On Oct. 24 against Central Michigan, the defense finally seemed to click, albeit in spurts, but one particular play stuck out in a bad way.
On third-and-18, Central Michigan quarterback Cooper Rush threw a screen pass to Martez Walker, who took it 19 yards for the first down. This led to a game-winning field goal from Central Michigan to take a 23-21 lead with 4:43 left.
Head coach Pete Lembo thought his defense was prepared for that particular play.
“The third-and-18 obviously was a back-breaker,” Lembo said. “We were in drop eight, which is a really good situation against the screen. We should be able to rally and tackle that thing for a minimal gain, and it just creased on us.”
In the second quarter, where Ball State had been outscored 121-67 throughout the season, they held the high-powered Chippewa offense scoreless heading into halftime. With the offense not clicking throughout the first half, the defense was out on the field for just over 20 minutes in the second half, noticeably gassed near the end.
Outside of that costly play, the defense held up on third down. They held the Chippewas to only six third-down conversions on 14 attempts, a 43 percent success rate.
“Our run defense was really solid today, and we did a pretty good job on third downs overall,” Lembo said. “We gave up a couple of big runs, but you know, the thing you saw was kids bouncing back and not getting down on themselves and playing the next play.”
Another area that has consistently plagued the Cardinals’ defense is the secondary. Rush finished the day 30-38 for 316 yards and two touchdowns.
Throughout the year, opposing quarterbacks have completed 70 percent of their passes (196-280). In the last three weeks though, that number has significantly increased. Against Rush, Nick Arbuckle of Georgia State and Drew Hare of Northern Illinois, the defense allowed a completion percentage of 82.8.
Lembo believes the lack of a pass rush has inflated those numbers.
"Well, pressure helps,” Lembo said. “You’re gonna give up some completions when you're playing three deep and spinning, which we’ve been doing a fair amount of.”
Lembo knows there are issues with the secondary, especially at the cornerback position, but he’s trying to do all he can to help hide that area of weakness on game day.
“It’s no mystery we’ve gotta play better in the secondary,” Lembo said. “We’re trying to do what we can to help those guys, and they have to do their part of continuing to become more detailed and read their keys.”
Holding back tears, linebacker Sean Wiggins spoke his thoughts after the loss.
“Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games,” Wiggins said. “I think we had a couple of people who had chances to make big plays and didn’t get the chance. So, right now, I’m pissed off at myself and the players.”
Even though the defense missed many key opportunities to swing momentum in their favor—particularly with Wiggins and fellow linebacker Zack Ryan dropping what would have been interceptions—they did all they could with the offense unable to get anything going in the second half.
“The job they did—holding them to some field goals there, keeping us in the game—was really, really important,” Lembo said. “So, hopefully, there’s some things to build on there.”
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