2-Minute Drill: The Ball State Cardinals

    (Photo credit: Adam Wesley/The Gazette)

Ball State's defense is the reverse Iowa. The Cardinals have an experienced and productive trio of linebacker returning from 2013. Junior weakside linebacker Ben Ingle (6-0, 226) led BSU with 116 tackles last season and again led it with 11 tackles in the Cardinals' 30-10 victory over Colgate last week. He's joined by sophomore middle linebacker Zack Ryan (5-10, 219) and strongside hybrid linebacker Aaron Taylor (5-11, 203). Taylor showed enough strike defending the run last season to earn a spot at the hybrid.

Last season, the Cardinals had three veteran D-linemen. This year, it's new guys. Senior DE Nick Miles (6-2, 253) is the only returnee. Rush DE Michael Ayers and (6-1, 240) and tackle Darnell Smith (5-11, 278) show a lot of situational action last season, so they know what they're getting into.

After seeing Iowa's running game sputter against Northern Iowa in the opener, you might be able to make the argument that the Cardinals are more comfortable with who they are right now. Yes, Iowa rushed for 151 yards. It's two long carries came from WR Tevaun Smith (35 reverse) and running back Jonathan Parker (21 jet sweep). Other than that, the Panthers committed to stopping the run and gave Iowa looks it hadn't seen. Iowa didn't totally answer it, but did get something from senior Mark Weisman in taking a couple of minutes off the clock in its second-to-last drive.

Still, Iowa's big four RBs — Weisman, Jordan Canzeri, LeShun Daniels and Damon Bullock — combined for 81 yards on 28 carries and had five negative rushes. Of course, the O-line is involved in that. Guard Sean Welsh and tackle Andrew Donnal made their starting debuts. Head coach Kirk Ferentz graded the O-line out at 'OK' this week.

Advantage: Iowa

 Ball State head coach Pete Lembo brought in defensive coordinator Kevin Kelly in the offseason. Kelly started coaching football in 1981, so he's a veteran and he very much has an open mind. He walked into a program that finished 10-3 in 2013 (which also held opponents to 24.7 points, its best effort since 2008), so he didn't do a total makeover. Kelly runs a 4-3 defense, but he also builds in flexibility, calling some of the concepts the 'spread defense.'

Kelly keeps it basic for his players on first and second down and then tricks things out on third down, when the offense has a clear down-and-distance goal. Kelly's secondary should help Kelly in this regard. Senior strong safety Brian Jones (97 tackles) and senior cornerback Eric Patterson return with experience. BSU lost sophomore free safety Dae'Shaun Hurley (83 tackles in '13) to a knee injury last week.

Your main complaint with Iowa's passing offense last week was all the dinking and the dunking and the checkdowns. Iowa coaches and players countered with the fact that the Panthers played a three-deep coverage and were determined to not get beat deep. Also, they sort of enjoyed the fact the offense took what the defense surrendered and moved the chains.

Quarterback Jake Rudock was not hamstrung with the directive to throw only checkdowns. He's allowed to see that game the way he needs to and make the decisions that need to be made. That said, yes, Ferentz and Rudock said that a some deeper targets were missed, so that is something on the table for discussion. The Hawkeyes got away with it last week. Those are plays that will eventually need to be made.

Iowa's wide receivers and tight ends were solid up and down. WR Tevaun Smith screams playmaker. You're going to want to see more of freshman WR Derrick Willies. WR Damond Powell showed zero effects from summer hernia surgery. Iowa's collective tight end group combined for nine catches and 54 yards.

 

Advantage: Push

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In its opener, Ball State pushed around Colgate, a lower-level FCS school. The Cardinals rushed for 311 yards. Running backs Horactio Banks (134 yards) and Jahwan Edwards (109) gave BSU its 20th game with two backs rushing for more than 100 yards. It was BSU's first 300-yard rushing performance in 15 games. It also might be the strength of this year's offense.

Quarterback Keith Wenning was a four-year starter who left the school with almost every career and single-season passing record. Edwards (5-10, 216) was all-Mid-American Conference last season (1,110 yards and 14 touchdowns). He's a power back with burst. Banks rushed for 595 yards last season. BSU returns O-line coach John Strollo, who was at Penn State, and also returns three starters and much of last season's two-deep. One injury note here: Tackle Drake Miller will be out this week with a hand injury.

The Hawkeyes faced down a solid O-line and great running back last week. The running back (David Johnson) got loose a bunch in the passing game, but was stuffed on the run. Iowa held UNI to 25 yards on 25 carries, its best effort against the rush since allowing just 7 yards against Minnesota in 2008.

Led by defensive tackle Louis Trinca-Pasat (four tackles for loss, two sacks), the Hawkeyes piled up nine tackles for loss and six sacks. Iowa's new linebackers had some troubles in coverage, but read the run well and stacked the line of scrimmage. Iowa's 2014 defense is built to stop the run. One thing that defensive coordinator Phil Parker might've wanted to scratch off the list last week was depth at defensive end. Junior Nate Meier started and shared one side with senior Mike Hardy.

Advantage: Iowa

(Photo credit: Stephen Mally/The Gazette)

Yes, the Cardinals lost a four-year starter and record-holder at QB. You know what? They're still going to field a QB this year. In mid-August, sophomore Ozzie Mann (6-1, 213) was declared the winner in a four-man derby that left junior Kyle Kamman and redshirt freshman Jack Milas as the backups.

Mann threw nine passes as Wenning's backup last season, so the book on him is short. He's a local, hailing from Hartford City, Ind., just nine miles for Ball State's Muncie, Ind., campus. When Lembo named Mann starter he praised his growth in decision making and accuracy. Last week, he completed 20 of 32 for 203 yards, two TDs and an interception.

'We want to take what the defense gives us,' Lembo said. 'Hopefully, we're good enough at receiver and quarterback and everywhere else, that if people pack the box against us, we're taking the throws that they're giving us ... Ozzie had a solid start throwing the ball. He's been solid in practice. At the end of the day, we feel like we're running our offense.'

Junior wide receiver Jordan Williams (6-2, 223) did a lot of damage in 2013 with 72 receptions for 1,050 yards, but he suffered an ankle injury early last week and left the game (he's listed on the depth chart and BSU does list several players who are out for today, including wide receivers Shane Belle and Ralph Smith). So, junior Kevonn Maban (6-1, 219) caught 11 passes for 110 yards and a TD. Mabon missed 10 games last season after suffering a broken collarbone in week 3.

Iowa safety John Lowdermilk said the Hawkeyes were exposed in coverage last week, particularly giving up plays of 53, 60 and 70 yards on short passes to the running back coming out of the backfield. The senior strong safety added that he expects opponents to dial that up against the Hawkeyes. BSU has the backs to go at the Hawkeyes here, so let's see if week 1 errors are indeed correctable. Ferentz said he was pleased with free safety Jordan Lomax and cornerback Jordan Mabin in their first starts.

Advantage: Iowa

Ferentz was asked about his new kicker Marshall Koehn and punter Dillon Kidd. He said they did 'OK.' That's probably not what they were looking for. Koehn showed some nerve when he hit a 40-yarder with one second left before halftime. But then, he missed a 37-yarder in the second half that would've given Iowa the security of a two-score lead. Kidd averaged just 36.2 yards on four punts. He failed to punt Iowa out of field position trouble a couple of times. Ferentz added that these two are secure and don't have to be looking over their shoulders.

Weisman was a surprise kick returner last week, catching the opening kick from an up-back position and returning it 50 yards to UNI's 41. Iowa scored just three plays later.

Kicker Scott Secor and punter Kyle Schmidt return for BSU. Secor made 19 of 24 field goals last season and hit 3 of 4 last week. Schmidt averaged 40.87 yards on 40 punts last season. The Cardinals coverage units were mostly untested last week. Can Iowa hit them there?

Advantage: Iowa

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1) Been there, done that

— The MAC schools are pretty well picked over when it comes to Power 5 teams looking for schedule fodder. Who knows when the game was scheduled, but Virginia, from the ACC, gave Ball State a call probably sometime when the program transitioned from Brady Hoke to Stan Parrish. It was a downward swing that Lembo immediately elevated and has kept elevating in each of his first three seasons. Virginia bit off more than it could chew, falling 48-27 to the Cardinals at home last season. Kinnick is a little bigger than Virginia's Scott Stadium, but there isn't a huge difference. In 2012, BSU pushed Indiana before falling 41-39.

2) Week 1 to week 2 improvement

— That's a believable phenomenon. Nervous players watch video study and slap themselves on the forehead and say, 'I can't believe I did that, coach.' They live, they learn. This is an imperative for Iowa's defense, if for nothing else, its own state of mind.

3) Pointless

— Iowa is 2-0 in its series with Ball State. The collective score is 101-0 in favor of the Hawkeyes. Iowa won the 2005 meeting 56-0 over a team that had 13 players suspended not long before kickoff. The scoreless stat is the perfect chip-on-the-shoulder morsel for a coach to dangle in front of his underdogs. The Vegas line at the beginning of the week had Iowa as a 17-point favorite. The Cardinals have to love this. Not only have they won 17 of their last 19 games, but they've lost by 21 or more just three times in the last two seasons, a good stat considering BSU's play-ups.

Advantage: Push

Iowa will win if...

The defense can figure out the big-play thing that plagued it last week. It really is that simple. Ferentz talked about how UNI made the Hawkeyes' offense prove it with long drives (Iowa obliged with a 17-play drive, its longest since a 16-play drive against the Iowa State in 2010). That's usually what Iowa's defense is and what it will strive to be.

Ball State will win if...

The Cardinals' defense can hold its ground. Iowa's offensive line isn't huge, outside of tackle Brandon Scherff, but in comparison to the BSU D-line, it's at least B1G big. BSU's D-line goes 240, 278, 270 and 253 across the front. Iowa rushed to the left (Scherff's way) 13 times last week. The Panthers made him work in space, so it was an uneasy go-to side. Iowa will want to establish some efficacy up front.

Prediction: Iowa 42, Ball State 14