State football to look like: Big, talented and mature, with talent to spare. The end result of years of relentless rebuilding by a capable coach.
Temple proved it was all that and more Saturday afternoon at Scheumann Stadium. It delivered Ball State (3-3, 1-1 MAC) a crushing 42-0 loss in front of a Homecoming crowd of 11,874, a masterful display of what crafting an identity and sticking to it can do for a football team.
Temple looked every bit like the team that beat Maryland 38-7 two weeks ago and is expected to challenge for the Mid-American Conference championship.
"That's the finished product of a staff that did a tremendous job building a program," Lembo said. "That's why they're at Miami right now."
The staff Lembo was referring to was led by Al Golden, who took Temple's program from disarray following its unceremonious eviction from the Big East after years of futility. Golden turned the Owls into a MAC contender and possibly positioned for another crack at the Big East. Golden didn't stick around to see the end result, however. He left after last season for Miami, where he is working to turn it into a national power once again.
But the team Golden built remains. Temple's game plan every week remains the same: play physical defense and run the football. The Owls (4-2, 2-1 MAC) executed both aspects Saturday.
Temple weathered Ball State's opening drive of the game, which reached the 21-yard line before a third-down sack and a missed field goal negated Ball State's best scoring chance of the afternoon. Of the Cardinals' 236 yards of offense Saturday, 51, or 21.6 percent, came on that initial drive.
"It certainly would have helped to get some momentum there," Lembo said. "We've got to do a better job executing and [the] guys have to perform under pressure."
Given a chance to settle into the game, Temple's defense wouldn't be strained much the rest of the day. It intercepted sophomore quarterback Keith Wenning twice and forced him to fumble. In short, Temple didn't do much to Ball State's offense that No. 3 Oklahoma hadn't done a week before.
Ball State's own defense struggled mightily. Playing without starting senior safeties Sean Baker and Josh Howard, the Cardinals' secondary was tested by deep throws from senior quarterback Chester Stewart and asked to contain powerful junior running back Bernard Pierce, who leads the nation in rushing touchdowns with 15.
The Cardinals didn't fare well in either area. Pierce ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns. Stewart completed three passes of more than 20 yards to three different receivers, including a 24-yard strike to senior wide receiver Joe Jones for the Owls' first touchdown of the afternoon.
Junior middle linebacker Travis Freeman said the Cardinals weren't surprised by anything the Owls did on offense. Ball State just was unable to force Temple outside of its comfort zone.
"Teams like that feed off the run, that's their style of offense," Freeman said. "They were a physical football team. I think we did a pretty good job, but it just wasn't good enough for what they were planning on doing."
After the game, Lembo sounded somewhat resigned to the Cardinals' fate. After what he characterized as a good week of practice, Ball State had proven unable to rise to the challenge Temple presented. He said it lay bare where the Cardinals are in relation to the conference's best teams and where he hopes his own team will be one day.
"It might be some period of time before we can line up and beat a team like that," Lembo said. "I don't know. We're just going to stick to the plan."
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