MUNCIE, IN - (8/28/2003) — The Indiana State Sycamores (0-1) dropped a tough 31-7 decision to the homestanding Ball State Cardinals (1-0) in front of the largest crowd to ever witness a game at Ball State Stadium of 23,549 on Thursday night. The contest was the first ever night game in the 36-year history of the stadium.
The two teams went toe-to-toe in a defensive struggle early on until the Sycamores gave the Cardinals a golden opportunity on a high snap of a punt attempt as the first quarter was winding down. A snap over Pat Jordan’s head gave BSU a first and ten at the ISU 33 where it took three plays to punch the ball into the endzone on a one-yard run by Scott Blair with twenty seconds showing on the clock. The extra point failed giving Ball State the early 6-0 lead.
On the ensuing Sycamore possession a Jake Schiff fumble once again backed the ISU defense next to its goal line as the Cardinals took the ball at the 47 going into the endzone. It took only one play — a 47-yard bomb from Andy Roesch to Ryan Hahaj — to give BSU the 12-0 lead. A two-point conversion failed after the score.
Another special teams error by the Sycamores on a punt attempt gave the Cardinals the ball at the ISU 16 but the Sycamore defense stood tall, including being the benefactors of a holding penalty that brought back an apparent BSU score with 5:22 left before the half. Ball State had to settle for a Mike Langford field goal of 34 yards and a 15-0 advantage.
Indiana State would not go quietly as they took the ball at their own 38 with 1:32 showing on the clock and moved the ball to within field goal range with five seconds left. Freshman Kyle Hooper missed just wide right as time expired to send the Sycamores into the lockerroom down 15-0.
ISU came out with a new head of steam in the third quarter, starting a drive on their own 20. Led by the strong rushing of Jake Shields, ISU was able to move the ball the entire 80 yards in 17 plays that took over nine minutes off the clock. Shields did the honors from three yards out, to cut the Ball State lead to 15-7.
After the score, ISU attempted an onside kick that resulted in a penalty for kick catching interference. With the ball spotted at the Sycamore 43, the Cardinals were able to move the ball down to the 17 before Langford nailed a 34-yard field goal to move the lead back to 18-7.
On the Sycamores next drive, Shields fumbled the handoff on the first play and Ball State recovered on the ISU 17. The Cardinals moved it down to the ten before a 27-yard field goal by Langford split the uprights to make it a 21-7 game.
After an ISU punt was downed inside the Cardinals two-yard line early in the fourth quarter, Ball State went on a heartbreaking nine-play, 98-yard drive that was capped by a 54-yard completion from Roesch to Dante Ridgeway to put BSU head 28-7. After another Sycamores turnover on the next possession, BSU’s Brian Jackson nailed a 31-yard field goal to provide the final margin of 31-7.
In his first ever collegiate contest, Schiff was 14 of 25 passing for 70 yards with two interceptions. Shields led the Sycamores in rushing with 127 yards on 33 carries, including a long of 28 yards and the lone touchdown of the evening.
Schiff also showed some ability to run with 10 attempts that netted 14 yards, including a long of 16 yards.
Through the air, the Sycamores big target was senior Ryan King who brought down four balls for 14 yards. Jordan averaged 39.2 yards per punt on the evening, including a long of 44 and four of his five kicks were downed inside the Ball State 20-yard line.
Defensively, the Sycamores were paced by senior Terrance Miles who recording 10 total tackles on the evening, including one for a loss of eight yards. The lone sack of the evening belonged to Fred Quarles who broke through to the quarterback in the second quarter for a loss of four.
Freshman Kyle James had the Sycamore turnover for the evening when he picked off Roesch and returned the ball for minus one yard.
Following the road loss, the Sycamores will return to Memorial Stadium for its home opener against Florida International on Saturday, September 6 at 3:05 p.m. The game will be the first of the season for FIU, who was idle this week. USA-365.com provides live Internet audio streaming with Brian Fritz providing the play-by-play and Ben Wagner with the color commentary. The pre-game show starts at 2:40 p.m., with the kick-off set for 3:05 p.m., CDT / EST on www.USA-365.com.
New to USA-365.com this season is a special audio archive of the previous Indiana State University Football game. MP3 audio file downloads are updated each week and now free at ISU Football MP3 Audio Archives.
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