The Cardinals have struggled offensively all season surpassing 19 points just twice all year. But upon closer inspection we see that in those two games they averaged just 3.5 and 3.9 yards per play. Now starting quarterback Kelly Page is out for the season with a thumb injury and fifth year senior Tanner Justice takes over. Justice enters this game with a disappointing quarterback rating of 88.88 with a 0 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio. Ball State has a freshman signal caller Aaron Mershman who would normally be the backup but coach Parrish doesn't want to take off his redshirt. Therefore if Justice gets injured the team will go to the Wildcat offense in which they haven't attempted a pass this season. That means plenty of running the football and taking time off the clock.
Eastern Michigan is also down to a backup signal caller and as expected they have struggled to put points on the board since starter Andy Schmitt was lost for the season. They were going with last years backup Kyle McMahon but last week they played some with freshman Alex Gillett behind center. Neither of the two backups has thrown a touchdown pass this season and we would really expect English to be conservative here. Considering that in the last three games they have scored 6, 8 and 12 points he doesn't have many options.
Defensively the Eagles are improving and they are really stepping down in class this week. After facing the likes of Michigan and Central Michigan on their schedule they finally face a team they can match up against. Ball State's defense has struggled all year mostly because they continue to let the opposition start drives with excellent starting field position. But that likely won't be the case this week as Eastern Michigan simply doesn't have the offensive talent to exploit this weak Ball State secondary. The Cardinals are allowing 8.37 yards per pass attempt but the Eagles only produce 4.18 yppa and that included Andy Schmidt making the calls.
With two teams desperate for a victory and both playing backup signal callers we look for very conservative game plans. Lots of running the football and keeping turnovers to a minimum. That keeps the clock ticking and provides us with a quick game.
Bryan Leonard 10/24
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