WEST POINT, N.Y. – Ball State returned home to Muncie, Ind., late Saturday night, fresh off a 30-22 win over Army and bowl eligible for the second straight season. And for the second straight season, the team became bowl eligible while on the road.
But coach Pete Lembo said it goes without saying that it’s important to not settle for just six wins. He and his team learned that last season.
In 2011, Ball State won its sixth game of the season at Eastern Michigan on Nov. 5. At the time, the team moved to 6-4 on the season, but would go onto lose its next two games — a game at Northern Illinois and senior day against Toledo — to finish 6-6. When the season concluded, Ball State was forced to wait and see if it would get invited to a bowl game.
“You don’t want to be in a position where you’re holding your breath and hoping you sneak in,” Lembo said following Ball State’s win Saturday. “We know if we can keep playing well and win some more games, it’ll go a long, long way.”
A bowl game invite never came. Ball State was left at home while 70 other teams played in December and January.
The goals for 2012 were to win the Mid-American Conference Championship and ultimately get to a bowl game. Ball State currently sits behind Northern Illinois and Toledo who are tied for first in the West Division, but a bowl game is likely, but not guaranteed.
Besides Ball State, Northern Illinois and Toledo, three other teams from the MAC are currently bowl eligible — Ohio, Kent State and Bowling Green. Miami of Ohio also has four wins on the season. Having so many teams from the MAC bowl eligible could potentially make it tougher for Ball State to get into a bowl game, which is why getting seven or eight wins will strengthen its case to play in one.
“It bothered me [that Ball State didn’t play in a bowl game last year],” linebacker Travis Freeman said. “But that’s one of those uncontrollables in life. It gives you more motivation to work harder. Don’t let that be a deciding factor again, and that’s kind of the mindset we’ve taken on.”
The MAC has priority in three bowl games: the GoDaddy.com Bowl, the Little Caesars Bowl and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Those three spots will be handed to the three best teams from the conference, which would currently leave Ball State out of those bowls. But in an ESPN projection, Ball State would be playing in the BBVA Compass Bowl against Ole Miss. A CBS Sports projection has Ball State playing in the New Orleans Bowl against Louisiana-Monroe.
After the win Saturday, Freeman talked about wanting to get to a bowl game to close out his career at Ball State, but he also said scratching the surface wasn’t enough for the team.
That’s when Lembo chipped in.
“They haven’t forgotten that we were one of the two teams left home,” he said.
