Ball State football: 5 things to watch in home opener vs MAC foe Western Michigan

Week 1 has come and gone for Ball State football (0-1) and Mid-American Conference play has arrived.

Ball State hosts Western Michigan (0-1) 2 p.m. Saturday at Scheumann Stadium (ESPN+). If it seems early in the season for a MAC game, it is. Ball State hasn't played a conference game this early in the year (outside of the conference-only 2020 season) since it played Eastern Michigan during Week 1 of the 2012 season.

The Cardinals, coming off a 59-10 beatdown at Tennessee last Thursday, will have a chance to get a leg up on the rest of the league. Western Michigan is coming off a 35-13 loss at No. 15 Michigan State.

Here are five things to watch Saturday:

Postseason implications

This game is big. In his weekly press conference, head coach Mike Neu said "they're all big" when referring to MAC games.

That's true, but if you look ahead on Ball State's conference schedule, which includes Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Toledo, Kent State and Miami (Ohio), this could be a make or break week for the Cardinals.

Winning Saturday would give a huge boost for Ball State if its wants to qualify for its third straight bowl game. A loss would be just as big of a setback. Last year, the Cardinals went 6-6 in the regular season, which included a dominant victory over the Broncos in Kalamazoo.

Western Michigan, which plays No. 17 Pittsburgh next week, is likely viewing this as a must-win, as well. The Broncos hung around with Michigan State for the better part of three quarters last Friday but also enter this game 0-1.

"We know each other well," Neu said, "we've been in some battles with them over the last four years and it's going to be the same thing. It's going to be a tough contest, both teams are trying to get their first win. It just happens to be week number two instead of later in the season."

Spreading the ball around

One thing Ball State's offense did well in Week 1 was getting the ball in the hands of a number of different playmakers.

Quarterback John Paddock went 27-for-43 for 269 yards, one TD and two interceptions. He threw completions to nine different receivers, including five apiece to the wide receiver threats of Jayshon Jackson (65 yards), Yo'Heinz Tyler (62 yards) and Amir Abdur-Rahman (42 yards), two each to tight ends Tanner Koziol (29 yards, one TD) and Brady Hunt (10 yards) along with showing some love to Will Jones (two catches, 35 yards) and Carson Steele (four catches, 14 yards) out of the backfield.

"He did a good job of operating the passing game and making good decisions, making good reads," Neu said of Paddock. "To see the distribution not only with the wideouts but to see both Tanner and Brady get involved in the action and the running backs getting involved in the action, we certainly want to make the defenses that we play defend the whole field and not just key on one person."

Having that type of balance, particularly at the wide receiver position, will be an advantage Ball State will need to continue leaning on moving forward.

"Our passing game is really strong," Jackson said. "We can hit you with anybody, really. Me, Yo'Heinz, Amir, anybody wants to single out a single receiver and double him, we've got two other receivers that can hit you."

Ball State's running game struggled in week one. The Cardinals carried the ball 27 times for 74 yards (2.7 yards per carry) against the Volunteers. Its offensive line didn't, however, allow a sack and gave up just two tackles for loss against a defense which averaged nearly eight TFLs and 2.6 sacks per game last year.

Ball State's defense creating more pressure

Western Michigan had almost a perfect 50-50 split in its running and passing game last week. The Broncos ran the ball 37 times for 141 yards and threw 36 times for 193 yards against the Spartans.

Jack Salopek (21-for-36, 193 passing yards) showed his ability to use his legs, rushing for 36 yards, while the Broncos like to use both their running backs in Sean Tyler (13 carries, 68 yards, one TD) and La'Darius Jefferson (nine carries, 31 yards).

Salopek also connected with eight different pass-catchers, targeting six of them three or more times throughout the game. Corey Crooms (11 targets) was the Broncos' favorite receiver in week one, catching five passes for 41 yards.

Ball State's defense was fine in moments last week, but couldn't stop Tennessee's fast-paced, high-powered offense. The Volunteers averaged 4.3 yards per rush and 10 yards per completion in their 49-point victory.

This week, linebacker Clayton Coll said communication has been the key.

"I think guys trust each other and guy played really hard, I just think we need to fine-tune our communication," Coll said. "... That's our standard, to communicate at a high level and I really think we need to hone in one that."

He added: "When we play together, communicate well, I think we can be a really good defense."

Jack Blanco (nine tackles), Jaquan Amos (eight tackles) and Loren Strickland (eight tackles) led the Cardinals in tackles. Malcolm Lee forced a fumble while Jordan Riley recorded a sack and a pass breakup. All of them play safety.

Cleaning up the penalties

Heading into Week 2, Ball State is already one of the most penalized teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The Cardinals were called for 13 penalties (12 since one was offsetting) against the Volunteers for 83 yards. They sit tied at 114th in terms of penalties and 105th in terms of penalty yards. During his press conference, Neu discussed his displeasure with the amount of pre- and post-snap penalties:

"We were able to meet with the team Saturday, wanted to address certainly first and foremost the penalties," Neu said. "... nine of those were either before the ball was snapped or after the play was over, so we certainly addressed that on Sunday when we got back out on the practice field."

Nine of Ball State's penalties also came on defense, giving an already proficient Tennessee offense more opportunities throughout the contest. Cleaning up the unforced errors will be key against a Western Michigan team Ball State has played within a score of three out of the last four seasons.

Other notes, nuggets

Here are a few other notes, pieces of Ball State football news ahead of its game against Western Michigan.

• Home opener streak: Ball State has won 12 home openers dating back to 2010. Mike Neu is 6-0 in home openers at BSU. Three of those wins have come against MAC opponents: Buffalo (28-25, 2011), Eastern Michigan (37-26, 2012) and Eastern Michigan (38-31, 2020).
• Depth chart?: Ball State released its game notes against Western Michigan. As of Wednesday, the 23-page document did not include a two-deep depth chart, jumping straight from rosters (page 4) to a notebook (page 6).
• Brandon Martin update: The only listed starter who missed week one was seventh-year linebacker Brandon Martin. On Tuesday during practice, Martin wasn't dressed but was moving around and even doing up-downs with the team.

Robby General covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high school sports for The Star Press. Contact him via email at rgeneral@gannett.com or on Twitter @rgeneraljr.