FROM THE SIDELINE: Ball State must clean up play to earn bowl eligibility

Evan Sidery is a freshman journalism major and writes "From the Sideline" for the The Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to him at essidery@bsu.edu.

After a 59-41 loss against Northern Illinois Oct. 10, Ball State dropped to 2-4 (1-2) on the season. Even though the offense has played well with Riley Neal as quarterback, the Cardinals' defense has remained inconsistent, to say the least.

The last two weeks, Toledo's and Northern Illinois's offenses have been able to dominate four of the eight quarters, both of which led to losses.

This season, Ball State is allowing 499 yards of total offense per game (223 yards on the ground and 276 through the air). 

Those statistics, simply put, are not good enough for Ball State to play in the Mid-American Conference title game in Detroit come December.

Right now, the team's will is relying on becoming bowl-eligible, which only happens after six wins in the Football Bowl Subdivision. 

The loss to Northern Illinois was a swing game for the Cardinals. If they would have come out on top, Ball State could have clinched bowl eligibility by the end of the month.

The Cardinals have already played four road matches, so they will have three straight at Scheumann Stadium to close out October. The Cardinals are favored to come out with victories in at least two of these games.

The next three opponents for Ball State—Georgia State, Central Michigan and UMass—have a combined record of 4-12, setting the Cardinals up advantageously to gain momentum heading into a tough November slate that will decide their bowl eligibility. If they sweep this home stretch, which they should, they will be sitting above .500 with a 5-4 record. 

Heading into the Northern Illinois game, head coach Pete Lembo had the same mindset he always does: every game matters. After the loss, it's left the Cardinals with a must-win mentality moving through the rest of the season.

Ball State's last postseason experience came in back-to-back seasons in 2012 and 2013 with Keith Wenning and Willie Snead leading the charge. Before that, the program had only been to five postseasons in its history, which included only two in this millennium in 2007 and 2008.

This season, the team has the ability and talent to change that.

Neal is coming into his own on the field, and he might be able to push his team into postseason play.

The true freshman has over 1,000 yards passing and eight touchdowns in five games. Neal boasts a quarterback rating of 126.2, which is the best performance by a Cardinal signal caller since Wenning's senior year.

The offense has weapons in Jordan Williams, Darian Green, KeVonn Mabon, James Gilbert and Neal, as well as others who should make noise going into conference play. The defense needs to step out of its funk and keep opposing offenses from piling up big-score games. 

Allowing 36 points per game will not be good enough when they travel to Western Michigan (2-3) and Ohio (5-1). This is especially true as they go against high-scoring Bowling Green (4-2), who has dominated big-name schools this season.

These next three games will make or break the Cardinals' season. One slip up will likely cost them a bowl game trip for the second consecutive season.

"Every MAC game is a championship game," Lembo said, leading into the Northern Illinois game last week.

That is how Ball State will have to treat the remaining six games of the season if it wants to play in December or January.

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