The first thing out of Ball State football head coach Mike Neu’s mouth was that he loved his players.
He did not start with the 62-7 loss to James Madison. He did not start by going into mistakes. The head coach did not start with anything regarding football, but instead regarding the people in the room – the athletes, the coaches, the humans.
“I'm going to pour my guts out for those guys no matter what,” Neu said. “...I love those guys. They put too much pressure on themselves. They can only do their part. So sometimes they want to take all the heat for somebody else. Let me take the heat. That's my job, to fall on the sword.”
Neu’s words hold weight and redshirt junior linebacker Jackson Wiegold said Neu is the heartbeat of the Cardinals.
“It means a lot,” Wiegold said about Neu outwardly caring for his players. “The relationship that all the players have with coach Neu is solid. He actually cares about not only you as a player but you as an individual.”
Neu said he could feel his players start to press James Madison. Pressing to make a play, but pressing puts the Cardinals out of position.
“When you play the game with that type of mindset, or you play the game with that type of mentality, it's tough [because] then things start to slide,” Neu said. “Things start to compound, and that's really what happened to us.”
Neu said the Cardinals have to take each play once at a time and continue to play as hard as they can for four complete quarters to ensure they are not out of position.
Wiegold said there are moments on tape where it is easy to see one or two players not giving 100% effort which can lead to big plays. He even admittedly said he is part of the issue as well.
“Complete team buy-in to doing your job has to be at an all-time high [this week],” Wiegold said. “...The emphasis is doing your job with the best effort you can every single play because we do not have to have these 11 play drives that result in scores.
“We can get off the field in three or four downs, I am fully confident in that. We have the guys to do it.”
Neu said the Sunday team meeting after the 63-7 loss proved the Cardinals are ready to move on while learning from the past.
“Sometimes when you fall off a horse, you got to get back up and get back on that thing,” Neu said. “We're turning the page to MAC play now.”
Tackling and positioning will be a focal point to clean up after James Madison, Neu said.
“When adversity happens, you can't let that affect how you attack the next play,” Neu said. “That's really what it comes down to at the end of the day.
“You got to have a short-term memory. You have to move on to the next play, and it really comes down to that it's the littlest of things that are getting us.”
Neu said he wants to show the 115 players what they are capable of when executing at a high level. He said he plans to show a successful play, and then show the same play call where the execution failed.
“You can have 10 guys that are awesome and one guy not quite where it needs to be, and something big happens,” Neu said.
Alongside working on execution, Neu said part of his job is to ensure confidence is high heading into the weekend.
Wiegold said practice needs to be cleaner for the Cardinal defense to turn its communication struggles around. He said every practice cannot be taken lightly with extra emphasis on the details.
The offense against James Madison scored on their second drive but failed to put up any other points.
One new face to the Cardinals' offense is redshirt sophomore wide receiver Cam Pickett.
While the wide receiver room is missing two starters, Pickett and others have stepped up to fill gaps and continue to make plays. Pickett said the depth at wide receiver goes from top to bottom and everyone is capable of making plays.
Pickett did not see the field his freshman year and was out his sophomore season with an injury. Now, having worked his way back, Pickett is a key starter for the Ball State offense.
“I know what I know what I'm capable of. I didn't let setbacks mess with my mental [health] and I just really stayed the course,” Pickett said.
Pickett echoed Wiegold and Neu by saying confidence building starts with practice.
“We have to go make plays and not let the ball touch the ground,” Pickett said. “[We have to] remember it is all about us at the end of the day, it’s not about anyone else. We know what we can do.”
Redshirt junior wide receiver Ty Robinson, who has been out since week one, is trending upward and is expected to practice this week. Neu said he does not want to get ahead of himself by saying he will play, but he is expected to be close to ready come Saturday.
Sophomore kicker Jackson Courville, redshirt junior running back Vaughn Pemberton and redshirt junior linebacker Joey Stemler will be evaluated and Neu said he will see how the work week goes for the three after missing last week.
Neu said he does not anticipate junior wide receiver Justin Bowick to be back on the practice field for the Cardinals.
The defense will have to be ready for the Western Michigan run game, Neu said.
The Broncos have 712 rushing yards on the season and 372 of them came in their win over Bethune-Cookman.
The Ball State defense has let up 876 net rushing yards in their first four games and will be a major factor in the outcome against Western Michigan.
The Cardinals are coming off a family weekend at James Madison. Just a week later, Ball State will host a family weekend of their own.
“We need the community here for Ball State football to have a chance to be successful,” Neu said. “If we can put a good product and get the community excited about what we're doing, and the stands can be full, that's a great atmosphere.
“So I'm not going to stop busting my tail to try to be able to get that done.”
Neu said he had had his back against a wall before. This season is no different since the Cardinals sit 1-3 after four games.
“I’m a fighter. I am always going to be a fighter,” Neu said. “That's what I'm going to continue to bring and give to our guys. All I can ask for those guys is the same thing in return.”
Through four games, Neu said the Cardinals have the ability to turn it into a positive through play in the upcoming weeks.
“The story's not over yet. The story's not written,” Neu said. “The season's not over, really, just getting into the meat of it right now with MAC play. So we got to respond.”
Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on X @ElijahPoe4.
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