The Last Word on the GMAC

It's Wednesday morning and the Earth is in fact still orbiting the sun just like it was yesterday and eerily similar to how it was when the football Cardinals were 12-0. If Copernicus can coach against a spread offense the way he can explain planetary movements, then I think we may have just found our defensive coordinator.

In looking at the numbers from last night, my feelings about the game haven't changed much, and they only confirm what I already thought, that we were dominated offensively and defensively. Let's take them individually, shall we?

On offense, it was just plain horrendous. When it became evident that Nate had little protection from his offensive line, Tulsa sent anywhere from 4 to 8 into the backfield. Most times the pressure worked, occasionally it didn't, and when he got a throw off at all, it often sailed high. The numbers on Nate? 9-29 for 145 and an INT. It was a season low in both completions and yards, and Nate didn't complete a pass in the second half. Throw in his 4 fumbles, two of which were lost, and I'd say it was arguably Nate Davis' worst outing of his career.

The ground attack for Ball State, truly their best offensive weapon this season for the balance it creates was horrendous as well. 78 yards on 28 carries for an average of 2.8 was the final tally. Quale Lewis looked just a step slow against this Tulsa defense, and with Davis struggling to open up the box he was only able to gain 35 yards on 16 carries, his lowest rushing total of the season. His longest run of the night? A nine-yard scamper. For a team that prides itself on balance, at least both rushing and passing were equally terrible. The good news for the offense? Nate was only sacked twice, which tied, and didn't set, a new record for this season.

Defensively, the Cardinals were gashed early and ran out of gas late. Having the offense go three-and-out all six times in the second half will wear you down a bit. That still is no excuse for the 439 yards given up by the Cardinals to the the Tulsa rush. Tarrion Adams alone had 207 yards and 3 TD. Not good. Alex Knipp checked in with a decent stat line after the game, recording 13 tackles, 1 sack, and 2 TFL.

The "team" statistics were dominated by Tulsa as well, including a 50% conversion rate for their 18 3rd downs, compared to just 2-15 by the Cardinals and a 632-223 advantage in total yards. By the way, that's a record for Tulsa. In a fitting bit of irony, the lone bright spot for the Cardinals was punter Chris Miller, who averaged 48.1 yards on 8 kicks, including a 62-yard monster.

So what did we learn last night? Truthfully, nothing. It was a poor game, plain and simple, and many will lose sight of this team and these athletes because of the clunkers they exhibited in their final two outings. Of course, with the passing of time comes perspective. And this team for all of its late season crappery had one unbelievable year. To lose focus of that, to forget the steps made, would be foolish.

"Failure" is a strong word and one that gets tossed about in the sports world a little too often for my taste, especially considering these are a bunch of 18-22 year old kids playing a game. When the proverbial rubber hits the road, this is a team that finished 2008 12-2. They won a MAC West title. They played in a MAC Championship Game. They played in their second consecutive Bowl Game for the first time in school history. They were ranked in the AP Top 25, a first for the school. They were ranked in the Top 12 of the BCS, another first for the school. All tremendously fantastic things that none of us imagined plausible just a few short months ago. When considering the circumstances that changed with this team after the IU game and the injury to Dante Love, it is success of the highest order, no matter how you slice it.

Over the next weeks here at OTP we'll get you ready for National Signing Day on February 4th, we'll send off the seniors, and we'll chat a bit about what we'll be expecting from the Cardinals in 2009. Regardless, it's great to be a Ball State Cardinal. Now more than ever before.

(Images from The Star Press)

Immediate GMAC Bowl Thoughts

Sweet merciful Jesus. I'm not sure that I could have scripted the epic fuckbucket of failure that walked out of the stadium in Mobile, AL tonight. It's just a few hours old and I'm still a jumbled pile of feeling. Pissed? Sure. Disappointed? Yup. Embarrassed? Absolutely. Feeling like an Ohio State fan? A little.

As I said in our GMAC preview, BSU had to play well enough to win. That sounds simple, and almost too easy to really count as a piece of wisdom, but based on the metric tonnage of sheer awfulness that masqueraded as Ball State Football in the MAC Championship Game, that seemed to be asking a lot. As I sit here after the assthrashing is complete, it apparently was too much to request that Ball State play better than a mediocre 2A Indiana high school team.

Amidst the carnage of this 45-13 beating, Tulsa was able to pretty much do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and however they wanted. The BSU offense was stagnant, the defense was spectacularly shitty, the special teams were ordinary at best, and perhaps worst of all, this team just seemed eager to quit, shower, and get their asses out of there. Truly a shame.

I'll have a little bit better perspective tomorrow and an actual breakdown of the game itself, but this team has a lot of soul searching to do before spring practice. If Stan wants this fanbase to support him despite his quick hire, he had best stop getting his ass handed to him and looking totally and completely outcoached. If Nate wants to go to the NFL, then go. But I find it to be no coincidence that as soon as he began to mention the draft he suddenly didn't have the focus and success that he used to (and for the record, leaving now would be the worst decision possible, regardless of whatever "advice" Nate is getting from his brother Jose).

The bottom line is the clock is already rolling on 2009, and I can only hope that the underclassmen on this team are as upset as I am about ending this season the extraordinarily awful way that they did.

Harsh? Probably. But this team basically told every fan that bothered to watch them that each and every backhanded snide comment made about them was absolutely true. They played a universally regarded "good" team for what some will consider the first time all season and got the shit kicked out of them. Nate Davis fumbled his way right out of guaranteed money in the NFL like the overrated choke artist he was alleged to be. Ball State played like a joke tonight and exactly the way any small time pretender would have. They played like a team that loaded up on soft scheduling and a subpar conference. All the awful bullshit that got spewed all season long just got signed off on and roundly verified through 60 minutes of play that I'm embarrassed to say I witnessed. Congrats, boys, you just confirmed what everyone already thought.

Congrats to Tulsa, they beat our ass tonight.

Cardinal Liveblog: GMAC Bowl Edition

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living

I don't need to fight
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven

Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
It's only Cardinal Liveblog!



Tonight. 7:30 or so. Comment and relish in the Ball State-ness of Tuesday night football. What else are you going to do? Work? Raise a family? Right....

GMAC Bowl Preview

You know, I remember when gameday weeks consisted of calling another school's mascot gay, or comparing wide receivers to inanimate objects (upside down mop for the win!), or making another school's fans feel all small-like because their team was not, in fact, undefeated as mine was. The good old days, indeed.

I remember the best times, like insinuating Coach Hoke was eating up the homeless people in Muncie at an alarming rate, red checkerboard hobo napsacks and all. I remember making Native-Americans-sobbing-at-litter jokes. I remember when it was all good to be a Ball State fan. Nothing but Whitlock weight jokes and telling every other MAC fanbase to fist themselves in honor of the Cardinals. Then came December 5th.

What started as a fumble-rama against Buffalo in the MAC Championship Game culminated in a fanbase so unused to success and attention that they proceeded to have a collective coronary over things totally outside their control. Over the last 5 weeks or so, things got to fever pitch in Cardinal Nation. Head Coach Brady Hoke headed for bigger and better hobos in San Diego, Stan Parrish was promoted as head coach from his former post as Offensive Coordinator, Nate Davis may go pro or may not, Tom Collins may or may not be an idiot, Jo Ann Gora definitely sent us a form letter, the Ball State Daily News definitely used as a source, Jose Davis likes to talk, on and on and on.

Somewhere amidst all the madness the Cardinals accepted a bid to play Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl down in lovely Mobile, Alabama because contrary to some in the fanbase, it is about the team and staff and not about the administrative shitshow we got to witness. And that team, that staff, those athletes, and this game is where we find our focus for today. We're not worried about Brady. We're not worried about Nate. We're not worried about Coach Parrish. We are worried about climate change, but only because that means Al Gore still has a platform to spew his opinion from. Fuck you, penguins. We never liked you much to begin with. We're not worried about Boise State invitations, coaching staff turnover, or losing the MAC title game. We're only worried about Tulsa.

We could do a lengthy post debating the pros and the cons of each offense and defense. We could talk about intangibles and coaching, mascots and fans, tradition and honor. The fact is that all of that sounds good, and it fills column space, but the bottom line for this game is quite simple. If Ball State plays to potential, they win. If they don't, they lose. Simple as that. They are the better team.

Tulsa is a good team. They had some good wins. Laid some beatings on some people. Took a couple beatings themselves. They are a good football team, and fully capable of beating the Cardinals. They are a balanced offensive show, with equal success running and passing the football. In many respects, this is as close as two teams can get in terms of similar styles.

This Ball State team, however, is a special one. They are a balanced offensive attack like I have never seen, facing a team that isn't exactly lights out on the defensive side of the football. If they hang onto the ball, they capitalize on opportunities, and they make the big plays, they win. If they cough up the football, take field goals instead of TDs and lose the field position battle, they lose. Big.

The key to this game will rest on the defensive side of the football, and it is whether or not Ball State can slow down the Tulsa offense. Tulsa and their QB David Johnson has tossed 18 INTs this season, so the opportunities will be there to win the turnover battle. Of course, the defense was largely Brady Hoke's responsibility.

So the long and the short of it is that we here at OTP have no Earthly clue what's going to happen tonight. Ball State is just as likely to beat Tulsa by 20 as they are to lose by 20. We picked the Cardinals in our Pick'Em with Rocky Top Talk, BlackHeartGoldPants, and Clay Travis, so we'll stick with them. We guess.

Tulsa 30
Ball State 31