On Saturday afternoon, Ball State football took the field for its first contest of the 2024 campaign. In their first home game since 2021, the Cardinals walked out of Scheumann Stadium with a 42-27 win over Missouri State.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Inconsistent start
The first play of the Cardinals season was a good and bad moment for the red and white. Even though redshirt freshman Kadin Semonza found senior receiver Braden Sloan for a 12-yard play with a screen pass, Ball State junior receiver Ty Robinson left the game after suffering an injury to his hand.
Robinson missed most 10 games last year after being injured in the Cardinals’ second game against Kentucky.
While Semonza was able to find other targets – going 5-for-5 for 27 yards on the opening drive – the Cardinals’ drive ended with a punt at the Missouri State 44-yard line.
However, the Ball State defense held the Bears to a similar drive as Missouri State had to punt as well. But after redshirt sophomore receiver Cam Pickett bobbled a pass from Semonza, the ball was intercepted and returned for a pick-six, giving the white and maroon an early 7-0 lead.
Cardinals’ defense held Bears to limited possession on offense
Coming into the season, the Cardinals’ defense went through a period of change. In the first game, the new regime showed signs of progress.
During the first half, Ball State was able to hold the Bears to a limited possession time as the Cardinals had the ball for 23:27 in the first half while the Bears only touched the pigskin for 6:33. In that stretch, Ball State had 14 first downs compared to Missouri State’s two.
With the lack of time on offense, the Bears were not able to do much with the ball. In the opening half, the white and maroon had -11 rushing yards while Ball State had 77. The trend began to fade in the second half as Missouri State’s offense found some momentum with more plays and a rushing touchdown in the third quarter.
However, to end the third quarter, the Cardinals came up clutch on defense once again when graduate student George Udo forced a fumble on a kickoff. That allowed the Cardinals to have possession at the Bears’ 27-yard line.
In the fourth quarter, the group did it once again as redshirt junior Joey Stemler picked off the Bears, helping the Cardinals close out the matchup. In the end, Ball State held the Bears to 62 rushing yards and just over 20 minutes of possession.
Ball State finished the game with 174 rushing yards and 38:10 of possession.
Semonza’s performance
While Semonza started three games last season, this was his first start as the guaranteed QB1 of the Cardinals. Throughout the entire 48 minutes, he found ways to help the Cardinals find a rhythm on offense. In the first half, he went 20-for-24 in the first half for 130 yards and the one interception.
He also had Ball State’s lone touchdown in the first half with a 15-yard quarterback keeper – his first collegiate rushing touchdown. In the third quarter, he recorded his first passing touchdown on the season with a 41-yard scoring pass to Malcolm Gillie to tie the game 14-14.
While his arm and accuracy were there, he was sacked three times in the contest. On a few of those plays, it seemed the young quarterback was a little lost in the pocket. However, there were other instances where he was able to get rid of the football before being brought down.
Yet, the pressure plays did not hinder Semonza as he opened the fourth quarter with a passing touchdown to Sloan – who had his first two Ball State touchdowns (a receiving and a rushing) in the game – which gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game at 21-14.
But that was not the last time he led Ball State to the endzone. At the 11:49 mark, he found redshirt junior receiver Qian Magwood for a 16-yard touchdown pass and then a 5-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Tanner Koziol at the 7:03 mark.
Semonza finished the victory going 28-for-39 (71.8 percent), 262 passing yards, four total touchdowns – three passing and one rushing – and one interception.
Ball State will look for back-to-back wins when they face Miami (Florida) on the road Saturday, Sep. 14. The game will be played at 3:30 p.m.
Contact Zach Carter via email at @zachary.carter@bsu.edu or via X at @ZachCarter85.
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