Ball State picks up 41-17 victory in home opener against Stony Brook

The first drive of Ball State's (1-1) home opener against Stony Brook (1-2) did not start off ideally. Cardinals quarterback Keldric Luster tested the Seawolves defense with a deep pass and was intercepted by Stony Brook defensive back Joseph Garcia.

But by the end of the contest in Muncie, the Cardinals would rebound and stake home the 41-17 victory to move to 1-1 on the season.

Both teams would trade empty possessions before Ball State's offense began to find their groove, traveling down the field with a mixture of completions from Luster to Jabari Smith Jr., and a 37-yard rush by TJ Horton before Luster found tight end Tate Hoover in the endzone for a three-yard touchdown pass with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter.

The Seawolves would punt it back to the Cardinals after a six-play drive, and Ball State would answer with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Luster to Smith Jr. It was pretty much all Ball State the rest of the way.

Offensively, Luster completed 84 percent of his passes, completing 27 of 32 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns. According to Mick Tidrow from Ball State Radio, this broke the program record for best completion percentage by a Ball State QB ever (minimum 30 attempts). Horton finished with 125 rushing yards in the victory as well. Jalen Bonds also had 77 rushing yards and a touchdown in the effort on just six carries.

Chris Jackson led Ball State with six catches, 72 yards and a touchdown, with three other Cardinals hauling in at least four catches and two other Cardinals with 40+ yards.

Even despite the gaudy numbers, head coach Mike Uremovich wanted to see more.

"Offensively, we were not in sync most of the day. There was penalties, there was holding calls. We've got to play much better football this fall if we're gonna continue to win games," Uremovich explained. "There was some bright spots, but you can't play the way we did offensively and expect to win a bunch of games."

Cade Hampton of The Star Press pointed out that it is the largest margin of victory for Ball State during his tenure.

"That was a good football team we played. We're explosive offensively, there's no doubt about it. We can't beat ourselves and that is something we pride ourselves on and just too many penalties today," Uremovich replied.

The defense did a solid job on limiting Stony Brooks' offense for most of the game. Junior linebacker Kaleb Stewart led the way with seven tackles and half-sack. Layton Starks had a field day with five tackles, 2.5 tackles-for-loss and a half-sack. Sophomore defensive back Kamron Chamble had two interceptions on the day as well.

Even with all the positives, the 14 points allowed in the fourth quarter left Uremovich feeling they left something off the table.

"I thought our defense played three quarters of football," Uremovich said. "I thought they did a nice job handing tempo, they tackled pretty well, got their hands up and knocked some passes down. I don't like the way we finished on defense at all with the big plays and the scores."

This was the Cardinals’ fourth-consecutive win for their home opener. Ball State is on the road this week against Liberty, who is also 1-1 coming off a win against Gardner-Webb.